Home Page Forums MAMPS General Questions Retained Placenta 28 days post partum Reply To: Retained Placenta 28 days post partum

  • Ciara McNiff

    Member
    April 1, 2022 at 6:00 am

    I thought I would post an update. Thank you Sarah and Deb. Sarah I will try to address all of your questions below. I cannot read your post while I type, so if I miss any- I will try to add them in after.

    I’d like to correct- she had been contracting starting at 32 weeks.

    It was her midwife who contacted me about the client. She is an excellent midwife who has been in practice for 25 years and trained as a NICU and Land D nurse. The mama was being closely monitored for infection. This client is her daughter and she was staying with her mom (the midwife during this time).

    I saw the Mom the evening before the Ultrasound. She presented with a lot of pain. She had no fever. She had started to bleed fresh blood upon contractions the day before- not a lot, but enough. I cannot remember the color of the blood at this time. Her biggest complaint was the pain of the contractions- worse when feeding. She presented as blood deficient and very tired- her constitution is damp and stagnant however. Just by way of back ground- Her little babe ate three or four times when I was there- she fed, had a massive burp, a toot, hung out for a little bit and then yelled to feed again. At one point she ate a pumped bottle to give the mom a break. It seemed like she was making up for lost time now that her tongue tie was snipped.

    The midwife and I discussed 3possibilities- could this cramping be normal? It may be hard for her uterus to shrink with the large fibroid? The cramping as the uterus returns to normal size is more painful as you have more kids- this is babe number 3 and she now has a large fibroid. Her uterus was very large. At this point in time (28 days post birth), her uterus has not shrunk and her abdomen was very hard and tender to the touch?

    On the other hand- Is it worth just trying to settle the cramping- is her uterus just irritable as it had been starting at 32 weeks?

    Or does she actually have retained products? This is her body trying to expel it.

    The midwife felt that we should address the possibility of retained products because she was concerned about infection.

    MY treatment included moxa on the ren channel, the belly button and some over the pubic bone. The mom loved this- the moxa on the Ren and over the pubic bone and it seemed to decrease the cramping. I did acupuncture on Sp 6, 8, St 36, Li 4, St 29, CV 6. We did acupressure on GB 21. Once the needles were removed- chafing on St 36 and while she was feeding acupressure on Sp 6. The mama fell asleep. Once she emptied her bladder the contractions picked right back up again. After the treatment, the mom passed “brown, slimy blood.” In the morning when she went to the bathroom she passed fresh red blood on her pad and into the toilet. She continued to contract and be in pain. (just noting- her ability to deal with pain could have been reduced as she was very tired and blood deficient). At this point her tailbone was extremely sore.

    The ultrasound was somewhat inconclusive as the shadow from the fibroids cast shadows where they could not see the whole uterus. They did both a trans vaginal and a regular ultrasound on her lower abdomen. There were no products seen.

    After this, they came to my house. I laid her on a queen sized bed, surround by pillows to prop the babe in order to nurse. I worked to decrease the contractions and nourish the mama. I treated: UB 32, 23, 20 and 17. Sp 6, 9 St 36, Kd 9 and the tailbone point. The babe ate and the mama relaxed and eventually fell asleep. As she lay there the contractions decreased. After the treatment, her eyes were brighter and she was more engaged and she walked normally- not bent over in pain. Upon palpation her abdomen was much softer, although the uterus was still large. I sent her home with tacks in Sp 6 and the tailbone point.

    She went to see the osteopath after me, who worked on opening the right side – where she was most painful and where the fibroid lay. Her right should was also very tense. This was also very helpful.

    An update later that night, that she was much less crampy and she was leaking milk all over the place.

    I haven’t heard more of how she is although will reach out.

    I am open to feedback and possible of suggestions- better points or additions that may benefit the mom and babe, concerns or questions that come up.