Hello ladies!
Can anyone tell me more about their experiences with delivery of the placenta? I've been reading a little bit about this, have seen it once in person when I was with a friend while she gave birth, and have seen it in some birth videos too- it seems like there is often a doctor or midwife doing an awful lot of pushing around the Mom's belly trying to force the placenta out. Why?
If I've had a natural birth without any intervention why would I need someone pushing me around for this last phase of birth?
My body did all of the work of conceiving, laboring, and birthing this child, so wouldn't it stand to reason that my body can finish the job without so much external prodding?
Thanks!
Re: talk to me about pushing out the placenta
My guess is they speed it along so they can move you to recovery in a hospital setting.
Even with a med-free birth they have given me a little bit of pitocin to deliver the placenta and for clotting. At that point I didn't care anymore, I was just enjoying my baby, lol.
If this is something you don't want done I would discuss it with your midwife or OB.
Nursing the baby can help the placenta deliver as well and would obviously be more natural.
Natural M/c 12/13/08 at 8w5d
Konstantino
Maximo
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For me, I had some hemorrhaging after both births, so the OB was massaging my uterus to help it contract and stop the bleeding. With DD I needed pitocin via IV (I had a hep lock, but delivered med free) and with DS my delivery was so fast (arrived at the hospital at 9.5cm) that I didn't have the hep lock and needed two separate shots in my thighs and a lot more massaging.
No lie, it totally hurt. With DS, it was worse and I think after having him so quickly (total labor was 78 minutes), my body was kind of in shock, so the pain was incredibly intense. But I was passing pretty large clots and the OB was concerned.
Odd question, but do you have red or reddish hair? My hair is brown with red highlights, and I was told after I had DD that people with red/reddish hair are more likely to have issues with bleeding.
Anyway, I imagine if you don't have any complications that you wouldn't need any kind of intervention and could request not to have any.
TTC since 11/05...ectopic pg 4/08...early m/c 6/09...BFP 10/5/09!
Nora B...June 15, 2010...8lbs, 8oz...Med-free birth!
TTC #2 since 7/11...cycle #3 of Clomid + IUI = BFP
Malcolm...September 21, 2012...8lbs, 6oz...Another med-free birth!
That's exactly how mine went, except I was in a hospital. My doctor seemed surprised it came out so easily and cleanly. I really didn't even notice, I just remember him saying "Let's see if we can get this placenta out now," so I pushed again and out it came, no big deal! I didn't know until later when dh told me the doctor kind of guided it out with the cord, but I did all the work. They never pushed on my belly or anything (nor would I have let them, I was tired and just wanted to hold my baby, not have someone bruise up my stomach!).
This is what happened with my homebirth as well. Once the cord stopped pulsing my MW tugged lightly and asked me to push a little. I think it took two pushes for me and it was out. no biggie at all! In the hospital with my first that was quite painful! there was a LOT of pushing on my uterus and they somewhat forced it out just minutes after delivery.... Im pro waiting.
With my first, it just came out pretty quickly after the cord stopped pulsing- I think I maybe gave a short push? The cord had already been cut at that point because it was short and I couldn't get out of the birth tub with the baby attached.
With my second it didn't come out right away when the cord stopped pulsing, so my MW had me get on the birth stool and after a easy push it came out. Turns out it was huge (3 lbs- the biggest my MW has ever seen LOL), so it needed a bit of gravity.
From everything I have read you do NOT want anyone pulling on your cord- it could break and end up leaving pieces up there. I am sure there is an art to it and situations where it is deemed necessary, but I would try the gravity thing before anyone tugs on anything. As for the pushing on your belly- that sounds horrible!
For DS's birth, the doc said "one more little push for the placenta" and out it came. I didn't even feel it and had to ask if I had actually delivered it. So, no pushing or pulling.
After delivering the placenta, I was bleeding pretty heavily (I ended up getting 2 units of blood after the bleeding stopped) and that was when they started "massaging" my stomach. It was very unpleasant, more so than you might think. So, I'd avoid it unless necessary.
BFP#2: EDD 2/11/14, MMC confirmed 7/15/13 (growth stopped at 6 weeks), D&C @ 12 weeks 7/25/13
This was true for me as well, though I think I had a shot of Pitocin to help it along. I also didn't even notice much about delivering it, in fact, I completely forgot about the shot of Pit until I read this!
g
DS #1 born 05/25/2012
BFP#2: 06/12/2013 ---- loss
DS #2 born 4/08/2014
BPF#4: 2/1/2016 --- 2/23/2016 suspected molar pregnancy--- 3/15/2016 D&E - diagnosis MM
BFP#5 - 9/22/2016
* formally bornmommy
I barely remember that part. I know I read about it before hand so I knew to expect to deliver the placenta, but the actually delivery of it is more of a "I'm pretty sure it happened" blur. I don't remember it being all that uncomfortable. I remember some uterine massaging, thinking that getting the placenta out was a lot easier than the baby and it just being over. I was pretty focused on LO by then.
I do remember that I got the pit shot in my thigh afterwards, perhaps 2 of them, as I was bleeding pretty badly. Also, there was a large clot stuck in me that they had to reach in and remove and that removal process definitely wasn't comfortable.
After a delayed cord cutting, I delivered my placenta (It was somewhere around 20 minutes after delivery). My midwife was giving me some herbal tonic to help with blood clotting. It is very helpful to start breastfeeding as soon as possible after delivery as this will help decrease bleeding.
I do not remember being poked and prodded a lot during this time. I think my midwife may have gently pushed on my uterus to check and make sure the placenta was starting to detach, but it only took a few seconds. I don't rightly remember! Under NO circumstances should your cord be tractioned in order to speed up delivery of the placenta - it can cause excessive bleeding and even hemorrhaging.
It sounds like to me, you may want to check into doing a partial lotus birth. I am probably going to do one this time around
More Green For Less Green
Pipsqueak born 6/9/14
I think they do the massage to help the uterus contract & get it out faster. However, talk with your OB/midwife about your birth plan & have in there that you don't want the "massage of death" (as a friend of mine called it).
My OB knew I wanted to do everything as naturally as possible, so after giving birth naturally, she allowed me to deliver the placenta naturally with no massaging. She just gently tugged on the cord as I was delivering it to help me out. Although, the nurses did massage my uterus a few hours later just to make sure my uterus was shrinking like it was supposed to.
This is what I thought too.
thanks for all of the replies ladies!
This makes it clear to me that expelling the placenta has just about the same range of possibilities as all the other aspects of labor and birth- from med-free, intervention-free, to use of these tools when medically necessary, and use of these tools out of habit or for physician convenience, to times when there really is an urgent need to intervene.
I really liked the post about a MW asking Mom to massage her own belly to get things going. My OB said she usually does a little traction, but I'm a DIY-type so I've asked to instead let me do the massage myself and see how it goes. She seems on board, so I just hope she doesn't forget and go pulling on my cord!
Also the partial lotus concept is fascinating, but not for the faint of heart, eh? I'd love to hear what it's like if anyone tries it!