Pregnancy Complications like Retained Placenta Can Be Life Threatening

Giving birth doesn’t necessarily mean a mother has crossed the finish line.

Jamie Devor had not one, but three cases of the same complication—and it could’ve ended up much worse.

“I felt sick. I felt not right,” said Devor, 33, of Reisterstown. “But, again, I just gave birth. I didn’t know what it felt like. I thought to some extent that was normal to feel like you were literally hit by a truck.”

According to Dr. Robert Atlas, OB/GYN, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology and part of The Family Childbirth and Children’s Center at Mercy, the postpartum period lasts up to six weeks after birth. But he said there is a push in the medical community to consider the first year after birth to be the postpartum period, due to continuing complications.

“I wish women would come in sooner,” Dr. Atlas said. “What we hear all the time is, ‘I thought I would be okay.’”

That was the case for Devor. She had a post-pregnancy complication with each of her three births.

“She had a home birth, she had two hospital deliveries—one was a C-section and [the one I performed] was a vaginal birth after a C-section—but every time, she’s had a retained placenta and… further complications related to infection and retained tissue,” Dr. Atlas said.

A retained placenta is when part or all of the placenta and membranes are left in the uterus after childbirth. After her first birth, Devor had several uterine infections and even a hemorrhage. It took about six weeks to figure out the cause and treat it.

Then, with her second child, Devor recalled, “At about six weeks postpartum, my milk supply completely tanked. [It] literally went to drops overnight, and apparently, that can happen with retained placenta.”

Not a week after her third birth, Devor ended up back in the emergency room.

“By the time I got here, I was throwing up. My whole body [was], like, chills,” Devor said. “I was here three more nights.”

A retained placenta can be life threatening. Dr. Atlas noted it’s scary to think about what a condition like this can lead to.

“I think the thing I worry about is, the next time, the placenta [is] really going to invade the uterus. [That’s] called a placenta accreta spectrum disorder, [where we] need to remove the uterus to save [the mother],” Dr. Atlas said.

Post-pregnancy warning signs include symptoms like shortness of breath, headaches, and excessive swelling.

Devor said that with her complications, fever, chills, and pelvic pain were all symptoms she experienced.

“I urge people to share their experience more because it could help someone,” Devor said. “With my first [birth], I thought it was normal to be in so much pain, to still have heavy bleeding, to feel awful every day. I was just like, ‘I’m a new mom. I’m doing it, I’m doing it.’”

According to Dr. Atlas, Mercy sends patients home with a list of possible symptoms to monitor that shouldn’t be ignored. 

View Mercy OB/GYN Dr. Robert Atlas’ interview regarding post-partum complications.