Placenta covering os - terrified by research on the web

[memum]

I am 32 and a half weeks pregnant with my second child. I had a scan at 20 weeks and was told I had a low lying placenta but really nothing to worry about and I 'll have a rescan at 36 weeks. Baby is also breech - hence I'm pretty convinced that this time I'll be having a C - Section.
Stupidly I started looking on the internet and began to read all sorts of horror tales about blood loss etc, the need for bed rest etc. I was told nothing about this. In fact, I was told that it (placenta) would probably move.

When looking at my notes for the scan it says Placenta site: covering os. Am I right in thinking that this is full blown placenta praevia? Why was I not told of the possible complications and is not a 36 week scan a but late? Ahhh!! I'm getting scared. By the sounds of things I could bleed at any time. I have a very demanding 20 month old toddler and not sure how I am meant to take it easy looking after him!! Also the thought of being hospitalised over Xmas if I do start to bleed ........................ Was I not told all of this so that it would not cause me undue worry? Anyone else experiencing the same? I'm still not dressed (its 2:40pm! ) as I am so worried about this and barely think I'll be able to leave the house lest something happens!! (I can't drive (taking test next spring - failed 3 already!) hence push toddler in buggy everywhere - ie: STRENUOUS!!)

[Ellbell]

hatty... not sure about the platelets thing, sorry, but I was awake for my section. Unless the platelets cause complications, you'd only need a GA if you started to bleed massively and they had to do an emergency section. Hope that doesn't happen... Thinking of you.

[hattyyellow]

Thanks Lulu and Ellbell. I'm 29+3 weeks. My biggest dread is having to have the General Anaesthetic again if my platelets continue to drop like last time. I so badly wanted to be at least awake for this birth, even if its another section..

You're right tho, better to know now its likely than the trauma of an emergency section.

[Ellbell]

How many weeks are you, hattyyellow? Can you ask for another scan now, just to clarify the situation?

Basically, the lower the placenta is, the less likely it is to 'move'. (It doesn't really move, btw, but it's just that as the uterus expands it takes the placenta with it, like a sticking plaster stuck on a balloon which you gradually inflate.)

If you do have to have a c-section, it will be a lovely calm elective section, probably done quite early though (36 or 37 weeks - no later). I know it's not what you want, but it needn't be a disaster, honestly. I had it, and although it took me a while to get my head round the fact that I wasn't going to have the lovely aromatherapy and whale music home birth that I wanted (OK, not aromatherapy and whale music really... just the home birth bit ), I can honestly say that dd's birth was amazing and wonderful and 8.5 years on I remember every moment of it as one of the two best days of my life (the other was when dd2 was born).

If your placenta is covering the os, I'd avoid sex and heavy lifting, etc. There's no need for bed-rest, though, just be sensible. I'd also have a bag packed just in case you start bleeding and need to go into hospital at short notice, and also some help with your other dcs on standby. All this may not happen, but it's good to be prepared, just in case. I also wouldn't go anywhere without my maternity notes!

Good luck. I really hope all works out well for you.

[lulumama]

am so sorry

at least knowing in advance can help you try to prepare

[hattyyellow]

Cheers lulu. I've left a message for the head consultant to try and get an idea from him. Community midwife backed up hospital midwife saying it was unlikely to move. Just to devestated as I had to have a GA last time as my blood platelet levels dropped and this seems to be happening again .

[lulumama]

if it is totally covering the os, i think you should prepare for a c.s.

but having had conflicting advice from the registrar and midwife, don;t panic until your next scan !

[hattyyellow]

lulu they said it is covering o/s - i think that means completely covering. they didn't give a grade but said it was unlikely to have moved. so utterly gutted at having to have a section again.

[lulumama]

if your cervix is slightly covering or near the cervix there is a good chance you could deliver vaginally, but if it is half or completely covering the internal os, then you have to have a c.section as the risk of torrential bleeding is too big and too dangerous.

have you been told if it is grade 1 , 2 , 3 or 4?

so sorry, it must be really stressful especially when you have been given conflicitn information

[CS7]

Oh crikey!
I hope all goes okay for you all ladies
x

[hattyyellow]

o/s I think is the exit to the cervix..so placenta completely covering it means there's no safe way out for the baby..

