Understanding Postpartum Hemorrhage: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Are you someone who is fascinated by all the pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood stuff few people talk about because they're too embarrassed? If so, welcome to the motherload of all things taboo, or at least really wild and interesting. The Asking for a Pregnant Friend podcast is based off the book of the same name and dives into all of the pregnancy, birth, and mothering topics that make many people blush or scratch their heads. I do all the boring research so you don't have to and bring you interviews with the leading experts in the topics I cover. I also share all the things about myself, Bailey Gaddis. I'm all about TMI. You'll also hear stories from brave women who gave permission to have their stories shared. So come along, my friend, on a journey into the beautiful underbelly of making, growing, and raising babies.

Postpartum hemorrhaging, or essentially excessive vaginal bleeding after having a baby, happens to 1 to 5 in 100 women. This episode explores the primary causes, symptoms, and treatments of postpartum hemorrhaging. Learn how the uterus continues to contract after childbirth to help the placenta release and how complications can arise if the placenta does not detach properly. Understand the signs of postpartum hemorrhage, including excessive bleeding, sudden drop in blood pressure, and other alarming symptoms. Discover what care providers do to manage and treat postpartum hemorrhaging, from administering fluids and medications to performing surgical interventions if necessary.

Remember, your care providers are there to support you and ensure your well-being. If you ever have concerns about your postpartum symptoms, always reach out to your healthcare team. Tune in to gain valuable insights and feel empowered in your journey through motherhood.

If you have any questions about this or anything else about pregnancy, childbirth, early motherhood, let me know in the comments. If you can like, subscribe, comment, that would be so incredibly helpful. That will allow me to keep providing this content for you guys. All right. Love you.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Are you someone who is fascinated by all the pregnancy, childbirth,
and motherhood stuff few people talk about because they're too embarrassed?
If so, welcome to the motherload of all things taboo, or at least really wild and interesting.
The Asking for a Pregnant Friend podcast is based off the book of the same name

(00:21):
and dives in to all of the pregnancy, birth, and mothering topics that make
many people blush or scratch their heads.
I do all the boring research so you don't have to and bring you interviews with
the leading experts in the topics I cover.
I also share all the things about myself, Bailey Gaddis. I'm all about TMI.

(00:45):
You'll also hear stories from brave women who gave permission to have their
stories shared. So come along, my friend, on a journey into the beautiful underbelly
of making, growing, and raising babies.
Music.

(01:09):
Postpartum hemorrhaging, or essentially excessive vaginal bleeding after having
a baby, happens to 1 to 5 in 100 women.
And one of the primary causes of postpartum hemorrhaging is after the baby is
delivered, the uterus continues to contract.

(01:31):
So you continue to have contractions after you've actually had the baby.
And these contractions help the placenta release from the uterine wall and be
birthed or released from the uterine lining.
And so when this happens, then the uterus continues to contract because after the placenta.
Detaches from the uterus it leaves blood vessels

(01:53):
open and so these blood vessels will continue
to bleed until the uterus continues
to contract down and starts to close off these blood vessels
which causes the bleeding to slowly subside and
you know it is it's common to have quite a
bit of of blood loss after having a
baby after a vaginal birth women can expect to lose

(02:16):
about half a quart and after a c-section women
can expect to lose about one quart so
it can be a little alarming seeing seeing all of
the blood but your care provider can help you determine like
how much is too much blood so if the placenta does not detach soon enough or

(02:37):
if it only partially detaches then the uterus might not be able to properly
contract and close off those blood vessels,
which could lead to postpartum hemorrhage.
And, you know, sometimes this starts happening right away after childbirth,
but sometimes it can take a day or two to show up or even like a week or so.

(03:01):
So if you experience excessively heavy bleeding from the vagina that does not
slow or stop, that can be a sign of postpartum hemorrhaging.
And especially, you know, if you notice that your Your blood loss has been decreasing,
but then all of a sudden it starts to increase.
You know, while bleeding the first few days after childbirth,

(03:23):
you know, there's quite a lot of blood that you lose, but it should be gradually
decreasing, you know, so you shouldn't start to be noticing more and more blood.
The exception is like if you've been sitting in bed for a while and then you
suddenly stand up or if you kind of go on a long walk or something and then
you have a little bit more bleeding after that, that can be normal.

(03:44):
But if you start to have an excessively.
Heavier flow, that could be a sign of hemorrhaging.
If you have a sudden drop in blood pressure, you know, signs of shock and you
know, signs of low blood pressure that can include kind of like a blurry vision,
having chills, clammy skin, a really, really fast heartbeat, feeling confused,

(04:07):
dizzy, feeling like you're going to faint, feeling nauseous or actually throwing up,
getting really pale skin or having a
lot of swelling and pain around the the vagina or
perineum this can all be signs of postpartum hemorrhage
so you definitely always want to let your care provider know if you are at all

(04:28):
concerned about your bleeding or any other postpartum symptoms that you are
having so what will they do if they think if the care providers think that you are hemorrhaging.
So if you've just had the baby, or even if you haven't just had the baby,
they will likely give you fluids, they might administer pitocin,

(04:49):
as this can help to cause the uterus to start to contract and expel the placenta.
This is why at a lot of hospitals, they really they highly recommend that women
get some get a shot of pitocin right after the baby is born just to make sure
that the uterus continues to contract and fully expels the placenta. In.

(05:12):
You know, more extreme situations, a woman might need to have a blood transfusion.
The doctor might need to do surgery.
In serious situations, they do a
hysterectomy, which is the removal of the uterus, but that's pretty rare.
They can also do what's called a laparotomy. And this is essentially going into

(05:33):
the uterus and trying to find the source of the bleeding and stopping the bleeding.
They might do an embolization of the blood vessel. They might also just massage
your uterus by hand because sometimes that can stimulate those contractions
and help that placenta come out.
It can also help you pass any blood clots. they

(05:55):
will want to remove any remaining pieces of placenta
and this is often there's
can be done by the doctor going into
the uterus manually with their
hand and like scraping the the placenta off
of the uterine wall yes that's uncomfortable

(06:16):
but it can really work and then you
know they'll likely have you take extra iron supplements
just to again improve those those iron levels
so i know it sounds scary but
it is certainly not something
that happens every time your care providers are going to be carefully watching

(06:39):
your your blood flow after having a baby they're going to carefully examine
your placenta to ensure it all the pieces came out so they're they're really
going to take good care of you in this regard,
but of course if you're ever worried, if you ever have symptoms that confuse
you, let your care provider know.
If you have any questions about this or anything else about pregnancy,

(07:00):
childbirth, early motherhood, let me know in the comments.
If you can like, subscribe, comment, that would be so incredibly helpful.
That will allow me to keep providing this content for you guys. All right. Love you.
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(07:23):
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(07:45):
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(08:08):
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Music.