22 weeks and bleeding. **thread contains graphic image**

[handbagsandholidays]

I'm 22 wks + 2 and currently on holiday. I woke up to a pool of blood yesterday and then passed a large clot the size of my palm shortly after. I've been admitted to hospital but still none the wiser as to what is happening and why. My cervix is closed and I've been given medication to help stop the bleeding. It appears to have decreased but I'm still spotting. Has anybody been through anything similar?

Title edited by MNHQ

I did have one other episode of bleeding which was a smaller sized clot and much darker in colour than the first one. The rest has been brown discharge thankfully. I will update this evening xx

@handbagsandholidays xx

I know you probably don't want to but try and Google "Subchorionic hemorrhage". It honestly sounds exactly like what's happening to you. The findings are also very reassuring

Do you mind me asking how fr along you were when you had your bleed? Much of what I have seen is related to the first trimester xx

I'm so pleased to say that I'm allowed to fly home!!!!!!!

@handbagsandholidays I've been following the thread, I'm so pleased for you, must be a huge relief to be able to get home soon. Fingers crossed for a smooth journey and that everything goes swimmingly from now on!

followed this thread OP, great news you can fly home, hope the rest of your pregnancy journey goes well xx

Great that you can come home OP!

I had similar in my first pregnancy - bleeding from 29 weeks, which ramped up to include passing big clots.
Even after delivering just shy of 32 weeks, they weren’t entirely sure why, but most likely reason was partial placental abruption. I had a spontaneous delivery as the bleeding irritated my uterus into contracting and kick started labour.
DC was in SCBU for just over two weeks.

Fingers crossed for you x

Hello all!

I am so relieved to be writing this right now. I've just had my private consultation and for the first time in my second trimester I had an internal scan as well as abdominal. I finally have some answers as to the likely cause of the bleeding.... it turns out I have an additional part to my placenta. It is is not one whole that is split but a complete large part which is anterior but then also another additional section which is low lying and connected by some tissue over my cervix. This is not something that has been picked up by my 20 week scan nor by the 2 scans I had during my hospital stay abroad. A natural birth is out of the window and I was told there are some risks if I were to labour naturally so it may be that I have a section between 37-39 weeks. The placenta is the cause of the bleeding but there are no signs of abruption or anything of that sort! My cervix is incredibly long at 5+cm which is a good sign!

Wow OP I've never heard of that before. Best wishes for you and baby you will have to keep us updated

@handbagsandholidays this is fabulous news (well, not exactly the information) but I mean it's just great news that there is an answer and that you were allowed to fly home. Now they know what's what they can keep a good eye on you and have a plan for a safe delivery :) Good news! I bet you're so pleased to be home x

Hello again all,

Just checking back in to update this thread as I had another big bleed yesterday and was admitted to hospital for it. They did an NHS scan which confirmed what the private scan said last week and also said that I am high risk for placenta accreta as one of the placentas is touching my c section scar. I will have an MRI in a few weeks when they will be able to see more. In addition to already having confirmed vasa previa and the succenturiate lobed placenta the accreta is just another thing to worry about! I've had a dose of steroids in case this little one has to make an early appearance but the long term plan is to try and get to 36/37 weeks where I will have a planned section. The consultant did make it clear that this is the optimistic plan and it would very much depend on my frequency and volume of bleeding between now and then X

Hi @handbagsandholidays so sorry to hear about your further bleed but I'm so glad you're back in the UK now and able to be closely monitored / scans etc and that they have a plan in place. Have they given any advice at all on what to do in the meantime? Is there anything that can trigger the bleeds off? I'm basically saying that I hope you are resting up as much as your possibly can and that you are being waited on hand and foot at every opportunity. Very difficult when you have other youngsters but sending you all my hope and thoughts that you get a bit further along ❤️ At least by now if you did have to have baby very early there is all the support in place to look after them and you xxx

Thank you so much for your response. The consultant basically said no heavy lifting with the example of nothing heavier than a kettle to make a cup of tea, no squatting/bending, no travelling, making sure I'm not further than 30 mins away from a hospital with neonatal care for babies under 28 weeks, no sex, no standing for long periods of time such as queues, no exercise and generally just taking it very easy. He did say that sometimes there can be nothing that triggers the bleeding but essentially that doing the above things is likely to aggravate it so to avoid it and that situations can change very quickly when bleeding with vasa previa.

It's pretty scary and daunting but I'm trying to concentrate on the bits that I can control rather than the things that I can't. Baby is very low down so I'm hoping he will move up and perhaps out less pressure on my lower region. I'm 24+4 in a few hours and that makes me half way to week 25 which is the next milestone I'm aiming for! Xxx

Oh gosh! I live over an hour from the nearest hospital that caters for under 28 weeks, huge areas are over the 30 minutes!

Hello all,

I just wanted to update this thread as I'm starting to learn just how rare Vasa Previa and Placenta Accreta are. I hope that my journey may help
others in the future.

