Bleeding at 5 weeks - what to do?

[Mostlyjustaluker]

Hi all,

I am 5+3 weeks pregnant and very lighting bleeding. It maybe tmi but small bits of red/pinky blood when wiping and couple of bits of tissues 1mm * 2mm. I am thinking I should wait and see what happens this afternoon. Any advice?

It may be nothing, fingers crossed for you. Try and relax as much as you can, I know it's v v hard, keep your feet up, and hopefully it will stop. If not, call your GP or EPU.

Lots of luck x

Do you think it will be ok to do some light gardening? If I am occupied I won't think about it.

I had this and everything turned out fine. Gardening gently is a great idea to take your mind off worst case thoughts. Really feel for you, I was very emotional too but it meant nothing and lots of women get it so try not to assume the worst

Thank you. I bleeding a bit more now but not enough for sanpro. Feeling sad and resisting the urge to do another pregnancy test.

Try to distract yourself, as sadly there is nothing medical that can be done. I had heavy bleeding at 6 weeks but still pg now 16 weeks. Fingers crossed you'll be fine x

Sorry you're going through this, it's horrible. I had bleeding early in my first pregnancy. It all turned out fine. The doctor said it was probably implantation bleeding.
I'm currently 7 weeks with #2 and had bleeding again at 5 wks this time.
Call your doc on mon. They can book blood tests 48hrs apart to check hcg levels are rising as they should be. They may also book you in for an early scan. I have mine on mon so fingers crossed.
Hope it all works out for you.

I know the instinct is to rush off to hospital, but I'd advise against it. It's the weekend, you'd likely end up sitting there for hours waiting and in many places they don't offer any kind of scanning on weekends (which wouldn't tell you much at your stage anyway). And I can tell you with authority that the very last place you want to be if you start bleeding heavily is there)

Contact your dr or GP monday morning. Light bleeding is very common in early pregnancy and does not at all mean anything has gone wrong. You don't need to go to bed or anything, nothing is going to affect whatever happens at this point. Just be kind to yourself and hope for the best, of which you have every chance.

Good luck.

(and don't bother with any pregnancy tests, they won't tell you anything)

Thank you everybody. It is definitely bleeding more but nothing on pad, probably as I am wiping frequently because I am going to the loo every hour.

I also spoke to RL friend who I know had bleeding throughout pregnancy, her boys in nearly two now, and I feel much better about it.

Hi it is me again. Just a couple of questions.

The bleeding is getting heavier not heavy enough to worry about my health. When should I be worried it is too heavy and need to medical advice? I really DON'T think will be necessary but just to keep my mind at ease.

I am a teacher with a full teaching day tomorrow so won't not be able to ring the doctors until lunch time. Do I go I to work and just wait until lunch time, I am not sure if the doctors are open at lunch time, or go I to school as normal? Like all teachers I get very guilty if I am off ill and I am not ill so should be in school but I know I should see a Gp.

At this point in pregnancy there is really very little possibility of bleeding enough to be bad for you (assuming no other underlying health conditions like clotting problems etc?)

Re the GP. To be frank, there really isn't anything a GP can do for you. If you are having a miscarriage, its an early one, and its unlikely there would be any need for intervention. All they are likely to do is refer you to local EPAU, and all they can really do is assess the viability of the pregnancy via blood tests and scans.
Really not trying to be harsh, just honest: but its either going to happen or not, and usually your body will just get on with it on its own. You may need a follow up if there is doubt about whether the m/.c is complete, but don't worry about that for now.

Important things to watch out for: If you start to feel feverish, ill, or shaky. If you get any sudden severe one sided pain. If you are bleeding enough to soak one heavy duty pad per hour. All of these things need medical attention fairly quickly

I hope this isn't too blunt, Ijust think its better to have the info and know what you are dealing with. I hope that you don't have to deal with any of this and everyhting improves. Good luck.

Hi countess, thank you. I do know there is nothing they can do it jsut all nhs advice says contact your doctor as soon as possible. Is that not important?

I think thats a just in case thing. I know when I contacted my GP with my 2nd m/c (the first was discovered on scan at maternity hospital, so no gp involvement) they were very much of the "well what do you expect us to do about it" ilk, which I've heard is common enough. I didn't bother with the 3rd, but did self refer to EPAU as it was later on and more complicated.

If it makes you feel better to contact them, you of course should. They might refer you to EPAU, they might have help and advice for you. I was just saying that there is no need to if you'd prefer not.

Thanks contess. I think I would prefer to be left alone to get on with it. Probably another stupid question, how would I know if it was a complete miscarriage, or only some stuff is out or if by some chance it is still growing? Sorry for all the questions but I have not been through this before.

I've been through this twice. Once was a miscarriage, the other is bum shuffling round the room now. With the MC I only saw the gp afterwards and they were not concerned. The other time I got sympathy and a phone number to self refer for an early scan but was told it would likely be inconclusive before 6 or 7 weeks. There is really nothing you or the doctor can do that will affect the outcome but personally I felt better taking it easy and eating chocolate from my mum! Fingers crossed for you.

Ask anything, always better to know.

It's kind of hard to describe, and everyone is different, but if the m/c is complete you will likely bleed for several days, gradually tailing off until it stops. You may or may not be aware of passing "something" (sometimes it never really grew at all so there isn't much to be aware of, sometimes it can be quite clear). At your stage a complete spontaneous m/c is more likely. If its incomplete, it might stop suddenly, it might feel like you can't be done, iyswim. I generally don't go with a trust your instincts thing, but in this case you kinda have to. If you're in any doubt about whether you need assistance, get some. Again, things to watch out for is an bad small, odd looking discharge (other than watery/mucousy blood, thats normal enough). Any temperature, if you feel ill or odd at all: get medical advice.

I'm sorry I can't be more definitive, but the experience varies greatly and its very hard to say on behalf of others.

When I had early heavy bleeding I didn't contact the GP as sadly there's nothing they can do. Best thing is to sit tight and try to distract yourself and see how it goes (easier said than done I know!) bleeding doesn't necessarily mean miscarriage but ime you'll know if it's a full on period.

Fingers crossed for you x

2 weeks after my mc I was given a repeat pregnancy test to do. If it was positive then it meant some pregnancy tissue remained and I would have had to go back to epau to sort it out further. If it was negative then the body had sorted itself out ok and nothing further needed to be done. If you don't want to go to your gp tomorrow, test in a week or so and then contact them if it's still positive.

But as above, keep an eye out for excess blood loss/signs of infection. Fingers crossed it's just random bleeding.