Spotting at 5 weeks: anxiety, fears, causes, waiting

[IzzyLeigh]

Hi everyone,
Sorry in advance. This will be LONG.
I know others have talked about this before, but my current anxiety is through the roof while I await test results and I won't have them back until probably tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm posting this to share what I'm experiencing so that maybe it could be helpful to someone else going through the same thing (I’ll keep updating).
I'm 33 and this is my first pregnancy. My spotting started innocently enough on Saturday (5 weeks 1 day) with the tiniest bit of light pink on the toilet paper—so light that I wasn't sure if it was real or just the room's lighting. I panicked but didn't have any other alarming symptoms and so I tried to relax and put it out of my mind. Sunday (5 weeks 2 days) was blissfully free of anything and so I started to feel better. Monday evening though (5 weeks 3 days), I had light brownish-pink (think more like tan/beige?) discharge on the toilet paper and then had it again later that night.
Yesterday evening (5 weeks 4 days), I had the same light brownish-pink discharge but a little more volume, followed overnight by the same light pink (tiny bit) that I experienced that very first spotting. Today (5 weeks 5 days) it’s back to brownish-pink and is happening just about every time I use the bathroom.
This may be TMI, but I think the amount of discharge is important too. It started out as a hint on Saturday, and then became more like a smear on the paper, and then became more. The most I have had is akin to like what you have when you push in the bathroom and have a good amount of discharge immediately afterwards when you wipe. It’s like that except light brownish-pink. This isn’t a constant thing either; it’s just when I relax everything to pee. I haven’t had anything on my underwear ye and it's not watery or anything.
The doctor won’t see/scan me until 8/9 weeks, so it’s just a waiting game really. In the meantime, she ordered bloodwork (checking HCG levels and other things), but I won’t have those results back until probably tomorrow (got my blood drawn this morning). I’m a worried wreck and keep alternating between feeling hopeful to feeling like I am doomed and that a MC is an inevitability now.

Possibilities I’m thinking:

1. Miscarriage. This is what I’m fearing; however, there are some things that give me tiny tiny tiny hope. First, I only ever get the spotting on the toilet paper (never my undies), haven't had any pain or cramping, and have not seen any red yet. I know it’s possible to have a miscarriage still, but I’m hoping these are good signs?

I am worried about losing pregnancy symptoms too though (as that’s another sign of miscarriage). BUT, I’m so anxious that I DON’T KNOW if I'm losing symptoms or not! For example: am I imagining that my boobs are getting less sore, are they actually getting less sore, or am I just getting used to them being sore? I'm also not peeing as much as I was in the first few days (it felt constant before!) but that might be because I've been drinking a lot less water because I'm terrified of going to the bathroom now. I'm also less bloated now, but that could be because I switched around my diet to help fight the bloating. The not knowing is awful.

1. Cervical ectropion (erosion). This is what I'm hoping the cause of the spotting is. It's when the super sensitive cells from inside the cervix form on the outside of the cervix. These cells can lead to spotting in non-pregnancy but are even more prone to irritation during pregnancy because of increased blood and hormones.

Last year my doctor told me I had cervical ectropion, but I’m not sure if that’s a thing you always have or if it goes away? If it’s possible that I still have it, then that would make me feel much better and possibly explain the unprovoked spotting. Does anyone have any insight on this? If I have it, is this a normal amount/consistency/appearance of spotting at this stage?

If you have personal experiences (whether reassuring or not) that have parallels to anything I have described, please reply! Anything will help. I’m losing my mind.

Hi at 5 weeks 5 days I went to epu with a right sided pain I had. I had internal exam and was told by the doctor there I had cervical erosion which she said some people have anyway some people just have in pregnancy so I think you’ve probably still got that. from 5 weeks 3 days to 6 weeks 3 days I spotted brown and pink in discharge I ended up having a scan at 5 weeks all was well everything in right place. I even had another bleed at 10 weeks that and another emergency scan the next day and all was fine. Am currently 20 weeks 5 days with a little boy and all has been well since.