I'm 28 weeks today and currently on my third big bleed in the last 6 weeks. Thankfully this time around it looks as though it's coming from my placenta rather than baby's vessels therefore I will be allowed home once I've had 24 hrs of no bleeding. My MRI is going to take place later today to establish the depth of my placenta attachment. I've also been trying to get my head around the possible need for a hysterectomy despite the fact that I'm only 30. Hearing that the worst case scenario is that I could lose baby due to the vessels rupturing and lose my uterus due to the accreta has been really difficult to get my head around. I'm trying my hardest to concentrate on the positives and just be thankful for everyday that goes by.

On a positive note, the outcome for babies delivered from 28 weeks onwards is pretty good. The little one is measuring well on growth scans and thought to weigh approx 2lb 5oz already. He has not been distressed on any of the CTG traces and hopefully he can continue cooking for a little while longer! We are still aiming for a delivery at 34 weeks but this is being kept under review in line with my bleeding frequency and volume.

Op your baby needs a fantastic superhero name imo!!
What a fighter! Bleeding is pregnancy is terrifying!
Keep taking it easy. Remember life will be on superspeed mode when dc arrives!!

Hey @handbagsandholidays i spoke to you on another thread about csections but just come across this one of your own just now. Hope you are ok, I’m glad they are keeping a close eye on you! Are u having to stay in hospital? Keep us updated on how the mri goes! It’s good you have made 28weeks, my nephews (twins) were born at 28 weeks and perfectly healthy now after a fairly long stay in NICU. I have a scan in 2 weeks when I’ll be 17 weeks where they plan to have a closer look at my placenta to see if there are any signs of placenta accreta for my pregnancy, my consultant is scanning me herself, I’m hoping not but least it’s being monitored, I’ve heard it can’t always be seen till much later on though and sometimes not till they open you up which worries me, im glad they can prepare for yours xx

@Littlebirdyouaresosweet We are so stuck for names at the moment but my eldest would be over the moon with a superhero themed name as he is a huge DC/Marvel fan.

@Jaaxe Hello!!! How are you feeling about your scan? Try not to worry as difficult as it may be. Usually if your placenta is still low lying or close to previous scarring, they will rescan you at 25/26 weeks and schedule an MRI for around 28 weeks. Like you, my worry is that if my MRI is clear then they may still find complications when they open me up. I haemorrhaged quite badly with my first c-section and that was considered to be a straight forward one so I'm really worried about the complications that this one might being given the much higher risks involved. I am pleased that they are investigating thoroughly and able to monitor throughout. I've also submitted a request to have my care transferred from one local hospital to another as I've been told that the hospital with a children's unit will be better equipped to help in the even that baby's vessels burst. The other plus side to this is that for a short while I will have parallel monitoring whilst one trust carry out their investigations as they start again from scratch with bloods, scans etc.

Hello all,

Just wanted to update again following my MRI. I'm 29+5 today and was told I should be admitted from 30 weeks for monitoring. In all honesty, I'm not ready for hospitalisation until the point of delivery and so have agreed to be hospitalised from next Monday when I will be 30+5. This will give me time to physically and emotionally prepare whilst also spending some much needed time with my eldest who will not be allowed on to the ward for visiting. I'm also scheduled to have a c section at 34 weeks. I'm hoping and praying I don't have any further bleeding episodes between now and my admission date/c section x

Just want to wish you good luck. Plenty of rest until baby born.

I never hear of this in pregnancy and I hope no bleeding. You are so brave and got through a lot. On Holiday in another country in hospital and back you been through it. You handled really well.

Take it easy

Thank you @Scorpio8 I've been trying really hard to keep calm and to have a prepare for the worst whilst hoping for the best outlook. I, too had never heard of these conditions in pregnancy and have found it difficult to find others who may have experienced it. One of the consultants I saw said he had not seen this condition in the last 20 years so that really put in to perspective for me how rare it is!

I will keep updating this thread throughout my journey so that it may help if somebody else is going through a similar situation in the future. X

I wish I had some advice to offer @handbagsandholidays but just wanted to say thank you for sharing your story. It's really wonderful you've gotten baby this far! Hope everything runs smoothly for you both from here on out x

just wanted to say you are so strong OP and thank you for sharing your story, wish you all the luck in the world for the arrival of your LO x

Thank you @tobi21 @LolaJ87 . I don't feel brave at all today... it's the first time I have truly cried with fear during this whole experience. I had a huge gush of blood this afternoon whilst at home and had to be rushed in to hospital once again. Thankfully it appears to be a clot but the senior consultants are going to have a discussion about whether to bring forward my c-section from the 34 weeks which was originally planned. I think the nearer it gets, I subconsciously know that the more likely it is that the bleeding inexperience is foetal blood rather than from my placenta or elsewhere. Today I am 30+1!