How much blood was present during your labor?

[Adaline'sMama]

When I was pregnant with DD, I had several people tell me that there wasnt actually much blood during childbirth. I was expecting so blood, but not a lot. As it turned out, my water broke several hours before I went into labor, but once the contractions actually started I noticed that the clear liquid that had been gushing out of me for hours had become bright red blood. It didnt look or smell anything like menstrual blood. I spent a lot of time on the toilet during labor because everywhere I walked blood was dripping all over me and the floor. I didnt want to have any clothing touching me, so wearing panties and a pad was out. There became a point in my labor when I just didnt care anymore and walked around letting blood pour out everywhere. After DD was born, they sent in people to mop up the floor.

Well, I have a different OB this time, and she was telling me that the hospital had changed the policy and you could walk around anywhere in the hospital now (they used to keep you corralled in L&D). I was glad that they changed the policy , but I told her that last time I didnt feel comfortable leaving the room because of how much I was bleeding. When I described the situation to her, she seemed really shocked and said that she was going to look at my ultrasounds from my previous OB to see if their was a chance of previa.

Does it sounds like a normal amount of blood to you, or could I have had placenta previa and not known? If so, is there a high chance of having it again?

[Peony]

I only had blood present during labor with 1 out of 4 births. That pg I had several incidents of bleeding earlier in the pg. No idea on previa since I didn't have an u/s.

[APToddlerMama]

Whoa....or a placental abruption which you would really want to know because having had one increases your risks of having another. 

[LivingSky]

I've only been through labour once, but there was very little blood for me. Actually, I don't think there was really any while I was labouring, just some afterwards. Your story made me think placental abruption like the PP said, though I would have expected a doctor to intervene immediately if that's what you had last time, not just let you wander around bleeding.

[LiLStar]

That much blood doesn't sound..typical. With my first, I had a *ton* of bloody show, but that wasn't so much "bleeding" as it was mucus that was uniformly tinged dark pink. Impressive gobs were coming out with every contraction! It was pretty astonishing. With my 2nd, I didn't see a speck of blood until right after he was born.

[Vermillion]

Eeek! That sounds pretty scary! I didn't have any bleeding during labor... well, besides some bloody show at one point around the time I lost my plug, but no real bleeding. I was gushing fluid with every contraction though. I remember being so irritated at being soaking wet constantly! I just kept on soaking the pads and mesh undies

Anyway, I googled the bleeding during labor because I've never heard of that!

A small amount of blood can come away during prelabour, and/or the 1st and 2nd stages of labour (continuously or intermittently), as the cervix dilates and the baby negotiates the birth canal. It can also start (or become slightly heavier) after an internal vaginal examination. Significant bleeding (soaking a pad or more) during labour is of concern, and is referred to as an Intrapartum Haemorrhage (IPH). Very heavy bleeding after the baby is born is referred to as a postpartum haemorrhage (PPH).

The main causes of an intrapartum haemorrhage are placenta previa (low lying placenta), placental abruption (the placenta separating too early from the wall of the uterus) or unusual placenta formations such as vasa previa and velamentous insertion.

http://www.birth.com.au/Bleeding-in-labour/About-heavy-bleeding

It's really scary that they let you just walk around like that!

[Adaline'sMama]

Crap. Well, now Im super anxious.

I was super adamant about a NCB and the OB that I had knew that and left the hospital (rural hospital, so he was the only OB on call- no OB in the actual hospital while he was gone). I had switched OB's about a week before I went into labor and of course my super awesome ob (who I have now) was out of town when I went into labor and I got stuck with the crappy OB that I had just left (because he had just fired my CNM). At any rate, he was a total jackass, and pretty much told the nurses to call him when I started pushing or caved and got the epidural. Needless to say, they called when I started pushing, and he arrived about 8 minutes before DD was born. He let DH catch her, and he basically didnt do anything except for watch because the couple of times he told me to push Dh reminded him that I didnt want directed pushing, Id push when I felt the urge.

I was really thankful about how hands off he was until now. Now Im wondering if something bad didnt happen that I didnt know about.

You know, when I went into labor, it was pretty much NOTHING like what people had told me it was going to be like (yk, it hurt really bad, I was super nauseous, I didnt want to eat or drink, i didnt want to be touched and I had heard all about how I was going to have pre labor and DH could give me massages and I would want to have water all the time...nope.), so at the time I just thought I was being squeamish about blood because I was in labor and that it was really no big deal. Anyway, I remember tasting the blood at one point (because DH thought it was menstrual and I was insisting that it was bright red fresh blood). It tasted the same as when you cut your finger (sorry, tmi).