Thank you so much for replying! I was starting to worry no one would because it was so long haha
I'm so glad everything is going well for you now and it's super reassuring to know you've gone through similar! Really, I came thisclose to crying when I read your response—maybe my pregnancy symptoms (emotional extremes) are still here after all! haha
Were you having the spotting as often and with similar volume as I described too?

Yes I had it probably abit more than you I had every time I wiped for a week and I’ve had huge amount of discharge all along still get it now. The whole pregnancy things a worry I never thought I was an anxious person until I got pregnant. I know some places do early reassurance scans from 6 weeks if that’s something that you could manage. That would mean you could get scanned Friday and even though it’s still early days you could know everything was in the right place.

That's really reassuring to hear. Honestly, I can't thank you enough for that. This whole time that I've been reading success stories I've been thinking "well maybe they didn't have it every single time they went to the bathroom?" or "maybe it wasn't that much each time they had it?" It's beyond helpful to hear that you had the same color and even more frequency and amount and that you and your little one made it past these exceptionally scary first weeks!
Oh gosh, I'd LOVE to get that scan this week. Unfortunately though, I'm in the U.S. and it would require me to go to Urgent Care or to the Emergency Room and that would cost me hundreds of (if not a thousand) dollars. I tried to lead my doctor into letting me come in to get one and she insisted on the bloodwork first.
My only hope is that this HCG level test comes back okay. If it's less than expected, I guess my doc will have me do another in a few days to track if it's going down. I think if that happens then she will have to agree to have me come in for an early scan—but it seems almost guaranteed in that scenario that it will be bad news.
Other than that, they said I have to wait until February 18. It's just so unbearably far away.

I'm due similar time to @Flowerbug1994, and I too had similar spotting to you.
My implantation bleed was brown for 4 days starting 10DPO, then the pink and brown spotting (when wiping after the loo) started a week later.

I then spotted pretty much every day until 14 weeks!! Pink, brown, a few times red .... I had several scans every week or so and they couldn't give me a cause.

At first they said sometimes the implantation process takes a few weeks to complete, he described it as "occasional drilling into my womb" 😂
I even had a bleed at 17 weeks randomly. I've since been told that everything is super vascular and blood vessels can burst left right and centre causing spotting and bleeds, and all the way through pregnancy if you're unlucky. So many reasons for spotting - it's also SO common, I didn't believe it was when it was happening to me, but it really is.

Good luck xx

haha drilling into the womb! What a way for them to phrase it!
I was really hoping that implantation could be the case for me but I feel like it's been too much for that? and also that it's seemingly so long past when I would assume implantation would be?
It is reassuring that you had it almost daily until 14 weeks though! But yeesh, I don't know if my nerves could handle that!

It definitely sounds like the sort of spotting I’ve had with cervical ectropion, in my first pregnancy and again in this one. Pregnancy can both cause ectropion and make existing ectropion worse. I rang EAU last week with similar symptoms and they thought it was probably that. The wait for the first scan is agonising at the best of times and then you add spotting into the mix 🙈 hopefully it’s nothing more sinister than that though!

@timaru I can't tell you how reassuring it is to hear from you and everyone else that has experienced similar and had everything turn out okay!

Update:
I am officially 6 weeks today! I know that's not a huge MC risk reduction milestone, but it definitely makes me feel a tiny bit better. The spotting has been slowing down a lot over the past two days too! Discharge is still tinged a little bit but it's much better than it was. Fingers crossed that it keeps going in that direction!
I also got my test results yesterday and my HCG levels were super high and my progesterone levels were right where they said it needed to be too. Based on that, the nurse said I'm off to a "good, strong" start. Although the nurse did add the caveat that it's still early days and anything could happen. So anyway, it was nice to have that relief, although I know I'll likely fall back into my anxiety spiral any minute now ha
They said since those results look good that they don't need to do it again to see if the levels are rising/falling, so that was comforting too.
My first scan is still 3 weeks away, but hopefully things stay okay in that meantime. It is reassuring also that my doctor said that if the spotting continues or gets worse that they will agree to have me come in for an early scan. I hope that doesn't happen, but it's nice to know that they will allow that if needed.

