anterior placenta & lack of movement?

[grainger]

Hello there. I'm 22 weeks today with baby #5 (my others are 18, 14, 12 and 2) and this time around, I have an anterior placenta. This is a first for me. I know that everyone (including my doctor) says that moms with a placenta up front feel less movement, but I am still pretty wigged out by how little I am feeling this baby girl move this far along in the pregnancy. All check-ups indicate a healthy baby, but I would still love to hear from some other folks who have experienced very little feeling of fetal movement due to an anterior placenta and who ended up with a healthy birth and baby. I just need some reassurance.

Thanks!

-Grainger

[MaerynPearl]

not me personally but I have a cousin that went up until delivery not knowing she was even pregnant... one of the many reasons adding to it (other than the absence of morning sickness and she was still bleeding every month) was her anterior placenta keeping her from feeling so many kicks... so what she did feel she assumed was the natural phantom kicks many women feel.

Boy was she surprised when she went to the doctor with a bad stomach ache and came home with her third child.

[etsdtm99]

i have had 2 anterior placentas and one on the back.. with my last pregnancy, the non anterior placenta i felt a TON more than i did the first time, or this time (though i'm only 15 wks 5 days now) this time i am feeling flutters down low, but thats it, by this point last time i was feeling a LOT more.. its hard to look back and compare to my first pregnancy.. i have a friend who didn't feel any movement until 24 weeks with her first due to an anterior placenta..

[MyFillingQuiver]

This is our 6th child, and the first anterior placenta that I've had. I'm 18 weeks 4 days, and ASTONISHED at how much less movement I'm feeling. The u/s I had for dating at 13 weeks clearly showed lots of movement, and it can be heard on doppler. In fact, the other night I was awake and very still and peaceful with my near 10 month old for most of the night...he's teething 4 at once, and needed mama. As I laid still, I could finally have some reassurance in a few little bumps-but I felt more tapping a few weeks ago than now! My guess is the placenta is covering more of the baby's kicking zone now!

With the exception of our first (which was the usual 1st time movement) I have felt all my babies early, and it's not odd for me to feel flutters before most people say is "possible". This time, I could easily be worried! I'm not heavy, and usually know right where baby is implanted from early on, etc. I feel tiny little things very occasionally either way low or extremely high..not the usual right in front or to the side wallops.

I'm truly thankful for each tiny little reminder I do get! I am sure we will feel more as time goes on..I've read that most women still don't lack for feeling battered by baby towards the latter weeks!

You aren't alone!

[dannic]

Originally Posted by MaerynPearl

not me personally but I have a cousin that went up until delivery not knowing she was even pregnant... one of the many reasons adding to it (other than the absence of morning sickness and she was still bleeding every month) was her anterior placenta keeping her from feeling so many kicks... so what she did feel she assumed was the natural phantom kicks many women feel.

Boy was she surprised when she went to the doctor with a bad stomach ache and came home with her third child.

[dmpmercury]

I had three anterior placentas and it definately muffles things. I wish I had a placenta in the back just once. with my first I didn't feel anything until I was 23 weeks pregnant. I went in to my Ob at 22 weeks in panic and she was moving all over but I couldn't feel it. Even at the end I could go almost a day without feeling much. A few times I went to the triage in panick over not feeling movement for a while and my OB just started scheduling me to ease my worry.

My second I didn't feel until 18 or 19 weeks. I didn't have as much panic with him but I still don't think I felt what someone with a posterior placenta feels. This is my 3rd pregnancy and I am just about 15 weeks and no movement yet so it begins once again. Sigh.

[sanguine_speed]

My last two (including this one) were anterior placentas. Definitely a difference in movement.
But more concerning for me was the increased likelihood of breech presentation with anterior placentas. Not a huge difference, but my last baby was born breech and this one just turned cephalic at 37 weeks. An anterior placenta also decreases the likelihood that an ECV will work to turn a breech.

[klocke]

I am pregnant with babies 4 & 5, LOL. This is the first time (to my knowledge) that I have had an anterior placenta, well two actually. With my last three I felt movement at 17 weeks for my first and then the last two at 15 weeks each. This time I can honestly say I didn't feel regular movement until 25 weeks and that was with two in there. It had me so freaked out! Up until about 30 weeks they couldn't even get my daughter's heartbeat with a handheld Doppler because she is right behind her placenta. And still (now 33 weeks) I don't feel my son as much as my daughter due to his placement. I know how hard it is not to worry because like I said I was so freaked out something was wrong. But from my experience there is a huge difference in feeling movement when the placenta is anterior.

[BlackSheepPDX]

I apparently have an anterior placenta with this pregnancy, but I've been feeling movement since 15 weeks. And lots of it. So much for my data!

[slgt]

Grainger, I had an anterior placenta with my last pregnancy. I started feeling flutters at about 18-19 weeks, and didn't feel full movement (rolls, bumps, thumbs, somersaults) until maybe 25-ish weeks? And DH couldn't feel until at least then, maybe closer to 28 weeks.

I had a fantastic birth and DD came out perfectly fine (except for some warped gene that told her to stop napping at age 2).

I have a posterior ("normal") placenta this time around, and started feeling the flutters at 14 weeks, and there has been enough movement for DH & DD to feel starting around 18-19 weeks.

In my limited experience, I would say it's normal to not be feeling as much as you are used to.

ETA:
Maeryn, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot, cannot, cannot, cannot imagine -for any number of reasons - not knowing I was pregnant! Unreal.

