First pregnancy - bleeding at 6+6 weeks

[CasperFlamingo]

Morning all.

I've been scouting around the boards for the last week or so and have yet to post anything, mostly because I thought it would tempt fate, but it appears that fate is perhaps against me anyway, so here goes.

I'm 34, been TTC for close to a year, and got my BFP on 10th June - I'm currently 7+2.

I've not had many pregnancy symptoms - boobs felt huge for the first 2/3 weeks after finding out, and sore on occasion to touch, but other than that I've only had a few light waves of nausea, some lower back ache, some cramping up front, and a little tiredness. I'd also been having some clear/white discharge, same as usual when I've not been pregnant. Initially I was peeing a lot as well - way more than usual.

It's about to get seriously TMI - I apologise in advance!

On Sunday (two days ago) I woke up about 5.30am to go for a pee. When I looked in the toilet I saw a small streak of blood. When I wiped it was light pink, with some pale brown, and watery. Obviously this freaked me out and I spent the next two hours wide awake in bed waiting for the OH to wake up. He was fantastic with me, and suggested I call the 24hr midwife helpline.

So I called them, and they advised me to keep an eye on it, and gave me the number for the Early Pregnancy Unit, and told to call them first thing Monday morning. Midwife was helpful and said bleeding is common, if it's not bright red and gushing, or I'm not getting any serious pain, then not to worry.

I was fine all day Sunday, obviously kept checking when I went to the toilet, but only small amounts of brown discharge. However, Sunday evening I got really uncomfortable lower back ache and cramping along the front. No discharge, but just really uncomfortable. By the time I went to bed it felt better, and I put it down to not having eaten a lot during the day on Sunday (too stressed out my brain to eat!).

Got up Monday morning and there was red/brown blood and a couple of very small clots on the paper - again, not on the pad but only when I wiped. That's when I basically fell apart and cried on my husband for about an hour. I called the Early Pregnancy Unit and the midwife said the same as the 24hr helpline - added that people bleed all the time in early pregancy and often nothing to worry about. They have booked me in for an appointment next Monday - they say they can't scan until 8 weeks - so I have to wait until then to find out if anything's happened. Since then I haven't had any red, just dark brown, and again only when wiping.

I'm convinced that something terrible has gone wrong. I didn't have lots of pregnancy symptoms in the first place, so I'm finding it hard not to fixate on symptoms that no longer seem to be there, or on ones that I think are new - for example, I keep grabbing my boobs because they don't feel as sore or as heavy as they did. I am still having some lower back ache and cramping along the front, occasional spiky sensation up the hoohah. I'm also feeling tired but that could just be all the worrying I'm doing!

Hoping someone can enlighten me as to what's going on, offer some comfort, or tell me the cold hard truth that this might not turn out the way I want. I'm not usually a bundle of nerves, but I'm a wreck right now!

I bled the whole way through until 13 weeks - from 5-8 weeks I had lots of brown blood and clots but mostly on wiping, then from 8-13 weeks I had huge haemorrhages requiring hospital admission, fluids etc.

Now 24 weeks and baby fine. Cause never fully determined.

Obviously bleeding can be a bad sign... but it also doesn't have to be. Statistically, 50% of pregnancies with bleeding will be successful.

It is a horrible waiting game. We paid privately for earlier scans when I was bleeding because my mental health couldn't hold out.

I’m so sorry, that all sounds very scary. There are so many reasons that you could be bleeding though and it doesn’t mean the worst. A lot of the other symptoms your describe (cramping etc) are perfectly normal. Might just be the baby burrowing into your lining. Would you consider paying for a private scan this week? If only to save you another 5 days of worry. Try not to worry too much

