I had a retained placenta after my first delivery. The labor and delivery went very well. I was pretty much induced. Came in with contractions, they broke my water and gave pitocin to speed up labor. I had an epidural. Pushed for 35 minutes. Total labor of about 8 hours. All was much easier and less painful than I thought it would be. I thought I was finally done, only to find out the placenta would not budge. By this time, the epidural had been taken out for quite awhile. The Dr. said he needed to remove the placenta manually right there or take me back to surgery, my choice. I opted for manual removal. They gave me nubain, which only made me groggy. I felt EVERYTHING! It was the most painful and traumatic experience of my life and I will never forget it. He had to go in twice to make sure that he got all of it. The whole experience took about 2 minutes DH tells me, but it seemed an eternity to me. I'm sure I scared the heck out of other laboring mothers with all the screaming! My question is, has anyone had this happen in subsequent pregnancies? I want another child, but am terrified that this will happen again, and I'm not even pregnant yet! Also, was anyone given a c-section because of this happening before, or do they just let you try natural again and see what happens? Lastly, do the Dr's have any safety measures set up for the next delivery so they are ready should it happen again?
Retained Placenta
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Sevenladybugs
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I had a retained placenta in my last delivery and had a manual removal without any pain relief either so I am very empathetic for what happened to you. It truly was the most painful and traumatic thing I have ever gone through. I have been told by my OB that yes it can happen again, but it is unlikely to. She said I would be able to have a vaginal delivery just like anyone else. She has reassured me that if it does we will just go to the OR and I will be given pain relief or put under this time. I would talk to your Dr about your concerns and ask them what they would do to handle the situation. 
NandO1
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i had it with dd had it manually removed, 1st the m/w tried and i was on gas and air but it was painful and wouldnt budge, they gave me a spinal block and a dr removed it in theatres for me, was really worried that this would happen again with ds but out it plopped without any fuss. xx
hey i had this with my dd i was induced with her so they just continued on with the drip to try and get it moving nothing would even when doc tried to remove it, it only came out in bits so i had to goto theatre and have a spinal block to remove the rest took a while as it was removing wet paper it just can out in small clumbs. this time round i've been told it shudnt really happen but they are keeping a closer eye on me. speak to your doc is prob best xo
Flowermommy
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I had a retained placenta with both my 2nd and 3rd pregnancies. Came out in bits with my 2nd after the drip but with my third the mw kept trying to tug on the cord and it snapped with traumatic results.
Because of this I thought there was no way I was having another child, but after 4 years my desire for another child trumped my fear.
I've been told it won't necessarily happen again, although they are inducing me two weeks early so they can control the labour. My consultant said because of my previous heavy haemorrhaging she won't do a c-section as you can bleed heavily with that so the possibility of trying to control two heavy bleeds would make it more dangerous. However, I'm not sure everyone bleeds with a retained placenta??
I agree with the ladies, talk things over with your Dr to get all the answers you need. X
Because of this I thought there was no way I was having another child, but after 4 years my desire for another child trumped my fear.
I've been told it won't necessarily happen again, although they are inducing me two weeks early so they can control the labour. My consultant said because of my previous heavy haemorrhaging she won't do a c-section as you can bleed heavily with that so the possibility of trying to control two heavy bleeds would make it more dangerous. However, I'm not sure everyone bleeds with a retained placenta??
I agree with the ladies, talk things over with your Dr to get all the answers you need. X
poppy
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I had a retained placenta with my first son (long near 30 hour labour, epidural, waters broken for me, forceps delivery, contractions tailing off etc) and had a manual placenta removal - luckily it was not without pain relief but it was very scary being wheeled off to theatre after delivering a baby with no idea what is going on. I also lost about 1000mls of blood.
Understandably, this time round I was really nervous about it. I made sure I spoke to a consultant beforehand who said they would be aware of my history when I came into deliver and that they would give me that injection to get the placenta to come out quickly after delivery.
Luckily, my labour was really fast and simple this time (only five hours in total and two in hospital, 10 mins pushing, only gas and air) and the placenta came out in 12 minutes with no problems.
Good luck with your future pregnancies and rest assured that it won't necessarily happen again. Make sure you get a consultant as well.
Oh, I have posted a number of threads on this issue which shows that this issue is a bit more common than you may think.
xxx
Understandably, this time round I was really nervous about it. I made sure I spoke to a consultant beforehand who said they would be aware of my history when I came into deliver and that they would give me that injection to get the placenta to come out quickly after delivery.
Luckily, my labour was really fast and simple this time (only five hours in total and two in hospital, 10 mins pushing, only gas and air) and the placenta came out in 12 minutes with no problems.
Good luck with your future pregnancies and rest assured that it won't necessarily happen again. Make sure you get a consultant as well.
Oh, I have posted a number of threads on this issue which shows that this issue is a bit more common than you may think.
xxx
hiya, l too had this with my dd, had to have a spinal after the delivery which was very traumatic and fearing and am panicking about it with this one
but cons assured me they are aware of it in my notes and will do their best, like others have said, make sure they know of it and keep an eye on you, like others have no problems in subsequent pg and you may be just one of them so fingers crossed
but cons assured me they are aware of it in my notes and will do their best, like others have said, make sure they know of it and keep an eye on you, like others have no problems in subsequent pg and you may be just one of them so fingers crossed
cassie0
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This happened to me also. I was rushed to theatre and after 15 mins or so of trying to remove it they still didnt get all of it out. It was like starring in a horror movie, so much blood, tramatic and terrifing after such a lovely calm labour. I am scared to go through this again. I was awake in theatre with epidural topped up three times and still felt it. They wanted to put me under but i refused as I wanted to breast feed as soon as possible. Ended up losing a lot of blood and having a blood transfusion. Seriously considering asking for a c-section next time round but would obviously love another natural (uncomplcated birth) 
