>He is of the opinion that unless she is
>saturating "a pad an hour", retained placenta is not the problem.

I am of the opinion that this ob/gyn knows not whereof he speaks.  I had
retained placenta with my second pregnancy (they suspected it may have been
a twin, as Peter's placenta came out whole and intact -- perhaps these
babies started out as quadruplets??).  I had an emergency D&C for
hemorrhaging the afternoon of the birth, which stopped the hemorrhaging
right away, and they recovered several chunks of placental material.

I continued to bleed, but never as much as "a pad an hour" -- more like a
pad every 4-6 hours for a couple of days, then down to a pad every 6-8
hours for SIX WEEKS.  FINALLY I had another D&C and the doctor removed a
'thumb-sized' piece of placental material.  I had a crappy milk supply, for
that and a number of other reasons, which did improve somewhat following
the second D&C.

I suggest ultrasound to rule-out retained placenta.  What can it hurt?


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email:
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Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html

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