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Pregnancy

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

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Original poster

anybody else had severe bleeding at 22 weeks? Need some reassurance! (long, sorry)

18 replies

ejt1764 · 27/05/2007 15:36

I have had a very scary 36 hours. As I was peeling myself out of bed yesterday I went to the loo, and when I wiped, there was fresh, red blood absolutely everywhere. I'm afraid to say I completely freaked out. dh had gone swimming with ds, so I phoned to leave a message on his phone for him to come home quickly, then phoned the hospital.

The staff were very reassuring, but told me to make my way to the assessment unit as soon as I could. We got there about 930. Midwife came eventually (felt like hours - it was probably only 15 minutes or so), and did a check of baby - the relief I felt when they heard the heartbeat was immense.
I then had a wait until 1pm (!) until one of the doctors was free to come down to the assessment unit to see me (they had 15 deliveries on the unit in 12 hours, I found out subsequently!).

She gave me an internal - but the bleeding had come from inside my uterus - it wasn't a straightforward cervical bleed. So, I was admitted for observation.

Stayed in hospital overnight, came home about midday. They still don't know what caused me to bleed so heavily, but they seem to have 2 major theories:

1 - the placenta is lying over my cervix, and finally got fed up with all the bizarre contractions (not so likely as far as I'm concerned - the scan I had last Tuesday seemed as though it was up away from cervix)
2 - as the placenta is at the front of my uterus, it had had some sort of trauma (like one of the kids at school bumping into me), and had come away a bit / torn ... this seems more likely - but a whole lot more scary!

I've got to go back for a scan on Wednesday to check if there are any clots on the placenta - and to check that all is fine.
After that, I may have to go to my gp and ask to be signed off work until July - I know I was crashed into on Friday by a child - not maliciously, rather accidentally - and I just don't want to take the risk of losing this one from something preventable.

Has anybody else had a bleed at this stage of pregnancy and had everything be ok? I made the mistake of googling '2nd trimester pv bleed' - and have scared myself half to death ...

Oh well, I thought at 22 weeks, I'd left the knicker-checking more or less behind - there's me, back to it with a vengeance!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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lulumama · 27/05/2007 15:46

oh dear, that must be really worrying

if a scan has shown that you don;t have placenta previa, then it might be that a little bit of the placenta has come away....

i had lots of little bleeds when pregnatnt with DS, and I was induced a week early , but there didn't seem to be reason for the bleeding...sometimes 'these things happen'...best thing to do is take it easy until wednesday, and finishing work early migth be a good thing , especially if you are feeling so anxious

Original poster

ejt1764 · 27/05/2007 15:50

Thank you lulumama - do they look for placenta praevia at the 20 week scan?

The bizarre thing is that I passed no clots - just bright red fresh blood ...

The thought of going of work again makes me feel like such a fraud - I was off for 12 weeks with hyperemesis - to now go off with this is really going to set the cat amongst the pigeons!

OP posts:

lulumama · 27/05/2007 16:06

they will check the position at the scan, becasue if it is low , then you need to be rescanned in the last weeks of pregnancy, because grades 3 & 4 of placenta previa preclude vaginal delivery

bright red bleeding is frightening

try not to panic too much , wait and see what happens on wednesday and obviously take it from there

lissie · 27/05/2007 16:09

yours and the babies health are more important. with ds i bled from 5w-23w on and off, its worrying but try to rest up as much as possible. what do you do?

Original poster

ejt1764 · 27/05/2007 16:13

hi lissie - I teach in a secondary school - so taking it easy at work is not really a viable option!

It's the 2nd bleed I've had, but the last one was nothing compared to this - the last one was at 16 weeks, and was brown ... no gushes at all.

This baby is just too precious to lose - I lost my last 2 - if I can do anything to prevent it happening again, I will!

OP posts:

Original poster

ejt1764 · 27/05/2007 16:14

thanks lulumama - just have to wait til Wednesday and see ... at least ds has been packed off to stay with PILs (long standing arrangement), so I can get some proper rest.

OP posts:

lissie · 27/05/2007 16:15

speak to your gp, you're v close to your legal mat leave date anyway so it might be an idea to take some time off.

Original poster

ejt1764 · 27/05/2007 16:19

Thanks lissie & lulu for your help and reassurance!

OP posts:

lissie · 27/05/2007 16:20

maisym · 28/05/2007 21:10

hi ejt - sorry to hear about your bleed. I had a big bleed a few weeks ago. I had a scan and it showed that the placenta isn't fixed to the womb around the edges. I have to take progestrone tablets to stop contractions.

Hope you get some answers. Best wishes xxx

lisad123 · 28/05/2007 22:04

my friend had a huge bleed at about 23 weeks and her dd is now 4
Can you feel baby moving? I hope your ok, try and rest and DONT go to work

lissie · 29/05/2007 19:11

how are you today ejt?

Original poster

ejt1764 · 29/05/2007 20:53

Am ok - thanks lissie - thankfully no reoccurence of bleeding, but am getting very paranoid about every ache and pain!

Scan is tomorrow - will update you as to how it goes.

OP posts:

lucykate · 29/05/2007 21:09

i had lots of spells of bleeding with dd, plus the placenta tore away when i was 10 weeks pg. i had 5 days complete bed rest when that happened. the bleed i had at 23 weeks was the day after the detailed scan. i was late having mine as i'd tested high risk for downs and had an amnio, and they made me wait until the results came back before having the scan. the sonographer was quite rough tbh, dd was facing in, and to try and make her turn over, she was pressing down really hard on my tummy. the next day, i lost quite a bit of red blood, so yes, a knock to the abdomen would, imo, cause what you have described.

anyway, despite all that, dd is now 5, so yes, in answer to your op, i have had late bleeding and yes, all was ok , hth.

FioFio · 29/05/2007 21:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

ejt1764 · 30/05/2007 16:46

a quick update - have been for a scan this afternoon, and everyhting is fine - no placenta praevia, no placental abruptions - apparently it's just 'one of those things' ...

The sense of relief is enormous!

Here's hoping it doesn't happen again!

Thank you to everybody who helped to calm me down when I was panicking - much appreciated!

OP posts:

Hopeitwontbebig · 30/05/2007 17:10

What a relief ejt, SO pleased for you.

Princesspowersparkle · 30/05/2007 17:11

What good news- you must feel a million times better now!
Heres to enjoying the rest of your pregnancy!
XX

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