Early pregnancy - Has this happened to anyone else?

[Nss95]

I’m nearly 6w pregnant from my estimation and about 5 days ago i came home from my 10hr shift at work and laid down on my sofa to rest.
I started to experienced some mild cramping that didn’t last for long and wasn’t extremely painful of anything, I sat up after a couple of minutes just to grab something to eat and felt a gush of blood.
I ran to the toilet and wiped a load of red blood away (gross I know, I’m sorry) but there wasn’t any clots and the cramping and blood stopped within 10 minutes..
I did carry on light bleeding pinkish blood for a couple of days after but that’s it.
5 days after that and I still feel pregnant, still getting pregnancy symptoms and still showing a positive pregnancy test, so I’m hoping nothings wrong but just needing some reassurance or some idea of what this could be..
Can anyone help?
Has anyone else experienced this?

nss95 sounds like you’re coping really well with the bleeding it’s horrible to see and really stressful isn’t it. Sorry also about your previous miscarriage. I’ve had one miscarriage and one successful pregnancy (one year old now). I bled both times. Each time I called EPU. The GP explained it was self referral and was better to go there as they couldn’t do anything. I think the main concern is not bleeding alone, but if you’re having bleeding and pain, particularly on one side or pain in your shoulder as this can be indicative of ectopic pregnancy which is very dangerous and indeed can be life threatening. I’m not a medic and it’d be worth having a look at what nhs says on this or calling your EPU to see if they recommend coming in. But if that’s ruled out there’s very little they can do and the scans are largely about reassurance at that moment if they pregnancy looks normal (but only for that moment) or stopping your hopes building at early point if it has gone wrong. Unless you have had many miscarriages in which case you’ll get different help but in my area that’s 4 in a row. I had repeated bleeding from weeks 5/6 to 11/12 with my successful pregnancy and they did two scans after the first brown bleed and then a much bigger red bleed 3 days later but had to wait 4 days until it was a week between scans for it to useful. It turns out mine was due to bruising where egg had dug into wall and to expect further bleeding. I had smallish amounts of red and brown blood and remained v sick, sore boobs and knackered until about 18 weeks. The EPU told me people can come in ambulances with lots of blood and walk out fine, others can have a little and miscarry, that there’s nothing they recommend after only one miscarriage to do differently, that they don’t recommend bedrest either with bleeding. With my MC before that I had what I thought was normal period then couple days bleed free then repeated light bleeding with sharp pain for over a week. Medic friend told me to take preg test and was positive. Blood tests in EPU stayed positive though reducing for a week and they said didn’t need to go back. After a vaginal scan I went home and had what seemed like a heavy period feel passing loads of thick black blood. Had negative preg test a week later. I don’t know if that’s helpful as everyone’s difference but it’s my experience for what it’s worth.

Good luck.

@Thissameearth thankyou for sharing your story, it means a lot. I’m going to contact my gp in a couple of days just to see what they say, firstly because I’m not really sure how to contact or where to find my nearest EPU.. I’ve had a look online and I might just be being abit of an idiot but it’s the first time I would of had to do this and I can’t find any information on where it would be, I’m assuming in the hospital? But I just can’t find any details, so I’m hoping they’ll either arrange for me to come in or give me the contact for my nearest EPU.
All this is pretty horrible at the moment because I’m trying not to give my hopes up but there’s just this feeling in my head that’s telling me nothings wrong :/ which obviously I know could definitely not be the case... when all of that happened last week I was so scared, upset and devastated but (and I know the symptoms don’t mean anything) feeling like I do right now is just giving me so much hope at the moment.. I dunno, weird times I guess... the sooner I find out the better :/

No. Not contact the GP in a couple of days. You need the EPU. And not in a few days.

@Wolfiefan where am I able to find details for them? And it’s sunday, are they available to make appointments and stuff on a Sunday? Like I said, never had to do anything like this.. it’s confusing and abit scary :S

If I were you I would go to A&E. Don't bury your head in the sand OP.

That's what my midwife told me to do if I needed the EPU out of ours.

hours

Call NHS 111? Or have a google? Contact local hospital? I understand it’s scary but I wouldn’t want to wait. Good luck OP.

Is there any reason why you would leave this another few days?

