pregnancy after accreta

[popsiclesmommy]

Can anyone share her experiences with a pregnancy after having placenta accreta? How were you treated during pregnancy? Were you accretic the second/subsequent time? Thanks.

Robin

[pmciufo]

I had an accreta with the 1st preg. - unknown why I had it. For the 2nd preg, I had a wonderful high risk dr. I was told to take vitamins, vit C, Vit E and folic acid. I had numerous ultrasounds to measure my baby to make sure the placenta was doing its job. Right before my schedule C-section at 36 weeks, I had an MRI and it showed another accreta where the ultrasound failed to reveal. The morning of the c-section, I had 2 "balloons" inserted into my leg arteries that supply blood to the uterus in case they could stop the bleeding (also had a low lying placenta that would be in the way when they did the c-section). Everything went perfect and owe it all to my dr. He answered any and every question we had and had a wonderful bedside manner.

Highly recommend obtaining a dr that you like and trust. It is already a stressful time, having a good dr makes it easier.

-Paige

[Trinitygirl]

Hi! I am 29 years old and just gave birth to a daughter on September 4, 2004. I had placenta accreta again for the second time. I have been pregnant a total of 7 times, with 3 live births all others were miscarriages. I have a 7 year old son, 2 1/2 year old daughter and our newest addition. With 3 of my 4 miscarriages I had d&c's.With my second pregnancy I had a partial placenta previa that eventually moved and was fine. At time of delivery the placenta would not come out and I started to hemmorage. We also at time of delivery found out that our baby had Velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord. That was scary also.
That was an awful experience. Right there in the labor room my doctor had to do an emergency d&c there was no time to move me I was told.
Fourweeks later I started to hemmorage again and had to go in and have another d&c. After having so many d&c's we found out that my uterus adhered itself together because of all the scar tissue, which was called ashermans syndrome.
I had to have another surgery months later to open the uterus back up in order for me to be able to have anymore children. (every child btw has been concieved with fertility meds) When I finally was able to concieve our latest daughter we found out shortly there after that I had complete placenta previa. Eventually to my doctor's amazementit too moved out of the way and all seemed fine.
All my children have been premature so we figured so would this one, she was born at 36 weeks. My epideral had not took with this baby and I was already in extreme pain because of how fast everything went. So after I delivered my doctor said we are just going to take our time and see if the placenta will come out on its own...well after quite some time and no progress he began to tug slightly on the cord and with no strength at all it ripped away from the placenta..I immediatly started to hemmorage and was told later that I lost 4 pints of blood.
My doctor at that point said its not worth your life to try this again. I have been having a hard time dealing with that because I always thought I would have 4 children. Today 2 1/2 weeks postpartum I went in for an ultrasound to see if all placenta had been removed(again he had to perform a d&c in the labor room because there were no operating rooms available, and litterally no time to waste)well it has not all been removed and we are going to have to do another d&c to get it all out. With my last baby I also developed a bad infection because of the left over retained placenta, so we want to make sure we go in and get it out, because of some other health probs I have. Now that I have wrote a book, what I would like to know is this having happened twice now, does anyone know what the chances of it happening again would be. I dont want to risk my life because I have 3 beautiful healthy children here that need me now. I would rather not take any chances but I cant get over this feeling that I am suppose to have one more. Call me crazy! I am just looking for a little input if anyone has any. [img]smile.gif[/img]
-Misty

<font color="#a62a2a"><font size="1">[ September 23, 2004 02:46 AM: Message edited by: Trinitygirl ]</font></font>

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 23, 2004 03:08 AM: Message edited by: Trinitygirl ]</font>

[coachjodi]

Hi Misty!

Congratulations on the birth of your little girl!!!! In answer to your question, our chances of having an accreta go from 1 in 2500 to 1 in 3 since we have already had it. Given the amount of scar tissue you seem to have, my guess would be that you would probably have another accreta. The real question here is..... given that you would have another accreta, do your doctors feel as though they can manage your pregnancy? I would have a long conversation with your docs and find out how they feel. There will definitly be risks, ie: hemmhoraging (sp?), preterm labor or premature birth or placental abruption.....but that's with any of us who have had this. I suggest you ask them to do a sonahistogram and/or hysteroscopy to find out just how damaged your uterus is and if they can do anything to remove some of the scar tissue which is what I am about to go through.

Good luck and keep us posted!!!!