[CS7]

So sorry to read your accounts ladies, sounds rather hairy. Can I ask- what is OS?

[hattyyellow]

Sorry to bump this - was after any of the original posters or some advice!

I was told I had a low lying placenta at 20 week scan. Registrar I saw immediately afterwards looked at the notes and said not to worry and 70% likely it would move out of the way. She booked me in for a 32 week scan.

I've just phoned to try and see if I could put the 32 week scan back by a week to change the date. Midwife said absolutely not, that the placenta was covering the o/s at the 20 week scan and they very much need to check at 32 weeks to see where the placenta is now.

She also said 70% chance of it moving was inaccurate and she couldn't even give me 50/50 odds. And that if it hasn't moved from this position I will be classed as placenta previa, may well get bleeding, may well need bed rest. She said no sex, no lifting at all - all the things that surely the consultant should have told me earlier?

(we have two toddlers and a crazy self-employed work schedule which means our income would be completely ruined if one of us wasn't available).

I feel completely thrown that the registrar said it was so likely to move and that no one explained to me the seriousness of this.

I had to have a section last time as my first twin was breech and this had to be under GA as my platelets dropped.

This time around my platelets are slowly dropping again and I am just heartbroken that I may well need another section and that I may well be knocked out again. I found it very hard to recover from the section, from the GA and emotionally from having had that birth experience.

I just can't bear for it to all happen again.

Sorry I know there are much worse childbirth/medical/life experiences and I should stop feeling sorry for myself - but I feel so panicked and miserable now, I've been lifting my toddlers in and out of cars, working long hours, not getting a huge amount of rest - the sort of life that I imagine most pregnant mums with kids have. And now I wonder how carefully I should be taking things..so confused .

[aloha]

Agree. I think I'd insist on being rescanned and seeing a consultant. a placent actually 'covering the os' - if this is accurate - should be sounding alarm bells. I DON'T want to panic you - as I said and as Moomin has said, we both had this, but if you do have a placenta over the os, it is one of the most serious pregnancy complications there is and I'm surprised your midwives are being so blase.

[PrettyHannukahndles]

I'm quite surprised that the midwives haven't either put your mind at rest or refered you to a consultant. Have you spoken to your GP? Perhaps a little nudge from that direction would help. It's certainly an unsatisfactory situation for you.

[memum]

Spoken to two different midwives and they still do seem to be really downplaying my worries. They said just wait for my 36 week scan. My dh happens to be in the legal profession (deals with negligence!) so maybe if I remind them they might change their tune. I'll try to get to speak to the consultant. I feel as if my keep asking them is giving them the impression that I'm unduly paranoid but your advice is niggling at me to demand more info. It seems hospitals differ so much in the way they handle certain things...........

[wordsmith]

Sorry just realised that sounded a bit bossy! I can understand why you're worrying but am sure everything will be fine! But you won't know unless you ask specific questions.

[wordsmith]

Tell the midwife you want an appointment with your consultant ASAP. Make him tell you exactly what your notes mean and why they haven't warned you of any complications. It may be that your notes are unbecessarily dramatic-sounding, especially if you have just been reading loads of scare stories on the internet (and let's face it those are never going to be difficult to find.) I had a low lying placenta at 20 week scan and by 36 weeks it had moved. the VAST MAJORITY do. But I also found that unless you ask for specific info and advice, they don't give it to you. Hopefully talking to your consultant will put your mind totally at rest. In the meantime, get dressed, stop worrying!! High BP could cause you a lot more damage than pushing a buggy!! Good luck.

[inglis]

No, Moomin, they did not. I read memum's original message so quickly I missed that the placenta was covering the os. My experience was that of a low-lying placenta. Memum's experience does sound sound different. Let us know how you get on memum.

[Moomin]

yes but inglis, did your notes say that your placenta was covering the os at 32 weeks? mine was and i was admitted as soon as the ante-natal ward found out, and i had a venflon in my hand and steroid injections in my bum within hours!

