Placenta Question

ThePregosaurus · September 2014

I'm reading all your awesome warrior woman birth stories and nobody ever really mentions the placenta. I know it's not even close to as big a deal as the actual baby but I'm curious as to what that delivery is like. You're already sore down there and then have to push that mushy sack out! What's it like? Is it painful after all that activity down there or is it relatively painless? Thanks in advance

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Manateearmz · September 2014

I remember needing to push a few more times as they mashed on my stomach, but I was holding my baby and couldn't care less about anything else in the world.

ETA: my husband made the mistake of looking down and saw the placenta fall out of me. He maintains it was the most vile thing he's ever seen, worse than me popping on the table or losing my mucus plug in front of him.

MaineMama · September 2014

Mine have all been manually removed (csections) BUT my sister said she didn't even know it was out until her midwife told her it was.

Hopefully yours goes as smoothly as that!

leoandethansmom · September 2014

I delivered it a few minutes after DS was born, it was nothing at all. The nurse asked me if I wanted to see it, she shoved her hand in it and kept showing me all the different parts. I could have lived without seeing that....

JRod13 · September 2014

My doc pulled it out of me - literally, hand over hand by the cord. I didn't feel anything.

Jessie333 · September 2014

I didn't need to push. My body did it. I felt it come out, and that was kind of weird.

chicorojo · September 2014

With my first, My placenta was actually retained, and I started to hemmorhage, So I was rushed into surgery for an emergency D&C.
With my second my just kinda came out on its own. It felt really gross though.

soulcupcake · September 2014

I don't recall what it was like with my first, but it was delivered soon after birth (active management). It came out pretty easily with my second and third, from what I remember. With my second, I don't recall any traction being used.

With my fourth, we massaged my uterus to help it contract and deliver the placenta. It came out on its own (passive management) soon after birth. It just felt like something mushy sliding out.

MauraLou25 · September 2014

JRod13 said:
My doc pulled it out of me - literally, hand over hand by the cord. I didn't feel anything.

My OB pulled mine out too. One hand massage my uterus the other pulled.

Meether · September 2014

It's easy compared to birth, you don't even notice unless they are engaging you. Just remembered looking at baby

ThePregosaurus · September 2014

Thanks for the responses, ladies. I guess that's about what I figured (being more concerned with LO). I just keep learning new and surprising things every day so you just never know! Love learning about all your experiences.

rshamos · September 2014

leosmom25 said:

I delivered it a few minutes after DS was born, it was nothing at all. The nurse asked me if I wanted to see it, she shoved her hand in it and kept showing me all the different parts. I could have lived without seeing that....

That is totally something I would be into seeing. I like that kind of gross stuff though.

MeganK81410 · September 2014

I vaguely remember having to push once or twice while my doctor pushed on my stomach and pulled on the cord. As PP have said, I was so focused on baby and so relieved that it was all over that I wasn't paying much attention!

kapio2012 · September 2014

rshamos said:

leosmom25 said:

I delivered it a few minutes after DS was born, it was nothing at all. The nurse asked me if I wanted to see it, she shoved her hand in it and kept showing me all the different parts. I could have lived without seeing that....

That is totally something I would be into seeing. I like that kind of gross stuff though.

It is actually kinda cool to see as long as you aren't squeamish. In nursing school, my OB clinical instructor had one saved for a little bit after a birth so we could see it. Our bodies are pretty amazing!

leoandethansmom · September 2014

@kapio2012 I probably would have found it cooler if I wasn't so focused on all of the stitching going on in the vag, the possibility of DS going to NICU because he didn't cry, and the fact that I lost so much blood I needed a transfusion but didn't get one. Honestly though one of my only clear memories from that exact moment in time was that nurses hand shoved up in my placenta lol. I kind of wish I had paid more attention to what she was saying though!

SereJane · September 2014

Great question op! As a FTM I found these answers really fascinating. I doubt I'll want to see it but who knows, it is pretty amazing what the placenta does..

rshamos · September 2014

I actually would rather see the placenta than the baby coming out. I have been trying to desensitize myself but the crowning part freaks me out!

leoandethansmom · September 2014

Oh yeah, they asked me if I wanted to see him crowning and since my epidural did nothing I told them feeling it was enough, I did NOT want to see it. No regrets.

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Beren+Luthien · September 2014

According to DH, the doc pulled the cord and it came out in one piece. I didn't feel it or need to push.

abcmom12 · September 2014

when you start pushing it's no longer painful, just intense pressure. when the placenta came out for me, my body gave one more push and it "slid" out. felt soooo disgusting and it was nasty looking!

ginger514 · September 2014

I remember feeling a big sense of relief, like I finally got everything out of me. My son was being looked at by the NICU nurses, so I was probably more aware of it. It didn't hurt, it just felt great when it was out.

jayellekay · September 2014

Mine came out really fast after my daughter was delivered, and it was very slimy. Like my doctor said, there are no bones in the placenta! It basically feels like a giant blood clot (sorry, TMI!) coming out. Obviously, it's much larger, but you're already stretched down there and you really don't feel much. It was really neat to see - my doctor held it for us to look at and see the "tree of life."

argyledogs · September 2014

When my stepmom had a youngest sister, they put her placenta in bowl and just left it there on that bed-end table thing.... She and my dad were both in the military at that point, so no family nearby- step-sis (around 6 yrs old at that point) had to be in the delivery room with them, though they sat her on the other side of the room behind a curtain for the actual delivery.

She and my dad talk all the time about how gross and weird it was to walk past that placenta in a bowl for an hour or two until someone finally took it away.

Ended up being a great future birth control experience for step-sister! Hahaha.

mlee116 · September 2014

kapio2012 said:

leosmom25 said:

I delivered it a few minutes after DS was born, it was nothing at all. The nurse asked me if I wanted to see it, she shoved her hand in it and kept showing me all the different parts. I could have lived without seeing that....

That is totally something I would be into seeing. I like that kind of gross stuff though.
It is actually kinda cool to see as long as you aren't squeamish. In nursing school, my OB clinical instructor had one saved for a little bit after a birth so we could see it. Our bodies are pretty amazing!

I had a c-section so I didn't push it out, but I did ask to look at it. I mean, how cool is it that your body automatically grows an organ just to nourish a baby? I'm pretty squeamish but it wasn't that bad. It looked like some leftover pieces you'd see in a meat market or something.

ThePregosaurus · September 2014

Haha I'd totally wanna see it. I grew all that stuff in me or all those weeks.. I wanna see everything!

Annya26 · September 2014

The placenta being delivered worried me the first time around - same thought process of it being large and already being sore down there.
Truthfully it was a huge relief when it came out. It was uncomfortable having the cord hanging out and touching the spot where they cut me and when it came out I felt way more comfortable and "lighter".

Pushing it out was mildly uncomfortable, but no big deal.

kmckenn2549 · September 2014

I didnt feel it, like everyone was saying, you are more focused on baby. I did ask to see it because I was curious. Pretty cool to see where your baby spent 10 months of their lives

blessdtxas · September 2014

I'm a FTM so no personal experience, but I made the mistake of watching some birth videos and in one of them, the doctor asked the girl to cough (like when you go to the doctor with a cold and get your lungs checked) a few times and it came out! So gross!

Cryssteen · September 2014

As a nurse and a woman, I feel confident in saying that, damn, sometime our bodies are just ga-ross.

Abeja1226 · September 2014

In both my experiences it was completely painless and all I've ever felt was a "plop" when it comes out (sorry for the graphic description lol).

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