# TMI WARNING: Placenta/Afterbirth Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329 "2013-08-04T16:07:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329/21 "2014-01-27T02:12:40Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > … seems to cause Major Squick in some people. I’ll venture to guess it’s not the only organ that, uprooted from its designed place and function and presented for observation, would receive some squicky reactions. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329/22 "2014-01-27T04:01:48Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > 1. Given that the afterbirth is boneless and squishy, I’m assuming it was MUCH easier to deliver than the actual baby. Is this true? Sure. About the same volume as a baby. In fact, if its detected as being lose, someone can yank on the placenta and help it . Risk: part can be torn off and left behind. > [@](#): > > 1. Were you aware of it leaving, or was it all mixed in with the excitement of the new baby, relief at having the baby out, and all the other attendant mess of childbirth? Mother will not notice, as the delivery of babies caused so much pain, they’d be numb to it. Especially if the synthetic hormone is given to accelerate the process so that it occurs pretty quick after birth. > [@](#): > > 1. About how long after the kid did the placenta arrive? 5 minutes with hormone injeciton , 30 without ? > [@](#): > > 1. When a woman has fraternal twins with separate placentas, is it possible for her to deliver a kid, then a placenta, then the other kid, then the final placenta or does it always go kid-kid-placenta-placenta? Should be placenta last, as the hormones for milk production also trigger placenta detachment. The hospitals give an injection as soon as the last baby is out, and the placentas don’t take long to come out after that. But yes it can happen that the placenta of one baby is detached before the delivery of the other. > [@](#): > > 1. When a woman has twins that share a single placenta, do the two kids come out first, or could the placenta come out in between the two babies? The second baby would suffocate if the placenta came out first… unless the 2nd baby was delivered quick. They’d have to encourage mother to try as hard as possible,straight away if the placenta detached early! Obstetrician can also reach in with forceps to help get the baby out. A problem with the placenta detaching early is a higher risk for twins,etc. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329/23 "2014-01-27T04:13:22Z")
I don’t remember the placental delivery with either of my two. I’d had an epidural for the first, so I suppose the delivery of the placenta was really nothing I’d feel, but I delivered the second one completely naturally, and I don’t recall it at all. I wasn’t given a post-delivery injection either time; I’m guessing that the placentas were out within 30 minutes of the actual baby both times, but it’s kind of a blur. Given that fact, I’d say it wasn’t at all traumatic - even after 24 and 21 years, respectively, I still have pretty solid memories of both childbirths. As for “clots the size of lemons,” I believe that’s just if you have some placenta left in. I don’t believe I had anything larger than…well, let’s say hazelnuts, if we’re going to stick with food products for our comparisons. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329/24 "2014-01-27T11:28:55Z")
First baby: epidural. The placenta was dealt with by the medical staff, and went entirely unnoticed by me. Second baby: cesarean. The placenta was removed just after the baby, and I was told later it was something of a ten minute wonder among the medical staff because it was not properly formed. The was in two sections loosely joined by… something (my brain hadn’t fully rebooted as yet… functionally, I was running in safe mode), and the midwife said if I’d delivered vaginally it would have broken up and required surgery to remove. One way or another, I wasn’t getting out of there without surgical intervention. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329/25 "2014-01-27T13:17:02Z")
Obviously many of us mothers _did_ notice, and it’s not necessarily painless. :dubious: In my case, natural childbirth with surprisingly fast delivery, everyone was busy rushing about with the baby since I caught them unprepared for the actual event. Nothing was wrong, they just hadn’t set things up yet, like wheeling in the bassinet thingy and converting the bed to a table. So immediately after delivering, my contractions slowed and lessened in intensity, like a volume knob that went from ten down to two. Maybe ten minutes passed, and I felt a single stronger contraction and must have made an ‘oof’ kind of sound, because the nurse immediately came over and told me it was time to get the placenta out. She gently kneaded my tummy and one push/squish/streched-fullness-feeling and out it plopped. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329/26 "2014-01-27T13:44:59Z")
Three births. 1. Much easier and quicker. 2. Aware, but awash in relief. 3. 5 - 10 minutes sounds good. For the second birth, it came out with a single contraction, but there’s a pause after the baby comes out while it detatches. > [@Meagan](#): > > After childbirth you’ll have clots the size of lemons?!? :eek: > > Excuse me while I go faint now. > [@InternetLegend](#): > > . . . As for “clots the size of lemons,” I believe that’s just if you have some placenta left in. I don’t believe I had anything larger than…well, let’s say hazelnuts, if we’re going to stick with food products for our comparisons. I can confirm that it’s not typical. I don’t remember any clots. Definitely nothing roundish. Stringy bits may have gone unremembered. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329/27 "2014-01-27T14:45:15Z")
They told me that if I had any clots that were larger than golf-ball-sized, that was not normal and I should bring it to the attention of the medical staff. (Which left me a little bit… :eek: at the implication that anything UNDER that size WAS normal.) Pretty much agree with what everyone else has said. Much easier, aware, and maybe like 10-15 minutes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi-warning-placenta-afterbirth-question/665329.md?page=1)