really need information re: retained placenta

[Barbee]

my ds was born at home. his birth was fine although i never had the kind of contractions that i hear about where you can't help but push. i felt like it was a very conscious effort. after that my placenta retained and i bled quickly. when i got to the hospital i had lost 2/3ds of my blood volume and needed a blood transfusion of four bags. it was extremely painful and for a long time after that, i had a very low pain threshold which is not normal for me. it was very difficult for me. i felt guilty. i felt weak. bonding with my son took longer than i thought it would. all that aside, i'm happy i had a homebirth and still advocate for it which is hard for other people to understand. hunter's placenta was bilobed which i know now (i didn't realize this before his birth) makes a retained placenta more of a risk. i've also read that because his placenta was bilobed, i have a greater chance of a bilobed placenta with future pregnancies. i also read that this kind of placenta can lead to birth defects and still birth. i don't know really what to believe and how to sort it all out. in my heart, i want another child someday, but am not sure of the real risks involved for my particular situation. i would love to hear any information to help me make an educated decision about any theoretical future pregnancies. tia...
~barbara

[Barbee]

anyone??? i guess i wasn't very specific, so here's the questions i have.

• how common is it for a bilobed placenta to recur?
• if i did develop another bilobed placenta, what are the chances that it can lead to a bad outcome as far as fetal development?
• how common would it be for another bilobed placenta to retain?
• and, where can i find more information on this?

this information will really help me to decide whether or not to entertain the thought of getting pregnant again.
anyone?

[kittywitty]

I had a retained piece of placenta, but didn't have a bilobed placenta. I started hemorrhaging before my placenta came out.

http://www.springer.com/west/home?SG...39456-0,00.pdf
WARNING: Graphic and picture of stillbirth, I believe.

http://www.mypacs.net/cases/BILOBED-...A-5479342.html
Looks like there may be a genetic disposition.

http://www.jabfm.org/cgi/content/full/16/6/543

http://www.vasaprevia.com/vasaprevia/bilobed.htm

[mwherbs]

I think that the reference to genetics has to do with the increased risk of having another bipartite placenta, not that there are anomalies associated or identified with having a bipartite placenta.

here is a basic article on placentas and there is some mention of bilobed

http://www.aafp.org/afp/980301ap/yetter.html


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the chances of having a multil-lobed placenta is about 1 in 350
the over all risk of vasa previa is about 1 in 3000

[StaciStar]

I had a bilobed placenta with my daughter. It did take an hour and a half and a shot of pitocin to get it out, but I didn't have any problems with excessive blood loss after. Staci

[Barbee]

all of this reading is just scaring me into never getting pregnant again. is this a case of too much internet, or would i really be taking chances by getting pregnant again?

[tulsidas]

i had a homebirth with a transfer because of a retained placenta as well and like you i want to have another homebirth. i am currently pregnant at my 25th week and i am trying to find hard facts of how common it is to have a reoccuring retained placenta.
so far i have found barely anything. a few sites site 25% but there is so little data.

i would say to you that life is a chance and if you want children you should.

i would right more but my DD is needing me.
love to you!!!

[Barbee]

Originally Posted by tulsidas

i had a homebirth with a transfer because of a retained placenta as well and like you i want to have another homebirth. i am currently pregnant at my 25th week and i am trying to find hard facts of how common it is to have a reoccuring retained placenta.
so far i have found barely anything. a few sites site 25% but there is so little data.

i would say to you that life is a chance and if you want children you should.

i would right more but my DD is needing me.
love to you!!!

what does your midwife say about this topic? i have a friend who also had a retained placenta with her first, had to be transferred and then had her second at home with no complications. our town doesn't have a maternity ward in the hospital, so we have to transfer to another town about 15 minutes away. after me, there was a huge uproar because the hospitals blamed my blood loss on the fact that i was at home. doing a homebirth here for even the slightest risk is difficult because of the politics. anyway, my friend's midwife was certain that having another retained placenta would be unlikely and thus agreed to the homebirth. my issue is that my placenta retained because it was bilobed and a bilobed placenta is more common after already having developed one and placenta retention is more common with a bilobed placenta. : if your placenta had no anomalies other than the fact that it retained, according to my friend's midwife your chances of having another retained placenta are pretty slim. congratulations on the new baby and thank you for your encouragement.

[tulsidas]

Originally Posted by Barbee

what does your midwife say about this topic? i have a friend who also had a retained placenta with her first, had to be transferred and then had her second at home with no complications. our town doesn't have a maternity ward in the hospital, so we have to transfer to another town about 15 minutes away. after me, there was a huge uproar because the hospitals blamed my blood loss on the fact that i was at home. doing a homebirth here for even the slightest risk is difficult because of the politics. anyway, my friend's midwife was certain that having another retained placenta would be unlikely and thus agreed to the homebirth. my issue is that my placenta retained because it was bilobed and a bilobed placenta is more common after already having developed one and placenta retention is more common with a bilobed placenta. : if your placenta had no anomalies other than the fact that it retained, according to my friend's midwife your chances of having another retained placenta are pretty slim. congratulations on the new baby and thank you for your encouragement.

well, right now i am dealing with 2 MWs. the one i am planning on using the homebirth MW feels confident that my placenta will come up. she feels like it was so unlikely that it happend in the first place that it should not happen again. the other CNM (nurse midwife) is going along with the MD at the practice that said i have a 50% chance of retaining.
it is hard cause i know i should be cautious but i have a hard time visualizing me birthing at the hosiptal. i dont like any of the OBs and i only like 1 out of the 3 MWs. so i am not planning on birthing there.
our problem is that we live in rurual PA and there is only one hosiptal. and we are "lucky" that we are only 15 minutes away. but the last transfer the OB took over 1 hour to get there as i was bleeding my life away.
so i feel like we are in a bad situation cause the medical practice has already in writing said that they do not recommend a homebirth. and i am worried if we did have a transfer that it could get ugly.

[Barbee]

Originally Posted by tulsidas

well, right now i am dealing with 2 MWs. the one i am planning on using the homebirth MW feels confident that my placenta will come up. she feels like it was so unlikely that it happend in the first place that it should not happen again. the other CNM (nurse midwife) is going along with the MD at the practice that said i have a 50% chance of retaining.
it is hard cause i know i should be cautious but i have a hard time visualizing me birthing at the hosiptal. i dont like any of the OBs and i only like 1 out of the 3 MWs. so i am not planning on birthing there.
our problem is that we live in rurual PA and there is only one hosiptal. and we are "lucky" that we are only 15 minutes away. but the last transfer the OB took over 1 hour to get there as i was bleeding my life away.
so i feel like we are in a bad situation cause the medical practice has already in writing said that they do not recommend a homebirth. and i am worried if we did have a transfer that it could get ugly.

i wonder if there is anything you can do right now that would better your chances of delivering your placenta normally. herbs, a special diet, something like that? my friend went to a chinese healer and swears that whatever they did or gave her helped. like you, i cannot imagine a hospital birth. maybe a birth center near the hospital? i wish you the best and i'm sure everything will work out. i'm also interested in hearing about how all of this works out for you.