Did anyone face PP hemorrhage after their UC?

[MittensKittens]

Just curious - if you did, did you manage to stop it using herbs? How did you feel while you were facing hemorrhage, and did you determine your blood loss was too severe based just on the blood you saw, or on other factors too? If you transferred to a hospital, or called a midwife, was that after trying to solve it yourself first, or did you seek help right away?

I prepared for hemorrhage and bought herbs, and consumed a slice of placenta once that was out too. I'd like to hear experiences from people who hemorrhaged before the placenta came out, in particular.

[MsBlack]

Hey Olivia--

seems no one has answered you...have you been over to Laura Shanley's forum, BornFree? I know you can find UC pph stories and info there (and lots of other well organized stuff and helpful mods).

[MittensKittens]

Thanks, I have been over there before but not in a long time . I'll head over there.

[wrappedupmama]

I did. I had a low lying placenta so as soon as it started detaching I started bleeding and it didn't come out for a few more minutes. I took some tincture to get the placenta out. It came out fairly soon after the tincture. Then my uterus couldn't clamp down enough in the the lower segment so I kept on bleeding. I took tinctures to stop bleeding twice during this time. I had my husband massage my uterus and then try grabbing it and clamping it between his hands. I breastfed. I kept bleeding. I bleed a lot for 45 minutes. I called the midwife, she was too far away to help. I called 911 next and got transfered. They did a D&C, but it really didn't help. I'm pretty sure the placenta was whole when it came out. I still bleed heavily. They had me on pitocin for about 12 hours straight to help with the bleeding and gave me lots of IV fluids to expand my blood volume. I was pretty weak and anemic for a long time. Long term everything turned out fine though. I had my unassisted birth I wanted. I truely don't think there was anything having a care provider would have changed. Even at the hospital I just kept bleeding as is evident by 12 hours of pit. The one thing that would have been differnt is that I would have been transfered to the hospital sooner if I had a midwife present at a homebirth. No way would they have let that much bleeding go on for that long. At the hospital I would have gone to get the D&C sooner. I would have been separated from my baby sooner and not gotten the chance to bond and nurse and still would have lost a lot of blood. Overall I'm at peace about it. It was just one of those times where the mom was going to bleed no matter what. It does happen every once in awhile.

[sugarandspicex4]

I have no experience but this is the only thing I'm scared of if I do a UC. They gave me another bag of Pit after the birth of my youngest along with a clotting shot in my thigh because I was "bleeding too much for their comfort". I didn't really notice a difference between the bleeding for her birth versus the bleeding for my previous 2 births so I was a bit confused. Maybe they have different standards? I dunno.

What herbs are available to help?

[firecat]

sugarandspicex4, this is going to be a big factor for my dh because I bled a lot at my first birth (not a uc, I thought I wanted one but was never able to get my dh on board so I ended up in hospital with my midwife). Although I have to say there were several contributing factors: 1/ pit augmentation 2/ prolonged and difficult pushing stage, vacuum extraction was used.

I have heard cinnamon tincture is good, eating the placenta is also helpful.

But anyway, here is a good link Unassisted Birth/Freebirth posted on facebook. http://birthfaith.org/exercise/preve...hage-naturally It just talks about prevention during pregnancy though, not what to do if it happens.

[MsBlack]

Originally Posted by wrappedupmama

I did. I had a low lying placenta so as soon as it started detaching I started bleeding and it didn't come out for a few more minutes. I took some tincture to get the placenta out. It came out fairly soon after the tincture. Then my uterus couldn't clamp down enough in the the lower segment so I kept on bleeding. I took tinctures to stop bleeding twice during this time. I had my husband massage my uterus and then try grabbing it and clamping it between his hands. I breastfed. I kept bleeding. I bleed a lot for 45 minutes. I called the midwife, she was too far away to help. I called 911 next and got transfered. They did a D&C, but it really didn't help. I'm pretty sure the placenta was whole when it came out. I still bleed heavily. They had me on pitocin for about 12 hours straight to help with the bleeding and gave me lots of IV fluids to expand my blood volume. I was pretty weak and anemic for a long time. Long term everything turned out fine though. I had my unassisted birth I wanted. I truely don't think there was anything having a care provider would have changed. Even at the hospital I just kept bleeding as is evident by 12 hours of pit. The one thing that would have been differnt is that I would have been transfered to the hospital sooner if I had a midwife present at a homebirth. No way would they have let that much bleeding go on for that long. At the hospital I would have gone to get the D&C sooner. I would have been separated from my baby sooner and not gotten the chance to bond and nurse and still would have lost a lot of blood. Overall I'm at peace about it. It was just one of those times where the mom was going to bleed no matter what. It does happen every once in awhile.

