Rapid dilation causing bleeding?

[loraxc]

I just heard a friend's birth story, and was surprised by some of the details. She had planned a HB, but transferred during very early labor because while only 1 cm dilated, she stood up and experienced a sudden, copious gush of blood from her vagina. They hurried to the hospital with mer MW, where she had an u/s and mom and baby checked out fine. She went on to have a unmedicated, otherwise uncomplicated vaginal birth.

Her midwife told her the bleeding was probably caused by very rapid dilation (apparently, she went from 1 to 4 in a very short time). I have never heard of this and would be interested to hear more....Google isn't giving me much. If I experienced sudden, copious bleeding in labor I would be worried about the placenta or something else fairly serious.

She also had a postpartum hemorrhage and said she was on Pitocin for two days after the birth (?). The other unusual things about the labor are that she was vomiting almost nonstop and describes the contractions as back to back from the start.

[mama to 2 girls]

I'm not a professional but just thought I would share my experiance with dd2....I was NOT induced, no meds of any kind and dialated from 3cm's to 10cm's in LESS than an HOUR, my labor was INSANELY INTENSE!.....I hardly had any blood loss. I have never heard of this but maybe someone else will know something I don't.

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Just another anecdote. My 1st was a long labor but I went from 4-10 in less than an hour. No bleeding except after the placenta detached. My second, labor was less than 4 hours start to finish. No exams so I have no idea what my dilation was. No bleeding except after placenta detached. No pph either time. Not that a couple of random stories mean much!

[Alison Cole]

So, the text books say that a rapid labor can lead to a worn-out uterus that has trouble contracting post-partum, and thus, excessive post-partum bleeding. I don't know if this is backed up by research, and obviously it isn't true for everyone. As far as bleeding during dilation, it's the whole "bloody show" thing, explained as being the result of bursting cervical capilaries as dilation occurs. I've heard of extreme bloody show being confused with something more serious (as seems to be what happened in your friend's case), but becuase it could be something more serious, like placental abruption or previa, I think it makes sense that she and her midwife chose to transfer.

HTH!

[mama to 2 girls]

Originally Posted by Alison Cole

So, the text books say that a rapid labor can lead to a worn-out uterus that has trouble contracting post-partum, and thus, excessive post-partum bleeding. I don't know if this is backed up by research, and obviously it isn't true for everyone. As far as bleeding during dilation, it's the whole "bloody show" thing, explained as being the result of bursting cervical capilaries as dilation occurs. I've heard of extreme bloody show being confused with something more serious (as seems to be what happened in your friend's case), but becuase it could be something more serious, like placental abruption or previa, I think it makes sense that she and her midwife chose to transfer.

HTH!

I thought I would comment again because even though I did not have PPH, after my daughter was born it was like my uterus just gave up and didn't want to work anymore!! I think the reason I didn't have PPH was because my m/w gave me 3 shots of pitocin....but nothing was getting my contractions going again! DD2 was nursing, was given the pitocin and still after 3 hrs. nothing!

I never knew that it was in a book (about a tired uterus) but that's all I could think of the whole time after the birth is that my uterus just said ENOUGH!