Hi OP, I hope my story can give you a bit of hope as I know how scary it is to bleed in the first trimester.
With my first pregnancy I spotted throughout the first 12 weeks. Brown, pink, bright red and it was constant. I now I have an energetic 2 year old at my feet so all turned out ok!
I am pregnant again and have been bleeding A LOT. I am 6 weeks so very early. I've been spotting and 'gushed' blood twice (sorry if TMI) but a visit to the EPU and an early scan has put my mind at rest. Apparently some women just bleed in early pregnancy and I'm one of them.
Whilst new blood should always be checked over by a medical professional it doesn't always mean bad news.
Also I have never had strong pregnancy symptoms in either pregnancy, apart from sore boobs maybe but even then it's barely noticeable. I know I should feel lucky that I feel normal in that sense but as you know it can be quite concerning!
These first 12 weeks are such a tough time on us Mums emotionally but try and remember that the odds are in your favour that everything is going to be ok.
Good luck

Just a hand hold and to tell you I bled for 2 weeks at around 6 weeks with my 2nd. I had an early scan and there was a heartbeat and he is now 6 years old.

I am 5+4 and have had a small amount of blood on the tissue today which scared me but from reading on here it's probably nothing to worry about. I wonder if it would be worth you booking a private early scan though to reassure yourself? I believe they can be done from 6 weeks?

Thank you to everyone who has been so kind and left their messages of support and comfort. Thank you for keeping me sane!

@October2020 @Cuwins @Foreverbaffled I've definitely considered going private for an early (early) scan - I don't know why I just don't want to. It's completely irrational, but in my head if I can keep going to Monday, it might be all for the better? Also possibly a little burying my head in the sand?!

@ilikepalmtrees @LST thank you for your positive stories - it definitely gives me hope. I'm so pleased it work out for you.

I'm not usually one to get all over-emotional about things - I've definitely been more emotional since being pregnant, prior to this episode. I think I under-estimated how much my emotions would be affected and really how much I want a baby. It's been a lot to take in. My poor OH is having to put up with a lot at the moment!

Fingers crossed I can make it to Monday without going completely insane. Thanks guys.

Update. Just gone to the toilet and had very dark brown stretchy stringy discharge when wiping. Mostly brown but some small dark red clots. Don't know what to think.

I called my GP earlier as I was still getting light bleeding and they asked me to do another test- which was the strongest positive I have had yet which reassured me. They have asked me to call the early pregnancy unit tomorrow

@CasperFlamingo Are you cramping at all? With my 'gushes' of blood I also passed x2 clots (around the same size as a 20p) so a couple of small clots doesn't necessarily equal bad news (I'm still pregnant)
With any blood or clots during pregnancy you can always get checked over at A&E if that would help put your mind at rest? In my experience they would examine me/take bloods etc and refer me to the EPU for a scan to see where the blood is coming from/to make sure baby is ok.

Sorry you are going through this. Obviously not everyone is the same but I bled a lot up until I was about 12 weeks, including a big gush and I thought that must be it.

A hospital near us has a mon - fri walk in EPU clinic, it would be worth looking to see if there is one in your area. They scanned me at 6 weeks ish and baby had a heartbeat. Currently 32 weeks.

Hope everything works out for you.

I feel for you, it's such a horrible waiting game and time passes so slowly. I experienced similar last week at 7+2, bright red on wiping and then brown. I was convinced it was a miscarriage (I had a miscarriage in Jan with only the faintest bit of pink discharge). Went to EPAGU and they scanned me and he's still in there with a strong heartbeat, I was completely shocked. They couldn't tell where the bleeding came from, it settled quickly and nothing since but I'm still so anxious every time I go to the loo. So I've had two different early bleeding experiences, and whilst I don't want to give false hope as things didn't work out the first time, you can also bleed (and bright red blood) and everything be completely fine. Fingers crossed for you x

How awful they are making you wait a whole week! That seems crazy and cruel. When I had bleeding in early pregnancy they got me in on the next working day. Keeping everything crossed for you that it turns out ok ♥️

@cuwins I hope your scan goes well today. I have everything crossed for you.

