What if u have low lying anterior placenta & C-section?

[muppetisacat]

That's it really. I have a low lying anterior placenta and suddenly wondered in the middle of the night... what if I needed a C-Section?

My baby is breech at the moment... but at only 24 weeks I am assuming he will flip many times before labour begins...

Any ideas?

info re anterior placenta

Hi muppet...not 100 % sure..but it seems that an anterior placenta can move during pregnancy, as can placenta previa, depending on the degree of previa, IFYSWIM

if it remains anterior, there is an increased chance of a breech presentation and can also make it a little harder to sense baby's movements and for the foetal heart to be heard.

if you do require a csection..then the obs team would be very aware of the attendant risk of blood loss and be ready for any possible complications. i think the placenta and baby have to be delivered virtually at the same time.

as your pregnancy progresses, i'm sure special attention will be paid to the position of the placenta and babies position.

sorry to not be more help ! x

Thanks lulu - half hoped you'd reply as you always seem to know so much!

Makes sense about the difficulty in hearing FH as I had heavy bleed at 13 weeks and waited 2/3 agonising weeks with midwife struggling to detetct heartbeat.

Oh well, here's hoping it moves. The sonographer who picked up its low lying at 20 week scan didn't seem overly concerned and said it would probably move up. I'm kind of assuming she would have appeared more concerned or told me if it was really lying right across or partially across my cervix. Should have asked more at the time but was in shock as she'd just told me it was a boy!

Can you think of any important questions I should ask when they re-scan in january?

Hi, agree with all Lulu has told you - I had a lowlying anterior placenta, which moved up somewhere between 28 and 32 weeks. Most of them do, but if you are one of the few whose placentas stay low - here's what my OB said about a c-section.

She said 'forewarned is forearmed, we'd make sure we had some blood standing by, but basically we do these all the time so don't worry. Also would do an u/s just before section, to check position of placenta before incision.' She is very experienced, and I trust her - felt much happier after talking it through with her!

Mine was still low lying at 24 weeks, but is very much out of the way now - hopefully yours will be too. Good luck !

Elibean - thanks for that... are you still pregnant then? Just wondering whether you had managed an ok birth with the placenta being low and anterior?

I keep imagining the logistics of it and worry the cord will get in the way etc...

Was/is your baby breech with it?

Yes, still pregnant and 37+ weeks. No worries about the cord - and don't forget, they will be able to see that when they re-scan you
My dd was transverse, apart from a few weeks when she was head down (but disengaged later) but that was nothing to do with the placenta, which was high; this time, baby is mostly transverse again though she did turn a couple of days ago - not sure if she's still head down though! Again, nothing to do with the placenta - its probably just the shape of my uterus.
Honestly, I worried about it too - but as everyone kept telling me, its very common half way through pregnancy and much much rarer at the end: odds are you'll be fine, and the placenta will move up causing no problems whatsoever.
No way of fully reassuring you till the re-scan probably though - at least, there wasn't with me!

Just remembered how one OB explained it: your uterus will grow and stretch enormously as the weeks go by, the placenta will move with it - so what is low/anterior now could well be high/lateral in a few weeks. Like mine.

That's really nice to hear Elibean - thankyou and good luck in the next couple of weeks!!

hi..been out most of the day...see elibean has put your mind at rest!