Kim Kardashian: Why She Might Have To Have Her Uterus Removed

Kim is dying to have another baby but on an emotional episode of ‘KUWTK,’ she claims that she suffered from a very rare condition when she gave birth to North West, that could mean her next pregnancy is her last! We spoke to a top OBGYN who is explaining what exactly went wrong with Kim!

Kim Kardashian desperately wants to get pregnant but it could be very dangerous! Kim revealed on Keeping Up With The Kardashians that when she was pregnant with North West, the placenta did not detach from her uterus like it was supposed to and if this happens again, she could have to go into emergency surgery after giving birth and have her entire uterus removed! HollywoodLife.com spoke to a top OBGYN who breaks down exactly what happened to Kim and if there could be life threatening complications!

Kim Kardashian: Why She Might Have To Have Her Uterus Removed

Kim shocked everyone when she called Kanye West and tearfully told him that she had to get surgery to have her uterus “cleaned out.” She explained that her placenta had not detached from her uterus when she gave birth and that if it happens again, it could be her last pregnancy. We didn’t understand what this all meant until we spoke to OBGYN, Debbie Alter.

“This is called a ‘retained placenta’ and it’s bad because there’s no reason for the placenta to stay in the uterus when the baby is born,” Debbie tells HollywoodLife.com. “It’s a freak of nature, it’s rare but it can happen.”

The placenta is an organ that develops inside everyone’s uterus while pregnant and it’s incredibly important. The placenta is responsible for removing waste from the baby’s blood and it is always supposed to attach to the uterus. But after you give birth, the placenta is supposed to be expelled from your body anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes after the baby is born. In Kim’s case, she experienced retained placenta, which means the placenta became trapped because it was still attached to the wall of her uterus.

“Part of the process after one gives birth is the doctor looks at the placenta because you don’t want any part of it to remain in your body. It can block the uterus from contracting to it’s pre-pregnancy size and cause bleeding,” Debbie explains. “The doctor can manually remove it right there or later with surgery.”

We have also learned that the woman can also have an injection to make her uterus contract and then the placenta can be gently pulled out by the doctor. If the placenta still won’t come out with the help of drugs, the doctor can go schedule a surgery.

Why Does Kim Have To Have Surgery?

Kim says on KUWTK, that she has to have surgery to “clear out her uterus.” We’ve learned that this could largely be due to scar tissue that built up around the site where the placenta attached to her uterus. But will Kim definitely have to have her uterus removed after the birth of her second child?

“There’s a higher chance if you have a retained placenta that you will have it happen again,” Debbie tells us. “But there’s no guarantee. If it does happen again it depends on how much is attached and if they can’t get it out. Very often the doctors can go in manually and remove it. If not they can’t then they can do a surgery at the birth and remove it then and possibly remove the uterus. What she is doing is what we all do, is go to the worst case scenario. This is the worst case.”

We did some of our own research too and there’s not anything Kim can really do to prevent this from happening again.

“Birth is normal and natural,” Debbie said. “It’s a beautiful process and there’s no reason for the viewers to focus on this. The body knows what it’s doing.”

HollywoodLifers, are you worried for Kim?

— Chloe Melas