Tuesday the bleeding and cramps started up again.
I high-tailed it to the doctor for another “I’m afraid to look” ultrasound. Which again revealed a 12 week old fetus with a heartbeat, waving arms and legs and tiny ear buds.
This time, however, we had a better picture of what was going on. The doctor could see my placenta, which had grown bigger in two weeks. And it’s not where it’s supposed to be.
Placenta previa is the official name. Mine, thankfully, is not severe. It’s a “low-lying placenta”. A little bit of it is hanging out over the cervical os, but that’s enough to cause all this trouble.
The cramping and bleeding were worse this time. The toilet has become my enemy. I’ve taken up swearing every time I go to the bathroom. (It seems a pretty logical response to seeing blood at a time when you are not supposed to ever see blood.) It’s scary stuff.
At least this time, I have something specific to Google. Which is comforting, because the prognosis looks pretty good. Although the bleeding and cramps will continue according to Doc, giving me a huge scare every time, the chances are high that the placenta will migrate upwards into a safer spot as baby grows and puts pressure on it. I’m very thankful for this news.
I spent all day yesterday in bed, which required no convincing, because that’s all I felt like doing. Bad cramping kept me up much of the night, and I was exhausted. All day Wednesday I had these painful, jerky pains on the left side of my uterus that hurt so bad they made me jump (I’m not usually the jumpy type). I’m not sure if this pain was my placenta moving, or what.
Today, the cramping has stopped and the bleeding has slowed down. I’m feeling better.
The most difficult part of this is feeling in limbo all the time. Do I pick out baby names? Do I buy maternity clothes? Do I stay unattached? Will I have to have an emergency C-section? Will I have a micropreemie?
Reading the mom’s stories of placenta previa on this site was helpful. In the vast majority of cases, baby was fine. Mom was worried and stressed to the max, but baby is healthy.
So that’s what’s going on here. Thank you for all of your comments and emails and texts of well wishes and concern.
Big hugs–I know it can be stressful being in limbo like that! Sending some peace of mind your way, hang in there!
I would be scared too when I saw the blood. so glad the doctor was able to figure out what’s going on in there.this little booger will be great! can’t wait to find out if it’s a he or a she!
I knew placenta previa was dangerous, but I didn’t know it could cause all that! What a relief to find out what is the issue. Hope you continue to feel better.
Thanks. I’m a little unusual in that I had symptoms so early. From what I’ve read, many women are asymptomatic, meaning that PP is more common than we think, it just auto-corrects as baby grows.
It’s a boy!
How did you find out so early? Exciting!
I know it’s crazy isn’t it? There was a new test my Dr told me about called Materni21. It is a non-invasive test for chromosome defects (Down’s Syndrome and others), but it ALSO can tell you the gender of the baby. I couldn’t believe it! I’ve always refused those types of tests because they were dangerous, and I didn’t necessarily want the information anyway, and there was a high rate of false positives. But because of being able to tell the gender and mostly because it’s not dangerous (all they did was take a sample of MY blood), I opted for it. Neat huh?