Currently my placenta is posterior. 36 hours before DD was born I had an external version. Im not sure if this had anything to do with it. DD was also born at 37 weeks (3?) days. So, what would an OB have done if they had been present?

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

 36 hours before DD was born I had an external version. Im not sure if this had anything to do with it. DD was also born at 37 weeks (3?) days. So, what would an OB have done if they had been present?

A risk of external version is placental abruption.  The bleeding you are describing sounds a lot like you had an abruption especially since your DD was born soon after and a little early.  Abruptions can trigger labor because your body/the baby knows it needs to get out quick as they are very dangerous.  Around 10-20% of babies do not make it when there is an abruption so depending on severity, OBs will frequently do a c-section if they suspect abruption.  I had an abruption that was not terrible and a vaginal birth.  The only way for you to know for sure would have been for them to take a good look at your placenta or send it to pathology.  If they just let you walk around like that, I doubt you'd ever find any documentation one way or another. 
 

[josie423]

I had a lot of red bloody mucous at around 8-9 cm with my first, but I wasn't *bleeding* per se. With my second and third I just had a bit of brown tinged mucous, no bleeding.

[Just1More]

Wow.  Yeah, I'd vote for abruption, too.  That's malpractice...to have that much blood going on and the providers not to do anything about it.  Seriously, I'm almost a uc-er.  Kinda hope it accidentally happens this time, honestly.  But, if I had that much blood, I'd be screaming for a c-sec.

My last birth, literally 5 minutes (or less) before she was born, blood started to run/trickle down my leg.  Not a ton, but a bit more than I remember.  Turns out she was all tangled up in her cord, and couldn't move down.  It seems that when she did, it caused the placenta to separate partially.  It was a little scary after she was born and the reality of what had happened began to sink in.  But, I was thankful all was well.  They wouldn't have had time to do anything different at the hosptial anyway.

[GuavaGirl]

I don't remember there be any blood until after the birth, for me.

[Mizelenius]

I bled a LOT with my 1st.  I was bleeding and could not feel the baby move, so I went to the hospital.  No one seemed to care about the amount of blood either.   Everything was fine with the baby-- I was having cx every 5 minutes but didn't notice them (monitor picked them up).  I bled just as you described.  After giving birth, I hemorrhaged but did not need a transfusion. 

I gave birth 3 other times and it never happened again!

ETA-- reading the info that others have posted (thank you!) is all news to me.  No one ever explained it was unusual or potentially dangerous.  I had a bad experience overall with that birth (though I got my way with no epi) and this is just one more thing to justify warning people of the hospital.  Thank you for all of this information!

[Adaline'sMama]

UPDATE: I had an appointment with my OB today and she told me that it was likely that I did have an abruption, but that she wouldnt have done anything about it (after we talked about how much blood there was) considering that I was progressing fairly quickly and the baby had a normal heart rate. She said that since my water broke early on, the blood was likely thinned out with the fluid as well. I feel better, but she was still pretty irritated that the other doctor had not noted it at all in my chart.

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

UPDATE: I had an appointment with my OB today and she told me that it was likely that I did have an abruption, but that she wouldnt have done anything about it (after we talked about how much blood there was) considering that I was progressing fairly quickly and the baby had a normal heart rate. She said that since my water broke early on, the blood was likely thinned out with the fluid as well. I feel better, but she was still pretty irritated that the other doctor had not noted it at all in my chart.

Your risk of having a second abruption is around 10%.  With the risk of still birth being so high, you may want to ask her to run some lab work on you for clotting disorders, etc. so that she could give you something to lower your risk of having a second one if she can find a cause.  Pre-eclampsia and PIH can also contribute.  I'm assuming you don't have the other risk factors...trauma to the abdomen, cocaine use, etc, so it may be worth looking at the ones you can actually control. 

[justKate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

UPDATE: I had an appointment with my OB today and she told me that it was likely that I did have an abruption, but that she wouldnt have done anything about it (after we talked about how much blood there was) considering that I was progressing fairly quickly and the baby had a normal heart rate. She said that since my water broke early on, the blood was likely thinned out with the fluid as well. I feel better, but she was still pretty irritated that the other doctor had not noted it at all in my chart.

Hmm.  I guess that's some comfort. 

I'm a little late to the thread, but I too had a TON of blood at one point in my labor. My water broke with an explosion, and when I got up to clean up, what seemed like a gallon of bright red blood fell out of me.  It was about 20 hours into my labor and it was terrifying.  No one at the hospital seemed to think it was a big deal, and I think the bleeding slowed after that. I also ended up with an epidural, so maybe that kept me from noticing. Baby did fine for another 8 or 9 hours (I was on EFM), then started having unrelated problems (I believe) which led to a c-section.