Poster placenta encroaching cervix/ low

[Starryeyed2021]

Hi all
20 week Anatomy scan today showed I have an posterior placenta encroaching my cervix so they call us back at 32 weeks for another scan to see if it gone up.

Any words of advice or tips? She didn’t say I need to do anything different yet ? Didn’t have this issue in first pregnancy and elective section, so is the worst to happen that I have another section? Which I’ve booked anyway. Google does tend to scare you with heammorge and life threatening situations!!

I’m 35 by the way. No health issues

Hi, I have the same. Posterior placenta previa. It's good that its posterior as it means it isn't in the way of C section. Unfortunately I'm having regular bleeds but they're usually small and stop quickly. Doesn't mean I'm not a ball of anxiety though, particularly if I have a bigger one. Over 90% move up so fingers crossed!

Most people apparently have no issues, it's very common at 20 week scan for it to be low before it stretches up.

I had posterior placenta previa at 20w scan which means that it covered the internal os and it was more severe than yours. Doctor's recommendation was no sex, no long-haul flying (in case it bleeds), going to hospital immediately if there's any spotting or bleeding. The Mayo Clinic's recommendations (for placenta previa) also includes avoiding the following (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/placenta-previa/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20352773):

• Moderate or strenuous exercise
• Moderate or heavy lifting
• Standing for long periods of time

So I guess if you want to be extra careful you can follow these. My 34w scan unfort showed that the placenta is still only 0.9cm from os but at least it's not covering now. Doctors did say that posterior ones move less than anterior ones, but I think if it was not previa to start with, there's still good chance that it will move up. I'll have another scan at 36w and if it's not moved up enough (think for posterior they are looking for 3cm away from os vs anterior only needs to be 2cm away), they'll book me in for a c-section which I'm fine with.

I haven't had any bleeding so far luckily, mostly just taking it easy and have been wfh since 30w.

Good luck!

Thanks all,
I guess my biggest question is can I still carry my 2 year old who is 12kg. I do try to minimise but as I’m sure u can imagine it’s hard sometimes not to. I don’t exercise, will stop intercourse and not lift anything heavier then toddler anyway. If worse case is c section I can live with that . Google worries me a lot about life threatening bleeding and other scary things!!

Ask for an appointment with a doctor at the antenatal clinic to discuss. All I can tell you is my current experience, which is not medical advice.

Mine is 5mm away from internal os. They're happy for me to try vaginal birth as long as moves 20mm away, which they think is likely. I am having bleeding, but it doesn't seem to be linked to exercise or lifting. I commute by bike. I was told if I don't bleed after cycling to continue - I've never bled after cycling so I have. I've been told same about sex, if isn't causing bleeding its up to me if I want to - certain positions have caused bleeding, others haven't so I'm free to do the ones that don't if I want to.

I had a day where I cycled about 10 miles, ran an event, lifted chairs etc and had zero bleeding. The week after I had a couple of lazy days at home, lying on sofa etc and had biggest bleed so far. No reason for it. In fact the only link I've noticed is bowel movements, pregnancy constipation = larger/harder movement = bigger chance of bleed. Considering inactivity can slow digestion down, not exercising etc actually seems to make my bleeding occur more frequently! I'm now on stool softener to try see if that helps.

If you're not having any issues from it so far, I'd really ask for a review with a doctor in the antenatal clinic to discuss what measures they think are right for you. They could well turn round and say toddler lifting etc is all absolutely fine!

Well obviously the csection is done to avoid the life threatening bleeding, but if bleeding occurs quite early in the pregnancy there's risks to the baby. I had complete placenta previa and had increasing sized bleeds from 33-34 weeks, baby was born by emcs at 34 weeks after a scary bleed, and she was sick for quite a bit being early with underdeveloped lungs.

I was exactly the same at 20 weeks, had another scan at 28 and it still hadn’t moved but was told it was incredibly common and would most likely move by 32 weeks. 32 week scan and It moved to a better place.

I was told from week 28-32 not to have intercourse, careful with bending and not to life anything. They said if I had any bleeding or intense pains to phone and get checked.

I had the same at 20 weeks and was just told they would rescan at 36 weeks to see if it had moved out of the way. No more advice was given and wasn't told to avoid anything.
I carried on as normal and luckily didn't have any problems. At 36 weeks they said it had moved so I wouldn't need a c section (ended up having one anyway!).

Also- with this issue of potential bleeding is there any week more likely to happen if it does? As my mum lives far but id like her to come stay with us but I’m week 20 so can’t exactly get her to stay for next 20 weeks lol . I mean if it does get bad any particular time more likely ? So I can plan accordingly

Sadly not, I didn’t bleed with mine. If I wasn’t told about it all in the scan then I’d never have known as I felt exactly the same from weeks 20-32.
Hopefully there will be no issues for you, just keep doing what you’re doing, make sure you rest if you need to and don’t stress yourself out or over do it.

@Starryeyed2021 Think it's more likely in 3rd trimester. One of my friends who also had low-lying placenta had some bleeding at 28w. She thought it was caused by her moving house at that time and doing a bit too much, swimming etc.