[grainger]

Thanks SO much to everyone for these incredibly reassuring replies :-)

[Loving1]

I'm 22 wks 6 days and my doc. said that I should begin feeling at 25 wks. This is my first so the anterior placenta threads have been very reassuring for me. I was most concerned around 13 wks when morning sickness left and the only thing I felt was fat. Baby is alway very active during ultrasounds though. I never thought I would enjoy doctor's visits so much.

[mamabearsoblessed]

I'm about 24 wks ...I think . This is my 4th bsby and my first anterior placenta. When I went for an u/s a few weeks ago I said 'I have an anterior placenta yes?' and she said "yes! You do!'
I have felt my babies early and almost constantly. This one I felt very early as well and often but the movements are not nearly the same. The others were very distinct, very deliberate, strong and easilt felt from the outside after 17 wks or so. This time around the movements are more vibrations, swooshing and like ...energy ... I don't know if that makes any sense at all .
Baby boy has to be thumping very low or very high for things to feel deliberate and strong. The rest is very muffled and not nearly as often as the others. You will feel more as baby grows but probbably not as clearly or strongly as if you weren't anterior. I'ts kind of a bummer I loooove feeling baby and am usually easily worried and movements soothes me but this pg I have been much more relaxed and accepting.

CONGRATS ON YOUR PREGANANCY AND UPCOMING BIRTH .

[mamabearsoblessed]

Originally Posted by MaerynPearl

not me personally but I have a cousin that went up until delivery not knowing she was even pregnant... one of the many reasons adding to it (other than the absence of morning sickness and she was still bleeding every month) was her anterior placenta keeping her from feeling so many kicks... so what she did feel she assumed was the natural phantom kicks many women feel.

Boy was she surprised when she went to the doctor with a bad stomach ache and came home with her third child.

: I never understand these stories!! I believe them, just can't fathom it

[karen1968]

I'm just going to chime in agreement with PPs and say the movement I felt was fluttery or swooshy until the third trimester. At our 20 week u/s, the tech commented on how much the baby was moving around and I said, "he is??" since he was my first I didn't have anything to compare it to so wasn't worried.

I'm not even 6 weeks this time, but I'm really hoping for a posterior placenta this time!

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by mamabearsoblessed

: I never understand these stories!! I believe them, just can't fathom it

Shes actually only one of two women I know in person who have had it happen... I also know one who has been in several of the shows about not even knowing you are pregnant. If you have watched them... she lives here in Illinois but was visiting a cabin in Wisconsin when she went into labor... the funny thing was her sister was due around the same time! and she had been saying how at least since her sister was having a baby she would be able to have a baby around... she had some medical problems though... fibroid tumors and such... so the lack of a period was totally normal for her.

As far as I know my cousin has never been in any of the shows from hers. It wasn't as exciting... just sitting at home one day and realized she was in pain, went to the doctors and they did an ultrasound to see if it was some internal damage and saw baby (and were able to tell then that the placenta was anterior) then had a C-section since her hospital would not do a VBAC.

[Mosaic]

Yup, just ditto what everyone else said. I'm 35 weeks now, so there's definitely more movement but still NOTHING like it was the first time around with a posterior placenta. I was under the impression that this would be my "mellow" baby, but I also found out in appointments with the u/s and the doppler that this baby is moving way, WAY more than I had imagined, and I felt nothing! I still can't really do "kick counts" or even comment on if the baby is moving less than normal because, well, "normal" isn't a heck of a lot to begin with.

[CallMeMommy]

Thank you for starting this post! I'm 18 weeks and am pretty sure I have an anterior placenta (will confirm in a couple of weeks at my US) and it's wigging me out, too. My midwife had a heck of a time finding the heartbeat at 17 weeks and I hardly feel any movement, it can be nerve-wracking to say the least.

[sweet_tart_vt]

Im 33wks pregnant with my 7th and this is my 1st anterior placenta. There is a huge difference in the amount of movement! It really bothered me for a long time because I love feeling my babe's move; even when it's less than pleasant lol. I never truly felt her move until i was about 18-19 weeks which is when I felt movement with my 1st child . Ive always picked up movement fairly early after my 1st, even from my "lazy" babes, so this time around I figured it must be a placenta issue, which was confirmed at my 20wk anatomy scan. Now that Im further along and she's gotten bigger and more vigorous in her "exercising" I can feel a lot more, alothough it is still "muffled" comapred to all my other babies. I do still get an occasional "good one" to the cervix or ribs though, and Im so thankful for those even though they can hurt. My other kids and DH have only just recently, probably within the last couple of weeks or so, been able to feel her moving. I know that everything is ok, and I take comfort in my body's ability and my little girls instinct to continue the journey until we see her Earthside.

[poetgirl]

Originally Posted by Mosaic

Yup, just ditto what everyone else said. I'm 35 weeks now, so there's definitely more movement but still NOTHING like it was the first time around with a posterior placenta. I was under the impression that this would be my "mellow" baby, but I also found out in appointments with the u/s and the doppler that this baby is moving way, WAY more than I had imagined, and I felt nothing! I still can't really do "kick counts" or even comment on if the baby is moving less than normal because, well, "normal" isn't a heck of a lot to begin with.

Exactly this. I'm supposed to report if I feel less movement but it is almost impossible to gauge. He also moves most when I'm sleeping so I tend to miss a lot of the most active stuff. This is my first so I had nothing to compare it to, but I do wish that I had a way to really know if he was moving less. I really didn't feel him until I got a clear kick at around 22 wks.