Yes, lots and lots of women have low-lying placentas in the first/secind trimesters but as you enter the third it should have shown signs of shifting up. i totally agree with aloha - we both came through it relatively unscathed with healthy babies, but it can be a very dangerous condition. you must insist on seeing a specialist asap - if they say you're in no danger then fine, but if the placenta is still covering the os at this stage and you were to start bleeding, you and the baby could be in danger. like aloha said, i also don't want to scaremonger, but it does need to be dealt with by the hospital.

my midwife told me she's seen one case of pp that caused near-death in her career and it was the scariest thing she'd seen. thankfully, both mum and baby survived, but it needn't have been the case.
please let us know how you get on x

[inglis]

I was in the same situation as you with my first pregnancy. Remember placentas do move up (as mine did.) Try not to worry. It seems like the doctors were not unduly concerned so you must try not to be either. I am the worst person when it comes to scaring myself silly by reading stuff on the web so can sympathise.

[aloha]

I was also told - no intercourse! Very good advice, if a bit depressing for dh!

[aloha]

Complete placenta praevia is a very serious pregnancy condition. It is also NOT usual for a placenta totally covering the OS at 20 weeks to be out of the way at term. Low lying placenta just means the placenta is in the lower half of the womb, and as the womb stretches, with the placenta attached, this does not normally present a problem. Where the placenta is directly slap bang over the os, this does not apply in most cases. That's not to say you should panic, but I was advised to take it easy, to keep my medical notes with me at all times so that if I started to bleed I could go straight to the nearest hospital immediately etc. I think it is downright negligent not to mention the risks of this condition, frankly. I'm not trying to engender panic - I had it myself and ds and I were fine, but the hospital should really talk to women frankly about pregnancy conditions IMO.

[Moomin]

i was in exactly the same situation as you, memum, except this was with my 1st child. I didn't realise until I'd done some research like you just how dangerous pp could be. My notes read the same as yours. after my 32 wk scan and this had been written up by the sonographer, they didn't say a dicky bird to me - my follow-up appt wasn't for another 5 days so dh and i went for a break to celebrate our 1st wedding anni, in a cottage in the middle of nowhere!

when i came back i did my reading up and was petrified! i rang the hospital and i was told to go straight in. i more or less spent the rest of the preg in hosp, as a precaution, although i had had no bleeding at all, despite the placenta totally covering the os. it's fairly unusual to have this with no bleeding but it does happen!

the general consensus at the hospital was that some midwives / doctors take it very seriously and take the maximum precautions where as if there's been no bleeding they just say to exercise caution and not overdo it.

I have to add though that i took up a grievance with the hospital about their procedures and lack of guidance or advice for me and as a result they have changed their policies. if you're really worried, ring the hospital back and insist on a proper face-to-face consultation with an expert in that field i.e. a consultant. at the very least you should now have a consultant to discuss section dates with. you should also be going in to give bloods (for matches) every week now in case of an emergency.
i was also allowed home for 2 weeks but i had to guarantee that i was never alone in case i haemorraged so i was kind of babysat by my dh, mil and dad in turn! but i preferred it to being in hospital.

i really don't think they're treating this the way they should be with you... having said that, dd and i are living testament to the fact that you can come through it in a non-traumatic way, as long as you are treated with care. good luck - and don't take no for an answer xx

[EbonyZebraScrooge]

Don't scare yourself, babies turn & most placentas effectively move up.

My placenta was just touching OS, according to my notes. When I read up on other people's exerpiences, what struck me was how many women had no symptoms at all. There was a woman with full-blown PPrevia who was hiking up and down mountains all over Australia with her husband. Never saw a touch of blood or had a bad moment. She meant to fly back to UK at 32 weeks pregnant when she vaguely remembered something about her 20 week scan & the low-lying placenta. Most women have no worse than one (relatively) scarey bleeding episode. There are even accounts of both mother & baby surviving Placenta Previa in natural childbirth (I thought it was always fatal, too, but there you go).

[memum]

Spoke to midwife (I actually don't seem to have one that's specifically for me which doesn't help - I just see one of several at the hospital as I live nearby)

She didn't help an awful lot but said I should take it easy. I am going to see midwife this friday and husband coming too for extra back up!

Thank you for all your support,

Much appreciated