Thank you all for your comments—you guys have really been a lifeline for me when I was in the worst of my anxiety and convinced that I was losing my pregnancy!
I'll keep updating this as I go, whether good or bad.

Yay yay xxx
This is my story! And I'm 18 weeks. Spotting like we did doesn't mean you're any more likely to MC than someone who doesn't spot at all!! I was told that lots xx
Thrilled! Please update us in 3 weeks!x

I had spotting at 5 weeks after IVF. It stayed brown-pink and fairly light but lasted a few days. I paid for an early scan at 6 weeks, which found a heartbeat. Fast forward a bit and baby will be 3 soon. I hope it works out for you.

@beansprout55 & @1Wanda1 thank you both! I really cant properly explain how much of an impact comments like yours have on me right now while every second seems to crawl by in worry. Seriously, I cried at both of your comments! Thank you so much.

And I will definitely keep updating! Hopefully I won't have anything to report before my scan on the 18th. Fingers crossed

I've had this twice. First time it was an MC at 11.5 weeks but second time it was just spotting at about 8 weeks and the pregnancy was fine and came to term. Please get checked in an EPU if you are worried. I was so upset the second time as I thought it automatically meant an MC. I will never forget the relief when I heard that galloping little heartbeat on the scan.

@hivemindneeded I'm so sorry that you had to go through a MC that first time, but I'm relieved to hear that the second one was okay! I'm feeling a little better now and haven't had any spotting at all in a few days! I know that doesn't mean anything ultimately, so I'm still being very wary and trying not to get my hopes up.
Unfortunately, I live in New York and the healthcare system is a little different here—there aren't any EPUs that I'm aware of. I'd love more than anything to go somewhere and get a scan before my 9-week appt with my obstetrician, but without a referral from her, that would mean going to the hospital emergency room or to an urgent care facility. Either of those options would cost hundreds (if not over a thousand) dollars that I can't afford to spend, no matter how much I want to.
My obstetrician did agree to let me come in to be scanned earlier if the spotting starts again, so that's something at least. Hopefully I won't need that though. Fingers crossed I make it to 9 weeks without incident and then get to hear that galloping little heartbeat too

@IzzyLeigh - good luck. FWIW, the spotting you describe sounds identical to the type I had when everything was fine.

Hello everyone! Quick update!
My doctor called me about a week and a half ago and asked if my spotting had stopped. Although I told them it had stopped, they still asked if I would like to come in for an earlier scan to get some peace of mind. Obviously I said yes.
So I went yesterday at 7w4d and everything was okay! heartbeat and all! such a massive relief.
I know I'm not out of the woods yet, so I'm still nervous about being excited. But hey, I'll let myself feel a little reassured for a few days!
I've still got my original scan and doctor appointment coming next Friday, so fingers crossed things keep going in this direction and that my little bean stays strong!
Thank you all again for your kind words when I was at my most anxious and feeling doomed. You guys really did help get me through it when I thought everything was about to be over

Yay OP! So happy for you. 20+4 and I'm still spotting now and then, no explanation for it! 1 in 3 women spot during pregnancy so try not to stress xxxx yay 😀

I'm 11+3 and pretty much "spotted" the whole way through so far.

Always after a poop especially!

It was like a gush of slimy, clear discharge mixed with lots of brown.

I also had it for a few days after a transvaginal scan last week;

I think it's finally getting to a point where it's stopping (I hope!) but I've had my early scan and baby was fine!

I know mama, everything in pregnancy is scary but times 1000!!