Low lying placenta help please

[MerlinsBeard]

Have just had my 20 week scan and my placenta isn't just low but covering the entrance to my womb. Have googled but that has just terrified me.

Have been told that it may move by the time i am rescanned at 32 weeks but by googling, it may not move enough.

I know home birth is out of the question now and i have been told to go straight to delivery if i have any bleeding or abnormal twinges but beyond that i dunno. Want togo to MW appt 2mo armed with proper info !

True, it doesn't matter how much you google, it doesn't move

It doesn't move but as the uterus expands it grows downwards - which is why a low-lying placenta at 20 weeks can appear to have moved up by later in the pregnancy. You should be given another scan later on (I think after about 30wks) to establish whether or not the placenta is still over the entrance of the womb. If it is, to be brutally honest, you will almost certainly need a caesarian. Sorry not to be able to say anything more reassuring - just be aware that there is still a chance that it might 'move' and one positive way of looking at it is that the placenta grows wherever the egg implanted - so your baby determinedly grabbed on at the last minute. Good luck with the MW, I hope she's able to reassure you and give you the information you need.

It's difficult to say how much the placenta may move, it may move enough for a vaginal dlivery, but there is still a risk of bleeding if it remains low.

When they repeat the scan @32weeks you will have a better idea.

I had this at 20 weeks and was ordered to rest, come back immediately if I noticed any bleeding etc, but my next scan showed that it had moved and was safely out of the way.

If it doesn't move out of the way you'll have to be very careful towards the end and be booked in for a C-section.

Don't worry, whatever happens I'm sure they will keep a close eye on you. Good luck

Thats what i meant by move. Move up as i get larger. I had a feeling i was looking at a section so its not a real shock...i will know when baby is coming to the day and wil be in teh right place if there are any complications. Which, thru googling, are very scary indeed!

I have another scan at 32 weeks but am not hopeful that it will have changed much.

I'm not sure what i wanted anyone here to tell me tbh, just..oh i dunno..wanted to find out what i could before MW i guess.

don't google! i had pp. it really was ok, you'll be looked after really well if it doesn't move out of the way. if i'd have had the internet then, i'd have been a nervous wreck.

I had total placenta praevia at your sort of stage. I was told it was unlikely to 'move'. But by 28 weeks, it had. I gave birth vaginally at 41+1.

i had posterior placenta previa with ds1 - there's something like an 80% chance it will move in time for delivery. i was unlucky, it didn't, went into labour 3 weeks early and started bleeding, had emergency c/s, not much fun but we were both fine and that's the main thing.

you need to find out what grade it is, there are 4, of which i think 4 is completely covering cervix, 3 is partially covering, 2 is encroaching, 1 is within 1 cm. with a grade 2 or 1 you've got some chance of a natural delivery if you've got a sympathetic midwife/consultant.

i am now preg with ds2, got anterior previa, ho ho, now that's really unlikely apparently!

mine is anterior!

Will ask about the grade but the opening to my cervix (is it the os?) is completely covered. Looks like baby "stuck" at the last minute!

DON'T GOOOOOOOOGLE!!!

exactly what I did, made myself stop as it doesn't help just freaks you out. I'm now 31 weeks, have another scan at 34 weeks to see what has happened...

So far i've had one scare with a bleed that meant I had to be checked out in hospital but all has been fine.

One thing I can say is that with all the monitoring etc we have now the hospital and mws are very aware of everything that is going on with our pregnancies and generally do a pretty good job of keeping an eye on things, and either way, if it moves or if it doesn't we will be well looked after

well done, we are obviously very special and clever!

seriously, try not to drive yourself nuts about it, i have resolved not to think about it until scan (they're doing mine at 36 weeks to give it maximum chance to move as i REALLY want a vbac home birth this time). if you live close to hospital you might still want to try for the home birth if its say only a grade 1 at next scan.

i mean, i went into labour, supposedly a big emergency cos of the bleeding etc, but it took me an hour to get to hospital and then waited 2 hours for anaesthetist (be warned, you're likely to get a general anaesth if you're bleeding and in labour, that was toughest part for me)... all i'm saying is even if things didn't go as planned, as long as you live reasonably close to hospital you'd still get there and be ready for c/s long before the consultant is so no need to panic.

dd2 and ds pregnancies were both ll placenta, both antereior, both I suffered a little bleeding which was checked but was absolutel fine, when I was preg with dd2 I was very keen for a natuaral birth and the constultant was very understanding and said that they would scan at 32 weeks and then at 39 weeks would take me in give me an internal and if the placenta was at all in the way section me, if not pop my waters and let me birth as natuarally as poss. I n the end placentas moved up completely both times by 32 weeks and I delivered naturally both times, the silver lining of this cloud is you get another scan and a lovely late pic of your baby.

i didn't have a clue about what having a low placenta meant even at about 30 weeks. it was a surprise i still don't know what grade it was, or if it was anterior or posterior. ignorance was bliss

Mumofmonsters- I had a full grade 4 placenta praevia with DC2. I bled on an off for the last two months of the pregnancy (had one very scary ambulance ride)and was admitted to hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy. Baby was eventually born by emergency CS under general anasethetic. Not ideal by any stretch of the immagination, but I survived!!!! Went on to breastfeed my daughter for 4 months and , this is the best bit... I had two more dc entirely naturally, and no PP.

My advice would be to not look at the net (tempting I know!), follow doctors advice and be prepared that this may be a cs (if its not -bonus!)