8 weeks with some spotting on holiday in greece - advice needed pls!!

[Mintie190]

Hi, I am 8 weeks along with DC2. We are on holiday in the Greek islands which I thought would be a relaxing time but I had a bit of blood when I wiped and now I am very stressed. I had a miscarriage in may and was so happy to fall pregnant again so quickly. There is a health centre near where we are staying and they were able to do a scan - my first for this pregnancy. There was a heartbeat and the foetus looked the right size but possibly a small detachment of the placenta. The Dr prescribed Ultrogestan which is progesterone and told me to take 800mg per day. I am reluctant to do so as I don't know much about it and whether it is used in the UK. I called the EPU at UCH in London but I haven't heard back from them.

Has anyone taken Ultrogestan when pregnant? Who could I call in the UK for advice? I haven't had my booking appointment so haven't seen a midwife yet.

Any advice gratefully received!!

hi mintie, I can imagine you are worried.

First thing to say is that bleeding in early pregnancy is pretty common (especially at around 8 weeks as that is when you would have had a period if not pg, so you can get "breakthrough bleeding" at that time, if that makes sense) and doesn't necessarily lead to a miscarriage. It is great that you had a scan and the size was right and the heartbeat was there, statistically this makes miscarriage much much less likely.

Second thing to say is that, from my limited knowledge, there is usually not much that can be done to prevent early miscarriages . That said, I have heard of women being given progesterone supplements in early pregnancy if they have a history of recurrent miscarriage - but 1 previous doesn't usually count as recurrent, so I doubt you would be prescribed it in the UK. I have no idea whether there is any potential harm in taking it though, it may be that they don't prescribe it in the UK just because of budget issues iyswim.

I think in your position I would probably wait to hear back from the EPU at UCH (and call them again if they don't reply) as I reckon they are the best people to speak to. Alternatively you could try your GP, but they may not know much about it (though if they are a good GP they might ask the hospital for you).

Best of luck and I hope you are able to enjoy the rest of your holiday (I love the greek islands!)

Thank you Minipie for your response. I read it to my DH and he commented 'so mumsnet is about intelligent women providing good advice'. We had such limited internet access in Greece so I wasn't able to respond properly but wanted to say thank u for your post. I managed to speak to a nurse at the EPU who in turn spoke to a Dr who said Ultrogestan was routinely prescribed in Greece and it was up to me whether to take them or not. I decided not to. We got back last night and I went to the EPU this morning. All seems fine and I am a bit further along than I thought (well only by 4 days but to an impatient post-miscarriage pregnant woman trying to get to the 12 week mark, 4 days seems a lot!).

excellent news mintie glad to hear your bean is doing well and hope all continues smoothly for you.

mumsnet rocks (mostly )

Hello - I'm a GP (with diploma in obstetrics) and I wouldn't advise taking the progesterone. There is no evidence to confirm that it helps prevent miscarriages, and there is even some thinking that it could contribute to them - basically, there is not enough research on this topic and we just don't know. We don't give it in the UK. So I would avoid it! The best thing you can have at this stage is a reassuring ultrasound scan with a heartbeat - which you've just had. Understandably you're impatient to get to the 12 week mark, when you'll feel better - a heartbeat on an early pregnancy scan is a very reassuring sign that things will be okay though. A high number of women who go on to miscarry would not have had a heartbeat on scan at this stage. It isn't uncommon to get some spotting in early pregnancy, particularly at 4 and 8 weeks due to your hormone surges at those times. Having said that, I had spotting this pregnancy at 6 weeks - scared the pants off me, of course, but I'm now 33+4 and everything was fine. Hope all goes fine for you too. Best of luck! x

Oh yes, I forgot to say in my posts that I had spotting myself - at 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 9 weeks, 14 weeks and 17 weeks as I recall! I think it was probably from my cervix though they never saw it.

So mintie if you do get more spotting don't panic (but do call the EPU as they may want to check you out - I had 3 early scans in all ).