Retained Placenta

Anger (pronounced Ang-eer) was here a few months back. I remember her well because she delivered prematurely at 5 months.                      --That’s not something one forgets quickly.

At the time it came as a shock to me how she could be 5 months pregnant without a fundal height of any kind. Her whole history and situation was a puzzle.         --It still is.

Afterward I treated her for STD’s and cautioned her to come regularly for prenatal check-ups if she conceived again.

Well she did conceive. And she did come.

This time we found fetal heart tones early in her second trimester and her belly was growing nicely. Both hopeful things would go better, we prayed expectantly.

But once again at 5 months gestation, she started bleeding.

When she arrived and I flipped through her book my heart stopped as flashbacks of her last stillbirth played through my brain.

Were we doomed to repeat it again?

Sure enough upon examination she was delivering prematurely. Her curled fetus came out with little difficulty, but the placenta was another matter.

Long story short, I was not able to get it out.

We tried drugs and procedures but they failed. We waited and prayed... but the little bugger wouldn’t come.

I was even ready to try and vacuum it out with our manual vacuum aspirator (MVA) but it broke in my hands.         --Sigh.

And I ended up sending her to Wau for a D&C.

Please pray with me that we’d be able to learn what is causing her repeat stillbirths. Pray that her husband and his other wife -- and Anger -- would all come for more STDs treatments.

Thanks.