Anterior placenta. Your experiences please?

[supersonicginandtonic]

Hi this may sound silly as this is my 4th pregnancy, but I have recently been told I have an anterior placenta at a private scan. This is the first time I have had one.
I don't want to google it and have been unable to speak to my midwife. I've left a message with my community midwifery team but no reply as of yet.
Did it affect your pregnancy much?
Were you more anxious due to being unable to feel the movements as much?
Did you end up having a back to back labour?
I'm just feeling really anxious about it all.
Thanks in advanced

[coffeeaddiction]

I had an anterior placenta with my first pregnancy , couldn't feel the baby move til about 21/22 weeks . I had a back to back labour but have no idea If the two are related , apart from that the pregnancy was very normal .

I was anxious to feel movement but because it was my first I didn't really know what to look out for anyway

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

In reality has made very little difference to me. It didn’t make much difference to the movements once baby was over 20 weeks.

[KitKatastrophe]

I have been pregnant twice - first was anterior placenta, second was posterior.

The only difference was that I felt movements earlier the second time (around 13 weeks vs around 21 weeks). Otherwise pretty much the same, even the births were almost exactly the same. First was slightly smaller but I think that's normal and not to do with placenta positioning.

[LouisLitt]

Didn’t feel movements until 23 weeks.

[pettyprudence]

I had AP both pregnancies. First time I didn't feel any movement until about 22 weeks and at 29 weeks I went for tracing as hadn't felt baby move for a while. The MW had to chase him round with the monitor as he was moving so much but I couldn't feel a thing!

2nd time round, I felt movement about 18 weeks and baby would wallop me in the ribs and I could feel her wriggling at the back (hiding from her brother who frequently jumped on us)

Both births started back to back but I was lucky to have a very experienced mw first time and she gently encouraged me to move on to all fours to turn baby and birth. 2nd time round I moved on to all fours early on. Both babies came out after short labours, no intervention and no damage to me.

[MnM156]

Anterior placentas are very common and do not pose any harm to you or the baby.
I have an anterior placenta and the only difference was that I started feeling the movements at 22 weeks and not before. No other issue.

[TaVeryMuchLove]

I had AP with both my pregnancies. Felt baby move regularly from 17 weeks in both pregnancies and didn’t affect anything throughout. It’s very common.

[Grumpy19]

Hi OP, I am also expecting DC4 and have an anterior placenta for the first time.
For me, it took longer to feel the baby move. With DC3 I felt movement around 14 weeks but this time it was 18 weeks and more like 19 before I felt a good kick.
Since then I have had one episode of reduced movement but other than that he has been kicking away!

[Jsh125]

I had an anterior placenta with my first and aside from first feeling movement way past 20 weeks it didn't cause me any issues whatsoever. I had a couple of episodes of reduced movement but think that was more first time parent paranoia than because of the anterior placenta.

It shouldn't be anything to worry about at all but definitely talk to your midwife if you're still feeling concerned about it all.

Had a posterior placenta with my second & kicks felt earlier & were stronger but that was all that was different to first time round

[bluemoon2468]

I had an anterior placenta and gave birth 3 weeks ago. I felt movements from 16 weeks and didn't feel it affected my ability to feel movements throughout the rest of the pregnancy at all. Baby was back to bump and I didn't have back labour.

[Queenbee95]

I had posterior with my first, felt him move from around 17 weeks. Back to back labour.

Second was anterior, felt him move from 21/22 weeks. Back to back also

[plixy]

I had anterior placenta and felt movements from 15 weeks. The placenta was high and I felt them below it. Once baby got bigger I felt and could see baby move as you would expect. I don't think it had any impact on me.

[NightOwl19]

I have an anterior placenta with my current pregnancy and the only difference I can note are I didn't feel regular movements until after 20ish weeks and not sure if this has anything to do with my placenta or not but this baby seems to love positioning more into my back/on my hips which causes a fair amount of discomfort

[FolkSongSweet]

Like @plixy I’ve had one in this pregnancy but it was very high - so much so that by 32 weeks it had actually moved to the top of the uterus so is now technically fundal rather than anterior. It’s my second baby and I felt movements really early at like 14/15 weeks. It hasn’t affected me at all. Baby due in 10 days so don’t know if will affect labour, but she wasn’t back to back at my last midwife appointment.

[SqidgeBum]

I have had an anterior placenta on both of my babies. To be honest it hasn't caused much of a problem. It does make it more difficult to find the heartbeat sometimes, and see the baby if you have a 3D scan done. I felt both my babies at about 18 weeks and they thumped the life out of me after that, so it didnt seem to effect the movements I felt. My labour pains were all in my back and never in my front. I dont know if the placenta was the cause of that. But it caused me no problems at all really.


Good luck!

[Vanessashanessajenkins2]

I had one with my first pregnancy nearly two years ago now. Honestly, I didn't know any different so cannot compare like some of the other ladies on here however, it didn't cause a problem at all. I felt the baby kick around 21 weeks and it was non stop after that. The birth also went well. I hope that helps.

[Stef92]

Hi, I found out I have an AP at my 20 week scan at the beginning of the month. I've been told by the sonographer that it's nothing to worry about as it is common. I've started to feel baby move in the last couple of weeks

[Emeraude]

Anterior placenta in both pregnancies. Felt movement from about 18 weeks in first and flutters from 13 weeks in second so hard to believe it affected it much. Did have back to back labour but I hadn't heard about a link.

[supersonicginandtonic]

Thank you for all your replies.
I had a bit of a rubbish experience with my care during my last labour so I am nervous anyway. Hopefully my midwife will call me back today and we can discuss things then.
Thanks

[SpeccyLime]

I have an anterior placenta. I felt movements later than most (about 21 weeks) but wasn’t anxious because I knew that was normal (I was impatient though!).

It hasn’t really affected anything. It took the midwife a little longer than average to find the heartbeat at 16 weeks but she could pick it up. It doesn’t change anything for my birth plan. I don’t really think about it much tbh!

[SunnySideUp2020]

First pregnancy and anterior placenta.
I am 17w4 and haven't felt any movements yet but midwife told me to expect in the next few weeks.
She also picked up heartbeat straight away with the doppler yesterday.
Like you i am a bit worried about back to back labour as i heard it is painful but overall it was no concern to the midwife or doctor that i have AP. It is quite common.

[MichelleOR84]

I’ve had both placentas ( anterior and posterior) and there’s not a huge difference between the two, especially by the third trimester. In the second trimester you can’t feel movement as early on or as strongly with an anterior placenta. There are no medical issues though and absolutely nothing to worry about .

[unmarkedbythat]

I had an anterior placenta with ds3. No difference at all other than feeling movements a little later.

[lifestoooshort]

Had anterior with my fifth - only pregnancy with anterior and only felt movement from 26 weeks - back to back labour also - this was my only back to back labour so maybe there is a connection- was ok though and no other problems

[PolarnOPirate]

Both my kids had anterior placentas, both my sisters’ too (we have tilted wombs so that probably is why!). Anyway. Baby 1 I was quite anxious because I didn’t feel him til 22ish weeks, and went in a couple times for reduced movements. Labour was barmy but not related to placenta. Baby 2 I honestly swear-to-god felt move at 11 weeks, I think my placenta was higher that time. Elective C Section so can’t comment on the labour. Congrats!