Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Flip

Original poster

Bleeding at 17 weeks and feel so alone!

15 replies

gysela · 18/12/2010 21:01

I have been bleeding this evening and am panicking a bit. To make matters worse I told DH and all he asked was if I knew why and went straight to watching tv. He didn't hug me, ask if there was anything he could do? Nothing. Its almost like I didn't mention it. Am so sad and hoping I am not loosing the baby.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

banana87 · 18/12/2010 21:03

Try and calm down, stressing will make things worse. How heavy is the bleeding? What colour is it? Are you in pain? If its heavy, red, and you are in pain please call an ambulance. Hope you are ok.

Mummynumber2 · 18/12/2010 21:05

I didn't want to leave this unanswered. I really think you should go to A and E, if only to put your mind at rest. I've had a lot of bleeding (am 15 weeks now) and all is fine with the baby. I know it's very scary though.

Thinking of you. Give your DH a kick and tell him to get in the car and drive you to hospital.

Owlingate · 18/12/2010 21:05

Gysela I'm sorry you're bleeding. I think you should go to a&e - it could be something as simple as a cervical erosion or you could have an infection that needs to be treated, or your placenta could be lying low....get yourself to a&e and get checked out, they may be able to reassure you and will be able to check the heartbeat or book you in for a scan to check the heartbeat...get yourself checked out.

Re your DH - he may not realise the potential seriousness of this, or he may be one of those old fashioned squeamish types. Sit him down, explain that bleeding at your stage of pg is not normal and very worrying and you need his support.

I am thinking of you, please go and get yourself checked out.

Original poster

gysela · 18/12/2010 21:18

Its not bright red or heavy and I am not in pain. Called NHS direct and they said to go to A&E if it changed and I was in pain. They say it happens sometimes but that has not stopped me from panicking. I guess I just have to calm down and wait it out.

OP posts:

LunaticFringe · 18/12/2010 21:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Owlingate · 18/12/2010 21:30

I'm surprised NHS direct advised you tbh. When I phoned them and told them I was bleeding at 17 weeks they wouldn't advise me and told me to phone antenatal ward for advice who then told me to go to A&E. I guess services will be really overstretched at the mo and you would be in for a long wait.

Bleeding in the second trimester is not common and not normal and very often it is not something that 'just happens', a cause can often be found and if it is an infection it should be treated sooner rather than later.

Could it be a cervical erosion? Have you recently had sex or have you had an erosion before? THat would be the least worrying explanation and can sometimes be old (red) blood.

Could you phone your out of hours GP service and see what they advise? Very often they operate out of walk-in centres and you may be able to see them tomorrow.

Owlingate · 18/12/2010 21:31

LunaticFringe its 18 weeks in most places unfortunately. Worth giving them a ring too just in case though.

Original poster

gysela · 18/12/2010 21:36

I hate to think NHS direct was fobbing me off. I will just go to A&E anyway to check. Will let you know how I get on. It will help my peace of mind to let them do a physical check instead of over the phone.

OP posts:

Owlingate · 18/12/2010 21:42

Gysela if you do go to A&E make sure they do the following (some of these may sound obvious but have been on the receiving end of inadequate care):

Give you an internal examination & if no obvious cause for bleeding found, take swabs for infection. Make sure you know who / when to call for the results.
If no obvious cause for bleeding is found, make an appointment for scan at gynae / EPU / wherever appropriate asap
Try and find hearbeat for you (but do not panic if they do not find - can be tough at this stage.

Good luck am thinking of you.

countrybump · 19/12/2010 10:10

Hope it all went OK at A&E for you.

midori1999 · 19/12/2010 11:33

Our antenatal will see you from when you're booked. You just ring either the day assessment unit if it's open or the labour ward if the DAU is closed/at night. They told me to come in right away when my waters broke at 14 weeks.

I hope everythings ok.

FessaEst · 19/12/2010 11:41

Hope all is ok for you?

I just wanted to add that I had quite a few bleeds between 16-19 weeks. I was admitted to the gynae ward at 16 weeks but had no scan, though they did manage to find DD's hb, and took swabs etc. When I bled at 17/18 weeks - quite a lot one evening - I rand the delivery suite and they asked me to come in, checked HB and also did an internal where they spotted ectropian and said bleeding was nothing to do with baby. My MW was great and saw me at home a few times in those weeks to check HB too.

When I had the bleed in the night, I told DH who said, "put a pad in and come to bed, then you can see how bad it is in the morning" . I was so upset and sobbed about losing a baby at 18 weeks etc, etc. I think they just don't undersatnd rather than mean to be horrible. Def the case with my DH and I hope with yours too.

Good luck.

Sparklies · 19/12/2010 13:45

My local foetal assessment unit isn't interested until 20 weeks as I discovered last week when my baby had a seriously irregular heartbeat I heard on my doppler (I have enough experience to know when something is wrong) Thankfully all is fine and apparently sometimes new hearts do that, but I had to pay to go private to have it all checked out.

Hope everything is okay! Bleeding usually means nothing but not always so it's always worth getting checked out.

Original poster

gysela · 20/12/2010 12:50

Thanks for all the replies and support. Sorry for the late update,I have been lying in bed a lot and havent been online at all. Went to A&E on saturday night and they checked heartbeat but didnt do a scan. Everything seemed fine.
They did an internal exam as well and concluded it was cervical erosion. So Owlingate was right after all. Bleeding stopped about midday on sunday.
DH and I had a chat yesterday about his behaviour and he confessed he was so scared when I told him he didnt know what to do. So I explained I would have preferred it if he told me he was scared instead of simply turning to the TV and hoping it will go away. TBH I didnt realise he was scared as he looked so calm...

OP posts:

MissAnthropy · 20/12/2010 12:56

I'm glad everything is okay. I had a cervical erosion when pregnant. Bear it mind it might bleed again. They're fairly common.

My dh reacts similarly when scared. Appears very together and quiet, non-confrontational, removed, detached etc. Afterwards he can discuss things better. It might be worth chatting gently to him about vocalising his feelings.

I know with dh he found labour and delivery hard because he just wasn't able to process his worry and it hit him afterwards. Perhaps chat with dh about how he might approach labour and how he might support you now you know how he handles a stressful situation. DH responds very well to direct questions and answers which you can apply to labour. Give him things to do.

Flip