How do you know you are hemorraging? - Page 2

[Almi]

Maybe I'm off on what you mean, minkajane, but I just wanted to clarify that I think cdot was talking about checking over the [unretained] placenta after it comes out, to see if it has any missing pieces or not, not looking at any pieces of previously retained placenta that come out.

Well anyway, yes, cdot, you just double and triple check the placenta after it comes out, it should be like a big, symmetrical pancake with no missing chunks.

[cdot]

Yes Almi, that is what I meant. That's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. Thank you

[Rejoicing]

I have had 3 friends/aquaintances hemmorage to the point of almost dying at birth. 2 were in the hospital, one at home. The first one actually didn't start hemmoraging until after she had already had the baby and left the delivery room. Her and her husband both noted that it was more blood than they remembered from their previous births, and they called in the nurse-the rest was all a crazy blur. The second one was a placenta acretia(sp.) situation. The third was a homebirth. My next door neighbor actually. She said she felt a little light headed, but before she knew anything was happening she passed out. Her mw knew what was going on and saved her life. I don't think she had time to realize she was hemmoraging, it happened that fast for her. So be sure you have tools on hand to deal with a hemmorage, and be sure your birth partner knows what to do ahead of time. Also pay close attention to how you feel after birth.

[sortahippie]

Retained placenta also refers to a small piece of the placenta or sac that is retained in the uterus when the rest has already delivered. Sometimes it is an accessory (extra) lobe, or just a piece of trailing membranes. If you have never seen an intact placenta, it may be hard to tell if yours is intact. However, if you have unusually heavy bleeding after delivery of the placenta, if your uterus feels large and boggy (it should feel like a firm-to-hard knot around your belly button), if your heart rate rises above 100 for an extended period, if you feel dizzy/lightheaded, and/or if you develop a fever after delivery, then retained placenta could be a culprit.

[kittywitty]

I was pretty placenta-knowledgeable and did not notice the missing piece when I had my pph with #4. They pulled out a small piece but I was woozy and preoccupied with baby and missed the small piece of placenta that must have been gone and caused my bleeding.

[greenmama66]

Originally Posted by tink79 

I'm not a UC'er but wanted to add something because I hadn't seen anyone mention it, I hope you guys don't mind. I hemorrhaged after the birth of my twins and if they had let me sleep we might not have known until it was too late. I held and nursed my girls for a few minutes after they were born but had an overwhelming sleepy feeling that everyone, myself included, dismissed as just being tired from birthing twins. Wrong, I couldn't keep my eyes open, couldn't stay awake to even hold on to my babies, slept for I have no idea how long until they took me to another room where I was encouraged to get up to pee. At that point, all of the blood that had been pooling inside of me gushed and everyone began panicking when they realized what had been happening.

So, if you happen to be incredibly, abnormally sleepy, please don't dismiss it as normal after birth tiredness. If you do nap, make sure someone can keep an eye on you and make sure that everything is coming out normally and that you are maintaining some normal alertness. I had clots that prevented the 'flow' until I stood up so no one knew what was going on.

True- I had a PPH with my twins and don't even remember my midwife giving all those pitocin shots. I felt like I was passing out/dying. I had no idea what happened until midwife came back the next morning and told me what had happened. It can be common after twins because of the large space placenta occupies (I had one huge huge placenta).