Does passing the Placenta/after birth really hurt as much as everyone says?

babyadams8611 · August 2015

I'm planning to TRY a natural, medication-free birth. Iv been hearing that passing the placenta and all after the baby is delivered is more painful than delivering the baby itself. Any thoughts on that?

amberrmariee20 · August 2015

No and yes... They just pushed down on my stomach and it eventually came out, that part didn't hurt... But the doctor ended up with both her hands up to her elbows up inside me pushing up on my stomach to stop some of my bleeding or something and that hurt !!

adcoxmt · August 2015

Ugghhh... I've *heard* it's awful, but I think a big factor is that most people are of the mindset "cool, baby is out, I'm finally done pushing," and then your doctor/L&D nurse is like "you're gonna hate me but there's one more thang...." Or at least that's what I'm hoping.

@amberrmariee20 is...is that common? Elbow-deep sounds hella painful.

(

tate62610 · August 2015

I've heard the pushing on your stomach is very uncomfortable.

amberrmariee20 · August 2015

adcoxmt said:
Ugghhh... I've *heard* it's awful, but I think a big factor is that most people are of the mindset "cool, baby is out, I'm finally done pushing," and then your doctor/L&D nurse is like "you're gonna hate me but there's one more thang...." Or at least that's what I'm hoping.

@amberrmariee20 is...is that common? Elbow-deep sounds hella painful.
(

I'm not sure if it's common, but it hurt worse then pushing my son out. But I didn't push out my placenta. They just slightly massaged my stomach.

tate62610 said:
I've heard the pushing on your stomach is very uncomfortable.

It can be VERY... Everything is so tender, and the nurses continue to poke at you every so many hours till you go home.

clairesmommabear · August 2015

They pushed on my stomach and it came right out. Only them pushing was sore, and it wasn't for very long. (Under five minutes) I didn't have to do anything really for that part it just came out. I don't think it was worse than DD coming out though. The placenta was a breeze. (No elbow deep for me either...so I don't think that's very common.)

Nukke · August 2015

It didn't hurt for me at all. I had a med-free birth. But my body had also completely given up on pushing after my daughter was out. I pushed her out, and the midwives waited for my to push the placenta out. Even when I'd think I was pushing, they'd say "are you pushing?" It's like my muscles were just like "Right. Baby's out. Goodbye now. ZzzzzzZZzzzzz"

They gave me a shot of pitocin in the leg after... 10 min? 15 min? and I delivered the placenta. I seriously don't remember there being any pain with that at all. I was probably too enthralled with the tiny little life lying on my chest at the time. Though I do remember the pain of getting stitched up... but even that wasn't bad.

jstmbgh · August 2015

Yikes! FTM so no first hand experience but we are taking Bradley method classes and discussed this briefly last night. She advocated skin to skin right away/breastfeeding to stimulate passing the placenta. She said it is much less painful than labor and delivery. It is probably like anything else and will vary by person. However, holy crap I hope no one ever has to put their arm in me!!!!!

tate62610 · August 2015

I ended up with a c-section with DD so they had a couple nurses practically lay on my stomach and push baby and all the accessories out at once.

My day time nurse was amazing and so mindful of my pain when she would press on my stomach later. My night time nurse....I was ready to punch her in the face.

baconlady · August 2015

I did non medicated and compared to baby coming out it was easy breezy. It came out pretty quickly. Maybe I was just so out of it and happy to see my baby I didn't even care.

batmom05 · August 2015

I had a hard time passing the placenta. It shredded at some point during delivery and they had to basically reach in and scoop it out. I did pretty well until then and actually tore while they were doing that rather than during the birth.

twogirlsandagreen · August 2015

If it comes out on its own it doesn't hurt. If the dr sticks his/her hands in your uterus to go get it, it hurts pretty badly.

mandy903 · August 2015

The stomach massage and light contractions are uncomfortable. But not painful Imo. I also had an unmedicated birth. If there are complications and Dr had to go in manually to help get it out I would say yes quite painful. When I was unmedicated my Dr had to push my ds arm back in me a few times and that was painful. But so is contractions and delivery. .. If you choose to go without medication expect pain but don't fear it. Welcome it and just know it doesn't last forever. If you panic and become fearful is usually when you will lose your focus and go the medication route.

