Ladies who had a placental abruption- come in
SaucySarie
member
A post below got me thinking (again) about the events leading up to my babies delivery. At 27 weeks I had a pretty major bleeding event and was rushed to the hospital where they said I was having contractions and was 80% effaced and dialted to a 2, and at this time they said they didn't know why I was bleeding. They managed to stop the bleeding and the contractions with mag. and kept me in the hospital on bedrest. Seven days later I had another bleeding/ contracting episode, where they managed to stop it again. Then two days after that was a final MAJOR bleeding episode and couldn't stop the bleeding (I ended up needing 2 blood transfusions) and I had an emergency C-section.
I was wondering if everyone else who had a placental abruption, were delivered the first time they started bleeding? I just keep thinking that if they had delivered my babies the first time (even though it was earlier and it could have been a whole different set of problems) Or even the second time I started bleeding, maybe they would not have had a lack of oxygen and suffered trauma to their brains (only the id. girls had a lack of oxygen). I am just curious, b/c I feel like there should have been more they could have done.
Thanks for listening.
Re: Ladies who had a placental abruption- come in
I can see where you're coming from. I had my first abruption at 17w and obviously delivering wasn't an option. I had my second just shy of 24w and the goal was to make it as far as possible. Because my abruptions weren't "complete" and my placenta was still attached they decided to wait as long as they could before they delivered DD. Basically if she would have shown signs of distress or if she stopped growing (she was definitely slowing down at the end) then they would have preformed a c/s. It turned out that the bleeding caused contractions and the contractions caused bleeding and in the end they couldn't keep the contractions under control and I went into labor (though I think that DD *knew* she wasn't doing very well inside and that she needed to come out so she started my labor... that sounds stupid when I type it, but I think it's true).
I know that oxygen deprivation is an issue with abruptions, but generally only if there is a full abruption. I'm assuming that you had u/s with the bleeding episodes and I think they would have been able to tell if the babies were in distress and needed to be delivered. I know it's hard not to wonder what could have been, I do it all the time
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I was on bed rest for 5 weeks. The day I delivered, my DH carried me into the babies room and I sat in a rocker folding baby clothes. I stood up to hang a few things up in the closet and lost my balance and fell. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. 7 hours later I started hemorrhaging. The Dr's say my fall caused a placenta abruption. I feel so guilty! I know it is my fault my babies were born premature. I should have kept my fat butt in bed an none of this would have happened. I didn't move for 5 weeks, and the one time I do this happens. I seriously can't even type this without crying. My babies are perfectly healthy, it has been 15 months, and the guilt is still killing me.
There was no way to stop my labor and they had to be delivered by emergency c/s.
Stupid mommy!!!
My delivery was quite a bit further along as well at 33 weeks, but I also had a placental abruption. I'm not sure if this was why I had my preemie though. I went into labor having mild contractions on the morning of day 1 at work (but brushed them off as Braxton Hicks). That night, I was so uncomfortable I couldn't sleep and that's when I could differentiate between one contraction and the next. DH started timing them. This is going to sound stupid, I know, but I went to a birthing class the week before at our hospital and they drilled it in to us not to come to the hospital until the contractions are 5 minutes apart otherwise they will send you home. So I waited at home for hours until they were 5 minutes apart. Then we waited on the phone for a health nurse for half an hour upon which she told us to go to the hospital immediately.
We got to the hospital, I was 4 cm dilated and contractions up to 3 minutes apart. They gave me Indomethacin and morphine to try to slow the contractions down then took me up to a delivery room just in case. Contractions slowed and I was kept in the hospital to be monitored.
Still no bleeding. Contractions varied from 20 minutes apart to 7 minutes apart from day 1 to day 4, so uncomfortable. But at least it gave the medical team time to give me 2 shots of steroids in attempt to mature DS's lungs in case he decided to come.
Late on the night of day 4 the contractions were more difficult to differenetiate between one and the next and I became extremely uncomfortable. I told the nurses something was wrong, they brushed it off. Then lying in bed, I thought I peed my pants, but when I got up, I found a lot of blood in the bed. Called the nurse who told me my placenta abrupted. They timed my contractions (I can't remember what they were) and said he had to come right now. 45 minutes later DS was born. DH barely made it to the hospital on time.
Docs told me they weren't sure why he came early. I had an uneventful pregnancy until my hospital admission, I'm healthy, and had no risk factors. I had a slightly infected uterus, but after testing, DS had no infection. Maybe it had something to do with the uterus, but I'm not sure. Sorry to hear about your traumatic labor and delivery. It's hard to look back and wonder/have regrets about how it all went. Hope if you have another pregnancy later that it goes better.
I started bleeding and contracting at 27 weeks as well. It was a major bleed and I was in the hospital in a different state for about 5 weeks, were I suffered only 1 additional serious bleed. I was on mag for all 5 weeks because my body did not respond to any other tocolytic. I did pass a large clot as well and basically contracted my entire stay. I was finally allowed to go home at 31 weeks but ended up in at my local hospital for 1 week following another, relatively minor bleed. The local hospital basically tried to pressure me into a terb pump and wanted to discharge me as soon as possible. I refused the terb pump and was prescribed Procardia every 4 hours, (might have been every 6 hrs), I was at home and on bedrest at 32 weeks and then suffered my last major bleed (and most serious bleed) at 35 weeks and that is when my emergency c-section was performed. I was diagnosed with a placental abrution immediately (at the time of the inital bleed) and then was also diagnosed with a marginal sinus bleed and low amniotic fluid at 32 weeks. The closely monitored me and my baby the entire time and felt that things were fine and they wanted us to go as long as we both could with out putting the two of us in any jeaopardy.
Believe me, I completely understand how you feel. Even though I don't have an answer for you as to why this happened, please know that no matter what you have adorable babies and you are a wonderful parent! But I know it is so hard not go back and think why it happened and what could have been done to prevent the abruption and the outcome.
I had abruptions with both of my twin pregnancies.
With my first one, it occured at 25 weeks. They kept me in the hospital until 30 weeks and then sent me home on bedrest. I made it until 35 weeks, at which point my son's BPPs looked bad so they did a scheduled c/s. I never went into labor or had even one contraction. It was my son's placenta that abrupted and they said later that it was on the verge of failure and he might have died within 24 hours. He did not react like a 5 lb, 35 weeker at all and died, had to be revived, and was on a vent for 9 days, had pneumos, chest tubes, etc. He came home after 21 days in NICU, almost all of which were touch and go. When he got better, it was sudden. My daughter never had any issues and roomed in with me.
The second one occured at 27 weeks. I was hospitalized until 32 weeks, when they let me go home on bedrest. An hour later, I had a second one, at which point they delivered me. They only delivered me because I had reached 32 weeks. My MFM said that the placentas looked "chewed up". Both girls did well, Alice was on CPAP for 24 hours as a precaution and came home after 3 weeks. Charlotte was on a vent for 7 days, but then moved to feeder/grower very quickly and came home after 4 weeks.
My story is very similar to a PP. I was on hospital bedrest being monitored for pre-e. The morning I delivered I was awakened by a sharp shooting pain in my back. When my DS's heartbeat dropped to 60 and my BP spiked above 200 they performed an emergency c-section within 10 minutes. It wasn't until the next day that I was told that I actually had developed a severe case of pre-e and my placenta had abrupted. I had no bleeding.