I don’t understand at all. If you are pregnant and have bleeding (a week ago) and you still haven’t gotten it checked out. I’m not having a go at you, I completely understand that this is all new and you don’t know who to go to for help but you should get any bleeding or other health issues checked out when you are pregnant without delay.
Hopefully everything is alright (my sister had a massive bleed while pregnant and everything was fine)

I’m in Ireland so our system is different. But could you ring your maternity hospital and they will advise you?

Why does it matter if OP waits?

@3luckystars The reason at first I didn’t do anything straight away was because I thought it had to be a miscarriage, I was expecting my pregnancy symptoms to disappear over the next few days and everything to disappear like it did last time but they’ve not and I could even say they’re getting worse so I was confused and just started looking through the internet, reading different stories, reading about miscarriages, realising that I had no build up, no clots, trying to figure out what happened. I read something online saying I couldn’t have a scan until 6 weeks because it wouldn’t show anything so I waited a week. I know not the smartest thing to do but that’s why I thought I’d join this site and get some advise, I’m clueless and a very anxious person who usually just waits to see what happens instead of contacting anyone.. if you get what I mean.
Obviously now I realise that I need to talk to someone ASAP but I just didn’t know at the time.. like I said stupid I know.

@3luckystars I just sort of had it in my head that if I went then and didn’t wait that they’d just make me wait anyway and wouldn’t be able to tell me anything aswell..

Put your postcode in here and it’ll tell you where the nearest EPUs are: www.aepu.org.uk/find-a-unit/

GP would just refer you to an EPU anyway. You need a scan to find out what’s going on and the GP wouldn’t be able to do that themselves.

Yes EPUs are in hospitals, usually attached to maternity wards or gynae wards. Mostly but open on weekends but some are.

Personally I wouldn’t go to A&E on a Sunday for bleeding a week ago and brown/pink spotting now. They are unlikely to scan you there and would just tell you to contact EPU anyway. However if you start bleeding heavily, or if there’s unusual pain, go in and get seen.

@53rdWay Thankyou so much, that’s very helpful!

Great 53rd. I didn’t know that. Good luck OP.

Also it’s not like you’re stupid for not rushing to EPU straight away. I’m a frequent flyer at EPUs (several miscarriages and bleeding in healthy pregnancies) and I didn’t bother calling them last time I started bleeding, because I assumed it was an early miscarriage and would rather just get on with that in peace. But since it’s unclear what’s going on with yours as the heavy bleeding stopped, EPU is the right place now to go to find out.

Rushing to A&E is the right think to do if you’re having heavy bleeding that won’t stop or if you think you have signs of an ectopic pregnancy.

Oh my God you are not stupid at all, please don’t say that! You are in a different country than me so the system is different, I could be all wrong.
I understand how confusing it can all be, nobody has a clue the first time. I do think you should get checked out though, maybe someone here could advise you where to go.

Nobody knows what is going on inside you but I think you should find out. Hopefully everything is ok

Honestly everyone, Thankyou so much for your help and messages, I appreciate the advise so much. I was completely clueless on what to do before joining this. I will update this as soon as I know what happened just to keep everyone informed. Thankyou x

If you’re unsure of where to go or what to do then I would ring 111 and explain the situation. They will be able to see what clinics are available to you nearest to your home and maybe book an appointment for you. When I phoned before a local midwife phoned me back and told me what I needed to do. If you wait to see your GP all they will do is urgently refer you elsewhere, they will not be able to tell you if you still have a viable pregnancy. I don’t mean to sound harsh but the safest thing to do for yourself is to get seen asap, I’m not sure why you would want to wait. Good luck xx

@Nss95 they have EPU in hospitals, anywhere with a maternity unit should have an EPU.

Good luck Nss95 I hope it all goes ok for you

Good luck OP ❤️

Hi OP. I had bleeding in my first pregnancy which ended in an MMC and then in my second pregnancy which ended with a lovely baby so not necessarily a disaster.

I second not going to A&E just unless you are in pain or filling a pad every 15 mins. I went in my first pregnancy, they didn't have any sonographers on, the doctor listened to my stomach with a stethoscope and said it didn't sound like I was having a miscarriage because my bowels were normal . It was a complete waste of time as all they could do was refer me to the EPU on the Monday. If you have had/are having a miscarriage there is nothing they can do about it sadly. Fingers crossed for you.

Good luck op

@Nss95 sorry to repeat what others have said but pregnancy symptoms can still continue after miscarriage due to all the hormones in your body. Fingers crossed everything is absolutely fine for you but please don't use that as a reason to not get it checked out. Good luck!