Placenta Abruption

Eman - posted on 10/22/2012

I also had an abruptio placenta this month at 37 weeks gestation and my baby boy died . I am 27 years old and this is my second pregnancy. The doctors told me that the placenta was completely seperated and i lost more than 5 units of blood. i feel so sad and depressed for this loss.

Tiffany - posted on 08/13/2012

i lost my son at 32 to a placental abruption it was out of the blue and i wonderd if maybe bein the pool caused it i was fine before that moment i went up and layed down cuz i was havin pains when i woke up they were worse so i thaught maybe i had to use the restroom then i felt a gush and i wiped and there was blood and i freaked out i rushed to the emergancy room but i was too late he was already gone, he would of been my 3rd child it killed me i blamed myself for it all i still do at times. it was the hardest thing that i have ever had to go through i want another baby but at the same time im afraid of what might happen to that baby my faith is strong so i know that if its ment to be then god will make it so i just want one more chance to make a healthy baby with my husband!

Skye - posted on 02/27/2011

Did anyone's doctor put them on bed rest for their pregnancy after the placental abrubtion? or treat the next pregnancy as high risk or differently?

Amy - posted on 11/22/2010

Hello! I too had a placenta abruption however, mine wasn't as bad of a situation. My health was never in danger. I went to the hospital after a decrease in movement. They kept me hooked up to monitors over night but heart rate kept going dangerously low. Lost the heart rate and rushed me in for emergency c section. I never had any bleeding or pain, I think it just didn't get that far. My son was 33wks and in the NICU for 4 weeks. He is 15months now and I'm pregnant with my second. While I am a little scared, my OB told me that everything should be fine this time around and they will just watch me a little closer and bed rest.

Sarah - posted on 08/25/2010

Wow after reading some of the stories I feel fortunate that at least everyone involved had a sense of urgency....I was 35 weeks pregnant and had just gotten off of work at midnight. I had some pretty hard contractions, but I thought they were just Braxton Hicks because I had heard they can be more intense with a second pregnancy. They did go away, so my husband and I went to bed. As we were laying in bed talking, I felt a gush and thought my water had broken. I told my husband to get the phone, I was going to have my doctor paged to see what she wanted me to do, since by now it was about 1:45 am. As he ran to get the phone, I reached down to see if the fluid was clear, and saw it wasn't fluid, but blood. I froze and said to my husband as he came back with the phone, "This isn't right". I hobbled to the bathroom so I wouldn't make more of a mess, and a large clot came out, for a moment I thought it was the baby coming, then when I saw it I thought somehow my organs were coming out (I know that's impossible but in that moment I thought it could have been anything..) I told my husband forget the doctor, we needed to go to the hospital RIGHT NOW, I told him to put a trash bag on my seat and just fly. We were at the hospital in about 5 minutes and the whole time I thought if I just keep my cool and do what the doctors want, we would get through this. When we pulled into emergency we were met in the turnaround by a woman with a wheelchair, when she saw me get out of the truck I was covered with blood, even my shoes. She ran as fast as she could to triage, and when I came through the doors the nurses were yelling down the hall for any help they could get. By this time I remember feeling very calm and focused on everything around me, they called out my BP was 70/50 and they were trying to get a line, I watched them standing on either side poking my arms but I didn't feel anything. My husband was standing there watching and he later told me I was actually ghost white and I was slipping in and out of conciousness. I remember they told me they found the "very faintest flutter of a heartbeat" and I was going to have this baby right now, the next thing I knew I was on an operating and they still could not get a line. The doctor who would be performing my C-section turned out to be from my practice, and she was standing over me with scalpel in hand, waiting for a line. Finally they got one, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in post op, being told my baby had survived and was in the NICU at the children's hospital. I had had an abruption greater than 50% and needed 2 transfusions. My son was on life support and had had a heart rate less than 40 BPM.

Ryan came home 16 days later and is doing well.

Charlotte - posted on 07/27/2010

Absolutely! :o) I'm glad you are feeling more relaxed! I may want to stay in contact with you if you don't mind. It is HARD finding mom's who have been through the same thing! Oh boy..the sickness is not fun..I hope your stomach settles soon!!

Charlotte - posted on 07/23/2010

My goodness your fear mirrors my own in your story Clare! :o/ I myself am anxious about the idea of another pregnancy. Try to find ways to relax if possible. Stress is not good for your baby. You may not be able to control the chances of it happening again, but you can Try to control your stress. That's the best plan I have so far for when I get pregnant again. I was under a lot of stress at the end of my pregnancy and I wonder if that's why I had one. We were living with my parents because my husband had just been laid off work and my dad was near the end of his life with heart disease. It was not an easy time. TRY to relax if you can hon.

