Blood between placenta and uterus?

3861 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by mom2littlebean, Jun 12, 2005

magickmama

Discussion Starter · Jun 11, 2005

I'm posting this in hopes that some mamas here may have experienced the same thing, or can at least give me a little reassurance about the situation.

I'm 25, and currently 20 1/2 weeks pregnant with my first baby. I had a miscarriage in September of 2003, but was only a few weeks pregnant. Fibroids, endometriosis, and problems conceiving caused me to require a D&C in January '05, and we got pregnant two weeks afterward. Still for some reason (maybe the previous loss?), I've been plagued with worries throughout this pregnancy. I've had a couple of incidences with spotting and infections, but my doctor says that everything is fine.

During an emergency visit (spotting) at 17 weeks, they discovered a small amount of blood between my placenta and uterus. The doctor didn't seem too bothered by it, and said that the problem usually corrects itself. At my 19 week ultrasound, the blood was still there. Again, the doctor didn't say much about it, other than it would probably clear up on its own. He didn't restrict any activities, and said that the baby looks great.

Still, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that something's wrong, so I've been doing a little research of my own. The only thing that I can find related to this is placental abruption, and though I'm not sure if it's the same thing, I've managed to scare myself half to death. (I think I need to stay off those medical websites.) I plan on asking about it at my next appointment on June 23rd during yet ANOTHER ultrasound--the baby wouldn't move her legs for them to get an accurate check of the umbilical cord last time--but was wondering if anyone here has ever had this problem themselves or might know something about it. You all seem very knowledgeable about practically everything to do with pregnancy--heck, I've learned things here that I doubt my doctor would have told me--and I'd really appreciate any feedback I can get.

Sorry for the long post!

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alegna

· #2 · Jun 11, 2005

Honestly? It sounds like you're worked up over it. I understand how it is easy to get worked up over all the what-ifs when you're pregnant. That's exactly why I did NO testing in pregnancy. If there was nothing to do to change things or improve outcome, I didn't want to worry about what-ifs.

-Angela

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stafl

· #3 · Jun 11, 2005

some doctors feed on patients fears. Rather than reassuring their patients, they scare them, and then feed off that fear, using it to push all sorts of expensive tests and procedures and potentially harmful interventions. I have no idea whether your doc is like that or not, but I'd go find a midwife or more naturally-inclined doc for a second opinion and see if you don't feel better after talking with them.

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wendy1221

· #4 · Jun 11, 2005

I have a friend who lost a baby last year due to placental abruption at 16 weeks. Shedid a bunch of research and talked to her doctor a lot about it. She told me that it's not uncommon to have a partial abruption that fixes itself and the baby is fine. What happened to her is rare and tragic. I think if the baby has been fine and growing well, there is nothing to worry about. If this was affecting the baby, you would have seen something by now.

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magickmama

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 11, 2005

See? I knew I could count on ya'll. I'd much rather hear that I'm getting worked up over nothing (boy, I've heard that a LOT in the last few months

) than that there was actually reason to be really worried. I'm so glad I found this place!

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alegna

· #6 · Jun 11, 2005

Glad to help! Want some more advice? Dump the ob. Find a midwife. Don't do any more tests and really enjoy your pregancy and birth

-Angela

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atozmama

· #7 · Jun 11, 2005

It has happened to me. It is called a subchorionic hematoma. From the research I did afterwards, it is one of those things that is seemingly more common than previously believed and is being seen more often because of ultrasounds. The majority of the time it causes nothing more than some spotting and the baby is fine. Because you have had light spotting and it has been a couple of weeks, it would seem that everything is going to be ok.

My story was different. I started bleeding heavily and passsing clots suddenly. I went to the ER was diagnosed with subchorionic hematoma sent home on bed rest. However I went into labor about 12 hours after the bleeding started and my son was born at 21 weeks. It was later discovered that there was a partial placental adbruption too.

A pregnancy after a loss can be very unnerving. Any little thing can be unnerving. I am on my third pregnancy since that loss and in my first two, I can not count how many nights I laid awake in bed crying because I thought I would lose the baby by morning. My DH works nights and I had no transportation or childcare increasing my despair thiose nights. I wish you luck and hopefully the next US will show everything resolved.

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magickmama

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 11, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by alegna

Glad to help! Want some more advice? Dump the ob. Find a midwife. Don't do any more tests and really enjoy your pregancy and birth

-Angela

Oh, how I wish that were an option for me. Unfortunately, there's only one midwife within 100 miles of me, and she's booked through the end of the year. There's not a single birthing center any closer than that either, and I'm 50 miles from the nearest hospital with a maternity ward.

(Did someone say 'lives in the sticks'? Yes, that'd be me.) Homebirth really isn't an option because of the distance, and since I've already switched OB's twice, I'm a little wary of doing so again. Hopefully we'll be out of this place before I get pregnant again, because prenatal care has been a nightmare so far.

However, if any of you midwives are interested in moving to hot, sticky, north Louisiana, you wouldn't EVER have to worry about having enough mamas to take care of!

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mwherbs

· #9 · Jun 11, 2005

so it could be some left over blood from one of the early bleeds-- and it is trapped,
for my gals over the years I have recommended taking vitamin E not a high dose just about 200-400 IUs a day. I have guesses why it works, and there are studies on vitamin e being essential for placental health.
I also recommend eating things with live culture lactobacillus like Nancy's yogurt and cream cheese and sour dough bread, fermented veggies to help support healthy flora-you could take a lactobacillus supplement- I like Nature's Way brand because the lactobacillus are good strains that have been shown to survive "bottling" and create new colonies. Having healthy flora does several things reduces cytokines which in turn seems to reduce the chances of preterm labor , it also helps compete with other flora helping to prevent infections
if you have constipation use fiber/bulking agents like prune juice, or prunes, dates, veggies and whole grain foods, liquid chlorphyll if you drink enough fluids you could use metamucil or another psyllium product.
STAY AWAY FROM over the counter products or herbal products that have senna, cascara, castor oil, the LBS formulas,

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mom2littlebean

· #10 · Jun 12, 2005

HI,
I had the same thing with my second pregnancy and was terrified! I was told that I would not carry to term, have a low birth weight, abnormalities, etc. My mid wife prescribed an anti bleed tincture and vitamin therapy. Long story short I gave birth a few days over due to a ten pound healthy baby girl.

My advice...don't stress...take care of your self and talk to your baby..You have the power to heal and to carry to term.

Good Luck! You are in my prayers.

Steph

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