Late onset placenta praevia

[babypinkCucumber]

Has anyone developed this really late after all being fine?

Scans (routine) plus extra ones at 28,30,32,34 weeks all fine showing high posterior placenta. Suddenly now at 36 w complete praevia I had no idea this could happen I thought it was fine ?

Bumping for you OP. Doesn't sound right to me though, was it specifically checked at the previous scans?

Placenta praevia cannot develop later on, you either would have had it from the onset and all your previous scans were incorrect or your scan today is incorrect. The placenta attaches to your uterus early in pregnancy and doesn’t psychically move itself but as your uterus grows the placenta moves with it. If it’s totally covering your cervix it would have always been this way. It can go from low to high as the uterus grows but totally placenta praevia would always have been this way, are you having another scan? All sounds very confusing for you OP x

Yes this is my thinking every single scan said placenta was ‘posterior-high’
Today I was told it’s completely covering the cervix and ‘the os’
3.5 weeks ago it was high posterior
I saw a consultant too who said it’s praevia and told me about potentially bleeding heavily and what to do etc etc all quite scary but I’ve come home been reading and it doesn’t sound right ?

No more scans booked and c section date not brought forward which I’d have thought maybe they would have ? I’m feeling quite confided today was just meant to be a growth scan and I’ve had don much thrown at me I’m only starting to digest all the info now and it seems wrong.

Quite confused not confided

Are you having a CS anyway? In which case it doesn't really change much. But if you were having a CS because of the placenta previa then I would definitely like some clarification as to whether it was missed before or if the placenta actually is where they think it is??

Gosh you poor thing, how utterly confusing. Total Placenta praevia makes your pregnancy extremely high risk, the fact this has gone undetected is unusual and worrying for you. Was the consultant present at your scan on did they just take the word from the scan report? If I were you I’d be asking for another scan to confirm considering this potentially has been missed on multiple occasions. I’d also think about writing a letter, not necessarily of complaint but to highlight your concerns that something so significant has been missed on multiple occasions, they scans need to be reviewed as it’s not essentially to blame anyone but to educate and highlight such issues being missed.

Having a c section anyway but today has really really stressed me so much as it was quite scary how they spoke and we are 45-60 mins from hospital it seemed to be quite scary and serious but not enough to keep me in or change c section date and I’m so confused as it was high at all my other scans ? I just feel like I’ll be scared for the next few weeks

The consultant looked at the report and images apparently

Doesn’t make sense, would ask for a follow up scan.
Normally complete praevia would consider delivering earlier esp if you live at a distance from the hospital. And very unusual for it to be missed on multiple occasions. Something is strange here for sure!

I’m definitely going to get a second opinion

That's odd, similar with me that at my 20 week scan I was told posterior high, but my 28 week scan the lady said it's low and I need to check at 32 weeks and it can't move from high to low! It can move up but not down!!! I'm also concerned about if the 20 week scanning lady got it wrong but I'm sure it's quite easy to see where it is.... I did read the placenta can kill off old attachments and make new attachments for a better blood flow, so it could move down, but I didn't find much info on this so I'm not sure I'd trust it. Maybe you could get a priavate scan for reassurance?

Yes that’s what I’m going to do- I’ve tried googling so much and I just can’t find any info on it moving down plenty about how it can move up.
I’ve had so many scans though I’m more inclined to think they’ve misdiagnosed it this one time than missed it on multiple other occasions

I just need to know so that I’m not stressing unnecessarily that I’ll have a big bleed

I have had extra scans for growth, and at 20 weeks was told posterior high, then 28weeks possibly posterior low, I've just had my 32 weeks and they've said they can only tell by internal scan at 36weeks for definite.

They have said any bleeding at all get straight to the hospital just in case, but it's unlikely it would go from high to low.

It is serious, but no reason to panic, just head to the hospital if you have any signs of labour or bleeding, especially as you are a little way away. But they should have confirmed with an internal scan, as that's apparently the only way to see at this late stage.

Is it really that hard to tell then? I thought it would be really easy to see where the placenta is... Perhaps it's not!

@Chocolate4me

Is it really that hard to tell then? I thought it would be really easy to see where the placenta is... Perhaps it's not!

I think it's due to the fact that both the placenta and baby are so big by the end, the scan is obscured. Just to be sure they do an internal which must be clearer

Yes I think I'll ask for an internal one next time. Don't know how they managed to get a high posterior at my 20 week scan though and then low posterior at 28 weeks, not sure which one to believe!

I just had my 32 week scan, and from an abdominal scan they said they would probably say it isn't low or low enough to be an issue, she looked back at previous scans too. Then they did a transvaginal scan and she was really surprised as it's 1.4cm from the cervix 🤔 so I now have another scan in 2 weeks which I'm hoping it's moved away more but I'm not too hopeful tbh

My consultant said that they wouldn't bother checking properly until the 36week scan, as that's when they know it won't move anymore, there's still a chance it can move in the next 4 weeks.