Homebirth and complications

[kittn]

DH is really on board but understandably he is quite nervous. My last 2 births I hemorrhaged this last time it was pretty severe. Where can I find information on hb after this kind of an issue? Are there any specific sites other than the ones on the sticky? I had spoken with someone and they told me there was a way to address this issue before hand with diet. Any ideas?

[MamaSong]

Hopefully someone with the exact answer will see this, but if I remember correctly, drinking a tea with raspberry leaf and nettles helps to tone the uterus and cuts down on bleeding after the birth. You could research that and your MW should have ideas for you as well. I drank 2 quarts of pregnancy tea a day before my birth and there are other herbs/tinctures you can take as well. I also know that eating some of the placenta after the birth can stop hemhorrage too. Keep researching and I'm sure the answers will find you!

[kittn]

Originally Posted by MamaSong

I drank 2 quarts of pregnancy tea a day before my birth and there are other herbs/tinctures you can take as well. I also know that eating some of the placenta after the birth can stop hemhorrage too. Keep researching and I'm sure the answers will find you!

I remember drinking the red raspberry leaf tea with my second. I almost forgotten it existed. Im still nursing my youngest (he is 2 ) so Ive been drinking mothers milk tea by the truck load. I'm hoping I can keep at least a moderate supply going for him. I dont know if im exactly cruncy enough to eat placenta though. Do you cook it?

[SharonAnne]

If you're eating your placenta to stop hemmoraging, chances are you're not going to have time to cook it. But you don't need much to help the bleeding, from what I've been told. I was prepared to swallow some if I had bad bleeding, but it wasn't necessary.

I've read somewhere that mother's milk tea is contraindicated during pregnancy. I'm not sure WHERE I read it, though, so you might want to research that, as well.

[Gray's Mommy]

RRL tea is wonderful for helping tone the uterus & lessen bleeding. I don't know if the bleeding is for the postpartum or if it would help at all with hemmorhaging...can you call your care provider & ask??

[Hayes]

Mother's milk tea contains fenugreek. You should not be taking that while pregnant.

My MW came prepared with homeopathics and teas to help with PP bleeding, and it's a good thing she did. I bled quite a bit, but it was stopped without a trip to the hospital or any "medicine."

[Emmeline II]

Iron. I took iron pills the last week and a half of my pregnancy, but there are natural ways of boosting your iron.

[umami_mommy]

Originally Posted by Hayes

Mother's milk tea contains fenugreek. You should not be taking that while pregnant.

the new formula does not have fenugreek in it. in fact there isn't anything in there a pregnant woman couldn't take.

this is an issue you should be discussing with your MW or whoever will attend your birth.

there are things you can take to help prevent hemorrage: drink RRL, nettle and alfalfa tea can help build you up so you are less like to bleed. drink it at least the last 6 weeks of your pregnancy or more. also using shepherd's purse under the tongue (many midwives carry this with them. if not, you shoudl have some on hand.) having baby latch on quickly after birth helps, as does putting a small piece of the placenta in the mouth and holding it there can stop bleeding.

here is an aexcellent artilce on handling bleeding at home:

http://www.empoweredchildbirth.com/a.../bleeding.html

there is also more info on birthlove.com and in the midwifery archives at gentlebirth.org.

HTH!

[kerikadi]

With my first two births in a hospital I had low platelet counts. Fortunately, I had uneventful births but it was certainly a concern.

I brought this up with my homebirth MW. Bleeding was my only fear about homebirth, I just had this vision of me bleeding and passing out So we talked about it a few times. I drank RRL with Nettles, took iron and alfalfa during my pregnancy. She also told me that she carried pitocin to use for after the birth only if necessary. But we would start with getting the baby to latch on immediately to help my uterus contract and lessen bleeding.

She told me that if the bleeding got out of hand we would transfer for me and we went over what that would look like. That we would likely call 911 to transport and that DH would be in charge of the baby, she would go with us and help baby latch on even if I was out of it/unconscious.

It's not a pretty thought but it was good for me to know that there are steps to be taken. When it came time for the birth the thought never entered my mind and there were no issues with either of my homebirths

Blessings,
Keri

[CJ 5]

Personally I would see if my midwife could give a small shot of pitocin post delivery before the placenta. The studies show that this cuts the risk of hemmorage SIGNIFICANTLY.

[heidi_m]

You can also take alfalfa capsules... I'm taking them along with red raspberry leaf capsules because it got to the point that the RRLtea was making me gag!

[moonfirefaery]

Many midwives carry homeopathic remedies to help with hemorraging, and most of them you can buy at an organic store.

[Briannasmom]

I had a pph with my first dd born at a birth center - had to transfer to the hospital which really sucked! (the ER didn't want to treat me - I had to wait 6 hours for an ob to give me a D&C etc)... So like you, I was wary the second time around but I knew I wanted to have a homebirth. With my second dd (born almost 4 months ago now) my mw really had an arsenal of stuff to help prevent.... first she checked if I had a clotting disorder (no), then she made sure I had a really healthy diet (no small feat for me); I took a TON of calcium which the midwives here all swear by the prevent pph. THen, at the actual birth - the mw assistant held my uterus for an hour or more, I breastfed, they gave me a bunch of homeopathic tinctures (shepherds purse, don't know what else). Other things we talked about but I can't remember whether she did or not were: a shot of Pitocin and oral Methergine. What I do recall is that she tried a whole bunch of stuff which did not work (the homeopathic stuff for sure didn't work) but then she put some things up my rectum (hmmm got to ask what that was) - which worked like a charm. Anyway, I would just say that you really talk it over with your mw as to how she'll approach it.

[zoebird]

you should be able to find a lot of information about it at unhinderedliving.com.

[kittn]

thanks so much all of you for all the info. I did talk with a possible midwife and I am going to meet her on friday. I went over some of it with her already so thats good. the mothers milk tea does not have fenugreek in it so I think im good, but im going to double check anyway.