SarahAnne1101 · August 2015

The placenta wasn't painful at all. After the placenta, the dr had to check to make sure no pieces were left and pull out a few clots. That honestly hurt more than the 8 and half pound baby coming out. As soon as they were done with that though, no pain other than contractions when nursing and the uncomfortable tummy massage.

smlowe9311 · August 2015

The stomach pushing to check for clots was slightly painful but for me the worst part was getting stitched back up. I tore pretty bad and even though the doctor numbed me locally I could feel each and every stitch.

Carmofrap · August 2015

My midwives let me deliver mine naturally. No pushing involved. It was painless. Then they inspected the placenta itself to make sure it was all in one piece and kept an eye on my bleeding for a couple hours. passing it was actually just kind of squishy and relieving.

kwaz01 · August 2015

I was so distracted trying to get a glimpse of my babe as they checked her out that I didn't care!!

komorebi · August 2015

If you do a medication free birth ask for a natural third phase. My first was the most painful because they kept doing aggressive massage, with my second it came out with the baby pretty much so i barely noticed, with my third, they just waited and i got an urge to push about 20 minutes after the baby was born.

If you hemorrhage (more likely from manual removal) they might have to do all kinds of stuff that hurts.

babyadams8611 · August 2015

Thank you guys for your input. That helps a lot!

jem89 · August 2015

With my first, it hurt when they squeezed my stomach but pushing the placenta was not painful. For my second, I don't remember them pressing on my stomach and I pushed it out (again not painful) but it was slightly harder to push out than the first time.

midge519 · August 2015

With my first my doctor slightly tugged my umbilical cord and it came right out. No pain nothing. With my second it wouldn't come out. I tried pushing it out, they massaged and then pushed on my stomach, and eventually had to go up and separate it manually. That was incredibly painful. I tried to go up the bed as he was trying to do it. I think it depends all on your labor and body

brittanispears · August 2015

Nukke said:

They gave me a shot of pitocin in the leg after... 10 min? 15 min? and I delivered the placenta. I seriously don't remember there being any pain with that at all. I was probably too enthralled with the tiny little life lying on my chest at the time. Though I do remember the pain of getting stitched up... but even that wasn't bad.

Your pain tolerance must be through the roof. Send some this way!

kim1228 · August 2015

If you have an epidural do you feel it? All responses seem to be from natural births

Cupcakesandquilts · August 2015

baconlady said:
I did non medicated and compared to baby coming out it was easy breezy. It came out pretty quickly. Maybe I was just so out of it and happy to see my baby I didn't even care.

This was my experience too. No biggie!

mandy903 · August 2015

@kim1228 my first child I had an epidural and it didn't hurt at all. Delivering my baby didn't hurt let alone the placenta. ..

Kristyhana · August 2015

I had an epidural but I don't even remember anything that happened after baby came out. I know there was also lots of stitching (4th degree tear) but the epidural was still working for that part too so I was not really paying much attention to what was going on down there.

LiveNLove44 · August 2015

I had an epidural and didn't feel the placenta come out, but the discomfort was fairly intense when they pushed/massaged my belly to encourage it to head out the exit. The turned my epidural off about half an hour before I started pushing, so by the end, they did a local numbing (something) to sew up my tear. I think they did that after the placenta came out (for obvious reasons), so I feel safe saying the odds are good that the placenta coming out isn't something to worry about.

maiatene · August 2015

Not if you have an epidural lol. I didn't know I passed it until I saw the nurse bag it up and wheel it out the room. Also, according to hubby the doctor was elbow deep in my uterus for at least 30 minutes massaging and cleaning it out. It's not like there was a sheet up so I could see everything if I wanted... I just didn't notice and never really looked down once I had the baby in my arms.

ajhellmuth · August 2015

I've delivered 3 babies all with an epidural and I've never felt any pain with the placenta!! Or getting stitches. And my last the epidural was very low and I felt the birth but still the placenta wasn't painful. The contractions after birth though...omg. Take whatever ibuprofen/pain meds they give you. Remember there's no trophy for giving birth and recovering with no meds!!!

amberrmariee20 · August 2015

kim1228 said:
If you have an epidural do you feel it? All responses seem to be from natural births

I had an epi and I felt it !!

Spanchez · August 2015

I don't remember it hurting at all. I had some cramping and pushed the placenta out, not sure how long it took or if there was any assistance from the Dr. Once it was out I do remember a sense of relief and feeling better.

Latina211508 · August 2015

It didn't hurt at all. It felt like a gush.

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