Thanks so much for sharing this story--it really illustrates a lot!

For one thing, you are right--lower segment implantation can lead to more bleeding than usual, since the lower uterine segment can take longest to shrink down after birth. But if that's where the placenta was, then that's the segment that *needs* to involute quickly, because that's where all your blood vessels to the placenta are! As the placenta detaches the shrinking of the uterine muscle fibers do act to essentially 'clamp off' those vessels that once fed the placenta. The upper uterine segments (where most placentas implant) tend to shrink fastest and hardest, compared to the lower segment...thus things like nursing, massage, pitocin tend to have pretty fast, effective action to control bleeding from those maternal vessels that fed the placenta.

Also, you showed us all the ways a woman might assess, and address, bleeding at home--and when to get help.

Finally, I LOVE your attitude about this. Having an accepting attitude is so important to our own healing--and our feelings about future births, birth in general, etc. Yes, sometimes things just happen--we do not control birth even though we can (and should, IMO) be pro-active in staying healthy, growing a healthy baby, being prepared for possibilities. Being able to accept such things, rather than feel victimized somehow, or blame oneself, is such a help to our own healing and also to others who face birth (under any circumstances) around us.

So again, I really appreciate your story

[MsBlack]

Originally Posted by firecat

sugarandspicex4, this is going to be a big factor for my dh because I bled a lot at my first birth (not a uc, I thought I wanted one but was never able to get my dh on board so I ended up in hospital with my midwife). Although I have to say there were several contributing factors: 1/ pit augmentation 2/ prolonged and difficult pushing stage, vacuum extraction was used.

I have heard cinnamon tincture is good, eating the placenta is also helpful.

.

Firecat--see my post above (along with wrappedupmama's) about placenta placement and bleeding. Maybe your dh will be somewhat reassured if you discover where your placenta is...? A higher placement does not by any means guarantee that you will have no utoward pp bleeding--but higher placement *does* render pp hem far less likely if all else is as it should be for you and baby.

And I concur--your other birth did contain elements that indicate with that birth, 'all else' was definitely not as they might have been! Not to say anyone did anything 'wrong' (that's not my place or interest)--only that you named factors that are indeed known to lead to pp hem. Without those interferences (however needful they were at the time), along with a higher placental placement, your risk of pp hem is quite a bit reduced.

[firecat]

Originally Posted by MsBlack

Without those interferences (however needful they were at the time), along with a higher placental placement, your risk of pp hem is quite a bit reduced.

my point exactly! I don't know where my placenta was~ I didn't have an ultrasound~ but that is definitely something to think about!

[kittywitty]

Yes, I did. Herbs did not help-I had a bit of retained placenta. I was so faintish I knew I had to transfer, and did.

[amyjeans]

My first UC in 2004, I bled like a stuck pig after baby was born. The placenta came out without any trouble, like within 30 minutes, and dh and I were pretty sure it was intact, but I felt like I was gushing.
I ate a piece of the placenta, drank a boatload of water, and I still bled and bled and bled. I felt very wrong all over. I thought I was laboring still- in hindsight, it was my uterus fiercely clamping down to stop the bleeding.
DH said no worries, I bled like this when baby 1 was born in the hospital, but then, they gave me drugs to stop the bleeding and kill the pain.
As soon as the baby was born, in the bathtub, I stood up and saw I was a light shade of yellow all over. While I was bleeding, I was shaking, feeling ill all over, but still nursing. After 24 hrs of this, I felt a bit better, but then the next day, I got the worst headache I ever felt- and that night I went to the hospital- that is an entirely other story!
(prior to the birth, my Ex-OB said I was anemic, and suggested I get OTC iron then never rechecked it. Obviously an Rx would have been better in my case)
Our Ped. fixed my anemia.
My next UC/UP- after baby was born...NO blood at all! I felt like a million bucks and was ready to get back out in the fields! MY midwife friend said, "That is how you should always feel!" I managed my iron and felt fantastic.
Sometimes you just need to do things for yourself if you want to get it right.

All my best!

[anudi01]

I bled PP and transferred.

My 3rd child was my first UC. I had a history of PPH...most likely due to a blood clotting factor. I said that I would make a judgement call once baby birthed...and I did in fact feel that I was bleeding too much. I hadn't even birthed the placenta until emergency got there and there was already a significant amount of blood. I felt that I was in control of the situation, had the birth that I wanted...and went to the hospital when I needed to. Overall, I, of course, I would have loved to stay home...but it was the right choice. Baby was totally fine.

[mommathea]

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Edited by mommathea - 5/11/11 at 4:40pm