@ilikepalmtrees I had some lower back ache yesterday, and some cramping across the front, but nothing major and it came and went throughout the day. This morning I have had very little in the way of cramping, still some lower back ache but not much. Got to be honest though, I went to the loo yesterday afternoon and this morning and had several large brown stretchy clots (TMI!) - mostly dark blood with a teeny bit of red. I'm really not hopeful at all, especially as I just don't feel like I did in the previous weeks. Think perhaps I've convinced myself it's not happening, but I don't feel pregnant anymore, if that makes any sense - I'm not bloated, don't have the stretchy cramps that I had in earlier weeks, boobs aren't sore anymore... I've even stopped feeling quite so emotional about it, because I'm almost certain it's gone. I'm going to wait for the scan on Monday, but don't think it will hold any surprises.

@Brigg253 thanks for trying to gee me up, I appreciate it. I've read so many posts on Mumsnet about people experiencing similar things. It seems 50/50 on the outcome, so I'm just trying to be a bit zen and wait for confirmation.

@Pukeymama they said they couldn't scan me until 8 weeks so who knows. If it is a MC then it wouldn't really matter when they scanned me, it wouldn't stop anything. In many ways knowing I can't do anything about it, whilst being really stressful initially, has also made me come to terms with it.

As you can see, I'm a glass half empty kind of girl! Not so great for the OH who is glass 150% full :')

@CasperFlamingo I am so sorry you are having such a hard time of it but please don't give up hope. I lost so much blood and clots that I genuinely couldn't see how I could still be pregnant afterwards, but I was!
Pregnancy symptoms can come and go also, the same with bloating.
In a way i understand why you have prepared yourself for the worst outcome but remember with any bleeding there is always a 50.50 chance that the pregnancy will continue and be healthy. You could be in that 50%! Look after yourself x

@ilikepalmtrees thanks for being so supportive. I still have a little grain of hope there - as small as it might seem - it just seems impossible right now.

I'll have to see what Monday brings. Will keep you posted.

That's ok @CasperFlamingo I'm glad I could help. Yes, please keep us updated. Keeping everything crossed for you

Just a little update for anyone who wanted to know how I got on.

Prepare yourselves for TMI now, but I wanted to be specific so that others might be able to use this information when they're going through a similar experience, because I had no idea what it would be like!

So after Wednesday morning's stretchy brown blood, unfortunately things got a lot worse pretty quickly. By Wednesday evening I was bleeding steadily with pretty severe lower back ache and front ache, but Thursday and Friday were much worse and I had heavy bleeds where I had to change sanitary towels every hour or so to keep up with the flow - this was accompanied by the pain and in the end I called the Early Pregnancy Unit to find out what I could take and they recommended paracetamol or Cocodamol (the drugs helped so I would definitely recommend them, as well as a hot water bottle which helped the cramps a lot!).

I was passing large clots either on the tissue or falling straight into the bowl every time I went to the bathroom. It was a horrible 48 hour period of pain, sadness and general misery - thank god for my husband who was home the whole time and kept an eye on me. I definitely passed something larger Thursday evening, and the blood flow slowed down Friday into Saturday which I think shows that it had gone and my body had done its job. It's now Monday and I'm barely even spotting.

I went to the Early Pregnancy Unit this morning for the scan they scheduled when I first knew I was bleeding - I was pretty certain I knew what I would be going into, but I was still nervous and nearly cried in the waiting room. The sonographer was lovely. She did an over the top scan first, but then a trans-vaginal scan to check my womb and ovaries (which she said looked lovely!!!) and to make sure there wasn't anything amiss. She said it all looked ok, but she said that there was definitely no sign of the pregnancy and that it looked as though my body and cleared it out properly.

So trying to think positively - this was our first pregnancy so it at least removes doubts over our ability to conceive. And my insides look pretty ship shape. So fingers crossed if we try again in the future, things will go a bit better for us next time.

Thank you to all the lovely people who offered support and messages of encouragement and hope. It really meant a lot to me at that time and it was nice to be able to speak to other people when I had only really the OH to lean on. Thanks.

@CasperFlamingo I am so sorry to read your update. You have been so strong and I admire your positive outlook. Your thoughtfulness in explaining what has happened to you in detail will no doubt help others who find themselves in a similar situation. You are so brave!
I am keeping everything crossed that you will get a BFP very soon and have a happy and healthy pregnancy. Take care and look after yourself x