Jodi

[Trinitygirl]

Thanks for the congratulations! I went in on Friday to have yet another d&c that was only suppose to last 30 minutes at the most. I found out I was in surgery for 2 hours. My doctor found a hole in my uterus that he had to do laparoscopy to find and repair the hole. So I have 4 little incisions on my tummy. He proceeded with the d&c also and said that he scraped as hard as he could but he doens't think he was able to get all the left over placenta out. I had to stay in the hospital for 2 nights.
I go in on thursday for another ultrasound and if there is placenta left we will decide where to go from there. I feel that with this problem as well as with all the scar tissue I have already had, that I don't think we are going to risk another pregnancy. I am in so much pain from this last surgery that I don't know if I could handle the possiblity of going through all of this after another pregnancy either. But I still plan on discussing everything with my doctor if not just for me, for other people to learn from my experience if they can. I will keep you informed on what happens next. There is a chance of the doc removing my uterus. Wish me luck. [img]smile.gif[/img]

P.S Jodi.. I read your story and if I remember right they left your placenta in right? My doc said he may leave the piece in there. But if there is a chance I will have to stop nursing, I would rather him take the piece out or do whatever else he can. What were the reasons you couldn't nurse your baby? I heard that with placenta left in you your milk supply is very little, if any. I have nursed all my kids till they were a year old, it will break my heart if I had to stop.

-Misty

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 28, 2004 04:48 PM: Message edited by: Trinitygirl ]</font>

[coachjodi]

Misty,

Initially I couldn't nurse because they gave me a shot of methotrexate which is chemotherapy to kill the placenta and because of the antibiotics I was on (I'm allergic to penecillin so I was on levoquin which you really should not nurse with). Ultimately however my milk never came in because my body still thought I was pregnant. If your milk is already coming in you shouldn't have that problem. I still, to this day have some placenta left in my uterus. Your doctor should check your beta levels to see if you still have the pregnancy hormone in your system. My guess is that if you do, it is probably very little. The risk with leaving the piece still in is hemmhoraging. My doctor put me on cytotek which kept my uterus contracted and avoided any additionaly hemhorhaging (I can never spell that correctly [img]redface.gif[/img] ). I don't know your situation per say, and I am certainly not a doctor, but I think you should be able to leave what's left in there and just have your doctor monitor you.

Keep us posted!!!!!

Jodi

[Trinitygirl]

Hello! Well this past Thursday I went into have another ultrasound to check for placenta and we found that indeed there still is placenta left in my uterus. My Doctor wants to just watch it and see how my bleeding does. I will see him again in 2 weeks and we will see how things are going. What I guess I failed to find out was, what kind of problems could arise because of the placenta still there? I know that I could start to hemmorage(sp) or I could get an infection...But is there anything else I should be watching for that anyone might know of. It just worries me. Since you have been there Jodi maybe you have a little more info that I failed to ask my doctor about. I just get scared since I started to hemmorage with my other delilvery at 4 weeks postpartum and also had an infection at that time. So as far as that goes I know that I obviosly was bleeding very much and the color and odor was odd, so that was obviously the infection and was confirmed at the hospital. I am just confused and want to make sure that I look for anything that could be a potential hazard. I appreciate any help or info I can get. Thanks in advance. [img]smile.gif[/img]
-Misty

[coachjodi]

Misty,

You are correct. The two main risks are hemmhoraging and infection. Like I said, my doc put me on the cytotek which reduced my risk of hemmhoraging and on an antibiotic which I was on for about 3 months. I had constant fevers anyway, not really sure why. Meanwhile, the other thing you should look for or be aware of is that the placenta might just come out. This might sound gross but i kept one of those spoons with the holes in it by the toilet. If it comes out, scoop it up and save it just to confirm (I know it is gross [img]redface.gif[/img] ).

Good luck, you should be fine!!!! Keep us posted!

Jodi

[pmciufo]

Misty,

I agree with Jodi - infection and risk of bleeding is what you need to look out for. With my first preg I had an accreta (no previous pregs or D&C's). My doc left the whole placenta in and was treated with methotrexate too and IV antibiotics for a few days then went home with more antibiotics and was told to watch for signs of infection and excessive bleeding. Little by little pieces of my placenta came out. Jodi was my lifeline as she was there to prepare me for what could happen. I had my own spoon near the toliet too. Eventually all but 1.5cm was left and I went on to get pregnant and have a beautiful daughter who is now 4m old.

How big is the piece inside you? and how are your beta levels? Once they are at zero, what ever is left is so small your body doesn't seem to mind. My doc said the 1.5 piece left was like having a small pallop (?) which would be left alone by any dr in any patient.

Keep us informed of your progress.

-Paige

[Trinitygirl]

Hey guys! Thanks for you replys, I totally appreciate it. I have another doctors appt. this thursday the 14th. What I am debating now is since I can't or shouldn't have any more children is, my Dr. said he would tie my tubes but what if something happens with this piece of placenta and he ends up having to go in and take my uterus out anyways. What I am wondering is, what would you guys do? Have your tubes tied and wait to see if you end up needing your uterus taken out cuz of the piece of placenta, or just have your uterus taken out? I just would rather not have 2 surgerys if I can just have one. I am so confused. I just don't know what to do. Any opinions would be much appreciated. Btw I have no bleeding going on, just a colored discharge that is enough to have to wear a pad. So things look promising, but I guess that could change at anytime. Thanks for all your help.
-Misty [img]smile.gif[/img]

P.s. I love your name Paige...that is what I named my most recent daughter...Paige Kendall!

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 13, 2004 12:57 AM: Message edited by: Trinitygirl ]</font>