Placenta not moving up?

[GruppieGirl]

My midwife noticed on my ultrasound that my placenta has not moved up yet. She will check again in a few weeks.

Hemorrhaging was mentioned. Has anyone else ever hear of or been through this?

[MysticHealerMom]

How far along are you?

Aparently it's pretty common for the placenta to implant in one location and move up as the uterus grows. If it doesn't it's called placenta previa, where it covers or is too close to the cervix. Could cause bleeding. And may result in c-sec - but the thing is, how far along are you? there may still be time for it to grow on out of the way. Not to be alarmist or anything...

I surely hope that's not the case!!

[GruppieGirl]

I am 20 weeks now. My midwife wants to do an ultrasound at 29 weeks, in my 3rd trimester.

I bled heavily after my first birth and needed a trasfusion. I have heard that the scaring may prevent the placenta from moving up properly.

Thanks for the info. Keep your fingers crossed that I start to move up.

[mamajane]

Hi, I had an u/s at 12 weeks because the midwife thought I seemed big and we needed to check if there were twins. Turned out to be only one baby, but during the u/s they noticed the placenta was lying low, right next to the cervix. In one of the birth articles about u/s on the Mothering website it talks about 95% of low lying placentas detected in early pregnancy move up into the proper position. In another article that I read on a website called MedScape, it said that the later in a pregnancy that a low lying placenta is detected, the less likely it is to move up. Because mine was detected so early, I have opted to not have another u/s unless the midwife feels it is really necessary. So far she hasn't mentioned it again and I'm at 34 weeks now. She told me, after we got the results of the first u/s, that it was not something to be very worried about, that it was common in early u/s, and that if the placenta did not move up, we would definately know because there would be bleeding around the time of labor or near the end of the pregnancy. This is how it is detected in a person that has not had any u/s. So, that's where I am at. Since you mention that you had bleeding from your first birth, that might affect things differently for you. I don't know. I would ask your midwife if she feels what happened to you before could also affect the placenta now. That might be a good reason to have the u/s if there are other factors, such as scarring, that could prevent the placenta from moving. Good luck!! Praying your placenta moves up, up, up!!

[XM]

Hmmm, the way my doc explained it , it's not so much that the placenta 'migrates' up, it stays in one place but that becomes higher as the uterus grows, so I am not sure that uterine scarring would present a problem. Kind of like putting a dot near the mouth of a baloon and then blowing it up... the dot will look higher up but only because of the stretching of the baloon.

20 weeks, you have plenty of time for your placenta to move...

XM

[OceanMomma]

At 19 weeks with Saffron my placenta was lying quite near the cervix but not covering it. My mw didn't even bother to send me back for another u/s, even tho' the u/s people recommended it, as "they all move up". Well it moved up & I had no probs.

[dotcommama]

I was just reading about this yesterday in a book called "Active Birth" by Janet Balaskas. (It's a really great book btw).

Anyhow here is what it says about low lying placenta:

"At the very end of pregnancy the lower segment of the uterus stretches the most, which is why a low lying placenta will tend to rise as the uterine walls lengthens at the base."

[GruppieGirl]

Thank you for all of your thoughful and intelligent replies! You have taken a lot of unfounded stress out of my life. I can now focus on growing a healthy little baby.