Placenta previa and bleeding

[SapphosRock]

If you have / had placenta previa did it cause bleeding and how often? I am 25 weeks pg and just come out of hospital after a big bleed last weekend. The doctors have said it may or may not happen again. Wondering how common bleeding it and whether I should prepare for another trip to hospital.

Anyone else been through this?

I only bled once, at 14 weeks. It was quite heavy and lasted a couple of days. Placenta up moved by 32 weeks. Did they tell you if placenta was anterior or posterior? I believe anterior is most likely to move.

Only happened once but it was heavy and dd was born at 28 weeks.

Yes I bled loads.
Posterior placenta touching the os. Bled at 23, 26, 30,31, 35 and 36 weeks each time fairly big bright red painless bleeds, admitted for a few days each time, had the steroids at 30w.
DS arrived at 36 weeks by EMCS weighing 6lb15. He’s now 7.
Good luck

Thanks all. Placenta is posteria and it's completely covering cervix atm.

Had the steroids. Just hope baby can hold on a few more weeks, seems much too tiny to be born now.

Bickles glad you had a good outcome despite all the bleeding. I was wondering if they would try and deliver if I had another bleed.

For those who bled did anything seem to trigger it off?

I'm so paranoid about it happening again I'm scared to cough or sneeze.

Just tripped over DD's scooter and fell flat on my face which wasn't ideal but didn't knock my bump and it doesn't seem to have done any damage (apart to my ego)

I had complete placenta previa, picked up at the 20 week scan. I had one bleed at 30 weeks. I literally wasn't doing anything: sitting on sofa watching tv! I spent the night in hospital but it stopped on it's own.
At 36+5, I had a scheduled growth scan and the sonographer picked up that as well as placenta previa, I also had vasa previa which can be life threatening to both mum and baby and I had c section the next day. How it was missed is still a mystery.

I woke up bleeding. Hadn't been doing anything I shouldn't have done!
Oh forgot to add, I did bleed briefly a second time after sex (before diagnosis) but it didn't last long.
Tbh, I didn't take it as easily as they recommended you do, I still picked up my 2yo and walked my dog and it was all fine 🤷🏻‍♀️ but I don't recommend following my example!

@THNG5 apparently they need to do a special colour Doppler scan to diagnose vasa previa which isn't routine! It's crazy!

My scan - where I was diagnosed with placenta previa also picked up an additional placenta lobe which puts me at risk of vasa previa. I mentioned it at my 32 week scan and they couldn't see it anymore 🤷🏻‍♀️ so won't do any further testing. Slightly panicking about it!

Wow I hadn't heard of vasa previa, I can't believe it's not part of the routine scans!

I seem to be getting conflicting advice. The midwife was quite blasé about it all, said no need for anymore scans until 32 weeks, I can drive, do pregnancy yoga and gentle exercise.

My GP sent an urgent referral to an obstetrician, said I should really be in hospital as an in-patient and I should have bed rest for at least a month. Absolutely no driving.

@Engard it's good to know you weren't completely strict, not sure how practical it is to live an an invalid until baby arrives.

@SapphosRockIt's very strange that vasa previa isn't scanned for when placenta previa is diagnosed.

Regarding placenta previa, I was given no instructions from anyone. It was the sonographer who saw it as 20 weeks but never said anything else.
I have 2 other small children, who were around 2 and a half and 18 months when I was 30 weeks pregnant so I was not lazing around and resting! The week before having my c section, I was at Center Parcs! The only thing I didn't do was have sex. It was a good excuse not to really!

@Engard
I had 2 lobes to my placenta as well. In hindsight, I can't understand why it wasn't looked into at my 32 week scan. And I don't know why the sonographer who did my 36 weeks scan noticed as it was a growth scan. I was booked in there and then but that evening, a consultant asked to scan me again to check as apparently vasa previa is so rare, he wanted to see for himself!
I did have an after birth meeting with a midwife a few months after having my daughter to try and understand what happened but I came away not knowing anything new. I think because at the end of the day, I had a happy ending, I didn't pursue it although I did suggest to the hospital that their sonographers should have extra training to pick up on vasa previa.

Hello, I didn’t have placenta previa but had three stays in hospital all due to massive bright red bleeds that soaked through my pants and half of my jeans. They were massive. The hospital was brilliant and monitored the baby when I went in. My longest stay was a week. They still don’t know why the bleeds happened and baby was born by emergency section at 37 weeks when the final bleed involved mopping up blood from the floor. Baby was never distressed and although I had a detailed scan at 36 weeks they couldn’t see any reason for them. Hope everything goes smoothly for the rest of your pregnancy.

I had Grade 4 (posteria) placenta previa with Dd2, had a bleed ar 27 weeks, and another big one at 32 which led to me being hospitalised (steroids given) until they could try and get us to 37 week Csection-

It was incredibly lucky they did (even though 4 + weeks staying on an antenatal ward was a nightmare, Dd1 was also only 15months at the time and had never been away from her at all, I must've cried the entire time missing her, but visited often, and was in there for the right reasons).

The 'lucky they did' was whilst in bed at 36 weeks Dd2 switched from head down to breach, putting a pressure on full cover placenta that started a huge bleed so EMCS- we had to wait a while as they needed extra consultants plus a self salvage transfusion as they were expecting excessive blood loss, which did happen, 2.5 litres apparently. 2 hours in theatre but she was out okay.

Lots else that I wont go in to, they didnt scan so weren't aware of the breach, I asked them to check, was convinced she had turned, I felt her! But short stay in NICU for Dd2, a bit longer to wait for her to put on weight and home.

Now she's just turned one, in the 95th percentile and happily playing with Dd2 on their Christmas bounty!

I've had some problems as they had to lengthen my section site quickly, nerve damage and abdominal adhesions, but on the mend!

I suppose the only advice I'd give is get checked and voice every concern loudly, I wish I'd spoken up a bit more.

I had placenta previa and my first bleed at 27 weeks; I hope I don’t scare you by saying this but I did continue to have further bleeds and my DD was delivered at 32 weeks after a fairly major bleed. She was fine tho; spent a little time on the SCBU and is perfectly healthy and normal development. With each bleed they said they’d only deliver DD early if there was a risk to me or to her but until the last bleed there wasn’t and their aim is to keep the baby in for as long as possible.
The advice I had with each bleed was to continue with normal activities (apart from no sex) as there’s no evidence that bed rest prevents further bleeding and can cause problems in itself.