What should I do?

[Avengerhart85]

Hi I'm after some advice I'm not sure what to do
Found out I was pregnant beginning of August, had some brown spotting/cramps 19th and 20th August so was given an early scan on 23rd August which put me at 5w5d and on internal scan they saw heartbeat although my dates from LMP put me at 6w2d. Last night the brown spotting/cramps started again but the brown spotting is worse it's every time I wipe and slimy (sorry TMI!)
Iv tried ringing the EPU this morning but no answer I'm not sure if they open weekends and I don't know what to do...iv had one healthy pregnancy (he is now 5) never had this with him I'm petrified I'm having a mc
Has anyone had this and how bad can the brown stuff get before I need to do something (not sure what that something is!)

[CynicalHands]

Call your midwife. It's probably nothing but best to get any bleeding checked out x

[BittyWanter]

Can you call the epu?

I've had two mc and I was told (and from experience) that if the blood is dark and brownish it could be old blood or a bleed when you would have had your period-nothing to worry about anyway.

If it's bright red then it's new blood and that's when you need to be more concerned.

However, if I was you id call the epu and see if they'll get you in for a scan. The fact that you've had these symptoms previously and they found a heartbeat is a good sign.

Fingers crossed for you

[BittyWanter]

Tinkly the first and last thing I said was to call epu.

I also said from my experience-I didn't say it was fact. I obviously don't know you're experience tinkly.

Best wishes op

[Angielka]

I'm sorry this is happening to you Avenger. Have you managed to get through to the epu?
I had a mc last week, and I also have 2 DDs. With my second pg I had quite a lot of spotting (brown blood and later on red as well due to a slight tear in the placenta) at various points, but with my mc there was much more and it was bright red.
It really is a case of wait and see, as others have said. It's so hard though, I know - good luck

[Avengerhart85]

Iv managed to get through to a midwife, the EPU is closed over the weekend so the call diverted to maternity ward.
She said basically what will be will be and to rest and keep an eye on it & go to A&E if heavy red bleeding but nothing they can do until Monday

[bonzo77]

Avenger sadly that's probably true. Do you have Maternity Triage at your hospital? I've been a frequent visitor to mine in the past and they did have a portable scanner that was used in these situations.

Indeed the colour of the blood means zilch. My miscarriage started with several days of light, mucousy brown blood which stopped for a week or so before it really took off. And then I had a similar bleed with brown then lots of red blood (at 28 weeks with DS2 and all was absolutely fine.

I hope you have answers soon. The waiting is painful too.

[Avengerhart85]

bonzo I'm not sure about the triage I never thought to ask, the midwife was lovely very kind over the phone she sounded more relieved over the brown colour but when I said about it being slimy she seemed worried again, just so hard when you don't know isn't it? So sorry for your loss

[bonzo77]

Awful horrible not knowing. Think of it this way, 2 more sleeps till EPU opens. Ours is sit and wait so there were several occasions that I waited outside the doors for staff to appear at 9am! In the mean time it's not over till it's over. There's nothing you can do that will make things better or worse, so try to distract yourself, don't do anything you wouldn't do if you were pregnant as you might well be, (now is not the time for a drinking binge or to take up cross country skiing) but equally your normal planned activities won't be the cause if things go wrong. Fingers crossed for you. FWIW my mc was between ds1 and DS2, and then I had DS3 and never had another MC.

[Avengerhart85]

Thank you bonzo that's great advice I have tried to put it out of my mind over the weekend, it stopped yesterday morning only the tiniest bit...so iv come to work today and going to see what happens in the next few days.
Although googling the symptoms and possible causes says it could be down to DTD as that seems to coincide with both times it's happened, time will tell I suppose.

[SoggyBeachDays]

I hope that it works out for you. I've had 3 miscarriages and 3 successful pregnancies, and I bled and spotted throughout 2 of those successful pregnancies, with a mix of red and brown blood. In my last pregnancy (DD) I had brown slimy discharge like you describe constantly from 10-12 weeks. I know it's so worrying, but it can mean something or nothing (or something other than a miscarriage). Best wishes.

[HeavenlyHeathen]

How are things op?

[Avengerhart85]

Sorry iv been off for a few days...
The brown spotting continued over the Saturday, stopped Monday, Tuesday, came back Wednesday, stopped yesterday and is back today I have another scan booked at the EPU on Monday morning (earliest they could see me) which will hopefully give me a clue what's going on...the more I google the more I worry

[BittyWanter]

Glad you're booked in for a scan. Fingers crossed for you

[Avengerhart85]

Thank you bitty
The scan went well the baby is fine, strangely they can't see where the bleeding is coming from and have swabbed me incase it's an infection lower down but good news that all looks well