Low lying placenta

[karma_momma]

I am 19 wks with my second and during my ultrasound they found my placenta was partially covering my cervix. My backup doctor wants to rescan every month to keep an eye on it. I am planning a homebirth and am not too crazy about ultrasound anyways so I was hoping to go in for another scan around 36 weeks. My reasoning being the placenta can pull up on its own and commonly does; scanning evey month would be unneccasry exposure as well as stressing me out and making me more worried. I asked my midwife and she said unless I has spotting (which I haven't), I could decide whether I really wanted a scan next month or not. Can anyone tell me whether I am over or underestimating the severity of this condition and any experience you have had with it? Thanks!

[Ruthe]

Placentas are often seen as low in the first half of pregnancy, and an ultrasound image is a 2-dimensional image of a 3-dimensional object and my understanding is that it is VERY hard to tell if the placenta is actually attached over the cervix. I see no reason NOT to decline monthly ultrasounds. If it IS attached over the cervix, it's not a problem until you start bleeding or go into labor. So I'd say, it's ok to decline the monthly ultrasound unless you have bleeding, or really need it for peace of mind; and perhaps accept a 36 week ultrasound to check placenta positioning... that should be super-quick to do.

[liseux]

I had a complete previa, fully centered on the cervix. It moved completely up and out of the way by the middle of my pregnancy. Yours still has lots of time to move & you could wait for other symptoms like bleeding before having more u/s. If you wanted one at the end, for peace of mind, you could ask for a very quick scan. Good luck!

[jennabelle65]

I would really suggest at least one more scan before 30 weeks. With a low lying placenta you are at risk for vasa previa. This is a rare condition that can only be found with a transvaginal ultrasound with color doppler. Ask your OB/midwife for this. It takes less than a minute and can save your baby's life. If your water breaks or you have a large contraction and your baby has vasa previa, your baby can die within a matter of seconds. Check out www.ivpf.org for more information.
I was just diagnosed with vasa previa on one of my twins last week. It truly is worth it to get that 1 minute scan.

Julia

[ericswifey27]

"Keep an eye on it" Where's it going to go?

It has two options, it will stay where it is, or very very likely, it will migrate to where it is supposed to later in pregnancy. There was a study quoted in one of my birth books that showed that out of 100 or so previa cases, something like 98% moved near the end of pregnancy... sorry I don't remember which book it was, maybe someone else does...

I had an ultrasound early on in my pregnancy for bleeding, and I kind of regret it. It turns out baby was fine, and if he/she wasn't, honestly there wouldn't have been anything for me to do about it anyway.

If you don't feel it's necessary, go with your gut. You can always check it much later, closer to term, right? Did your doctor explain what "keeping an eye on it" was going to accomplish?