Charlotte - posted on 06/14/2010

I guess I will share my story here. On May 30, 2008 at 4am I woke up with severe lower stomach pains. I thought I might be starting to go into labor. The pain would not let up but I did not feel any contractions. I was not able to go back to sleep. At 9am I went to my mom's to visit. The pain kept getting more and more severe and I was in so much pain I just could not visit. She asked me if I had checked for contractions..I told her not since 4am when I woke up with pain. She and I felt my stomach and it was rock hard for 5 minutes straight. At this point I began panicking. I called my OB and told her my stomach was in pain but I couldn't tell if I was having "contractions" or not. I told her if I was it was a contraction that would NOT let up and I was in severe pain. She said it was porbably just BH but if I was really in pain I could go to the hospital to get checked out. I went to the hospital immediately reguardless of her BH suggestion. I knew something was wrong. I got checked in and the nurses put in IV's & the monitor. My son's heart rate was normal but the nurse told me I was not having contractions. At this point the pain was so severe that I was near tears. I wanted to smack that nurse. The nurse checked my cervix and said I was at 1cm. I then felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I began bleeding ALOT. I told the nurse I was bleeding and she said that was normal. I told her to look in the toilet..she did and said that was normal (I don't think she even looked) I began to feel light-headed and sat down. At this point my husband arrived to the hospital room. My Aunt (a lifelong nurse in L&D) asked me how I was doing. I told her and she got a worried look on her face. I told her I thought my water just broke and that I was dizzy. She looked under my hospital gown and saw I wasn't bleeding..I was gushing. She got a nurse on duty right away and they called my OB. My OB came into my room within 5 minutes and said she was sure my placenta was abrupting. They had me sign paperwork incase I needed a blood transfusion. I went into the operating room to be prepared and as they were preparing me for a spinal the nurse panicked because she found a heart rate of 50. They didn't know if it was mine or the baby's. But they told me either was not good and they had to get my son out NOW. They put me to sleep within 10 seconds of that & within 15 seconds they had my son out. My OB told me after that he was born not breathing but they immediately got him breathing with the bag. She also said the c-section was messy because she was trying to get to him fast. My aunt had told me my OB had had a placental abruption in which she had not gotten to the baby in time just a month before my son was born. (Keep in mind my OB was a dear friend of the family) It also took them a very long time to stitch me back together. I am completely terrified of another pregnancy. The possibility of another abruption. What if this time one of us or both of us don't make it? And I'm not there for my son? The idea absolutely terrifies me. I am actually considering adoption instead..but we will see. I will need to have a very long conversation with my OB before we decide to have another.

Charlotte - posted on 06/14/2010

I've been wondering the same thing Sarah. My son is two years old now and we're getting to that point of thinking about another and I love the idea of having another baby in the house, but the idea of pregnancy TERRIFIES me.

Kellean - posted on 04/08/2010

My first child was a Placenta Abruption. She quit growing inside of me at 8 months. The technician who did my ultra sound missed the problem. It wasn't until I was 10 months along and bleeding with severe excruciating pains that they finally took it seriously. They kept chalking it off as my being a new mom. Even though I had many problems in that pregnancy prior to this. I had already had three life threatening kidney infections and had been hospitalized five times. At one point my fever wouldn't break for one week at 104. If it hadn't gone down I would have lost my baby. I knew something was seriously wrong and for a week in a half I drove thirty minutes every other day to see my Obstetrician until he listened to me. He sent me home again and again. It wasn't until his nurse saw me in the parking lot bent over that she said come on we'll make him understand. To make a long story short they did an ultrasound and found out it was serious. He rushed me into the emergency room for a c-section. The placenta had abrupted at 8 months, I had internal bleeding all over my organs and it had dried (very dangerous). My doctor later told me that if they had waited just ten more minutes both Shawna and I would have died. I had to have a blood transfusion. My daughter was born with an immune deficiency. We don't know if this was the cause, however she was very sick. She was in the hospital every month with an illness and for one year I couldn't take her out in public. Family couldn't come over if they had even a cough or sneeze (they took this very badly). It was hard.
I remember through all the pain after birth laying in my hospital bed after the nurse repeatedly pushed my stomach for blood clots. She did this for over a half an hour. It was so painful. I just remember a lot of crying. My husband came in so worried and scared. Through my tears I said we are having more children.
Our doctor said it would be best not to try. Before Shawna I miscarried twice. He said just enjoy your daughter that I am too high risk. Two years later we had our son Jordan. Three years after Jordan we had Gavin. Shawna our oldest is 21, Jordan is 18 and our youngest is 15. I didn't have another Placenta Abruption. For the most part my two other pregnancies were just fine. I don't dilate so I had to have them c-sections. Shawna when she was born was 8lb4oz, Jordan was 10lb4oz and Gavin was 10lb4oz. Shawna was supposed to be my height at 6ft, she is 5'8. Jordan is 6'5 and Gavin is 6'3.
I can understand if with your Placenta Abruption you lost a child. I don't know if I could go on to have another after losing one. However, the doctors don't have the answers as to what causes these abruptions so your chance of having another Placenta Abruption maybe slim to none. Either way for me not having children wasn't an option.
I hope my story may give you hope.
I apologize for going on and on. It was my journey and I would do it all over again if it meant I could have three wonderful children as I have now.
Best wishes to all of you!

Aunt Crystal - posted on 02/19/2010

I was told that I only have a 6 percent chance of it ever happening again. But that feels more like 106 percent. It took us 10 yrs to conceive and I had placenta abruption at 16 wks. I too don't know what to do. We thought about adoption before her,but now it doesn't seem as easy as before. But at the same time I came close to dying with her and can not be sure that I won't be in the 6 percent. If there is a next time will I get to walk out of the hospital? It is a scary thing

Keri - posted on 02/01/2010

I wish I could tell you. I am wondering the same thing. I am supposed to be getting my tubes tied on Friday and hope I am making the right decision. We have two boys already but we really wanted more. We just lost our third boy on January 15th. It was such a horrible pregnancy and so scarey for me that I am afraid to try again but at the same time I am disappointed to not have any more. I am so confused and don't know what to do.