Posterior Placenta Previa - need experiences

[Ema91]

had my 20 weeks scan two weeks ago, which reveales I have a posterior placenta previa (8 mm covering the cervix).

My midwives said there is good hope that it will move up, but in the meantime they referred me to the hospital midwives to have more checks in between and to better monitor me.
Today I had my first appointment at the hospital and the midwife didn’t check my placenta, she told me they will only measure it by 32 weeks, so in the meantime they would only make an external ultrasound to check the baby etc.

Based on the info , she told me that since it is posterior, she does not expect that it will move up, so I will likely need a c section. On the opposite, anterior have higher chances to move.

I feel sad and frustrated. I am afraid of bleeding, I am disappointed i will not be enjoying this pregnancy as I was expecting to and I feel confused by the contradicting info I get from my midwives, on the web etc.

I also feel bad about having a c-section.

Anybody with a posterior previa that moved?

Keeping everything crossed for the 36 week scan!!

UPDATE:
yesterday at 34+2 had the first bleed.
it was a period-like bleed which stopped straight away. We went to the hospital and the pad that I had used before living home was clean.
they monitored me, sent me home and will come back this am at 10 to check again.
baby is moving and all seems fine.

But after this bleed i am even more hopeless…
while I was kind of sticking to the idea of having a c section and now I even have to consider the scenario that I can have a c section any moment …

i am scared of bleeding again…

I fully understand your concerns. My suggestions would be:
1 pack your hospital bag so if you have further bleeds you can get to the hospital
2 pack the baby’s bag ready. If you need smaller clothes, DH (or others) can buy them for you.
3 make sure you have your car seat and DH knows where it is!

With DD2 our then cleaner washed all the newborn clothes as I was in hospital, we did end up buying things like a new steriliser as DH didn’t know where things were.

With DD1, I was admitted at 33.5 weeks, she was born 4 weeks later. DD2 I was first admitted at 26 weeks and she was born at 36+1. You may be admitted and monitored for bleeding without necessarily going straight to C Section. If you are admitted, ask if steroids for the baby’s lungs would be appropriate

Being admitted this time for another bleed!
it wasn’t too scary, but it was more blood than the last time.
baby and me are fine, I am only pissed cause I will have to be prepared to a third bleed in the next days…

Sorry OP, you're in the best place. Some bleeds they call herald bleeds as they can be a sign of a bigger one. They need to be ready to get you to theatre and baby out immediately if you haemorrhage for both your sakes and make sure baby getting all it needs. Lots of love and well wishes

Heral bleed?
so will I get new ones in the next days?
they will send me home probably tomorrow or monday as the bleeding has stopped…
I am so scared

Herald bleed, as in a sign of things to come. In some cases a smaller bleed can be a sign that there will be a big one imminently. So they keep you in a couple days in case. So even if you think we're fine, wasn't that much, it's best to stay in in case it gets very suddenly much much worse.

It does not mean you definitely will get one, and if its stopped and stays stopped then that's fine, that's why they're keeping you in until tomorrow/monday to make sure. Like I said, I had over 10 bleeds when I was pregnant and none of them heralded a bigger one. They just have to be cautious to protect you both.

All you can do it be prepared. Make sure bags packed, always have transport to hospital if needed, make sure your decisions are up to date and people who may be with you know what you want (e.g. will you accept blood products/transfusion). For most you will both be absolutely fine, they just need to make sure you're not in the small minority where there is a problem, and they will get more cautious as you progress as the chances of bigger bleeds increase after 32 weeks and closer to due date. If you did have more they will keep you in until you give birth.

The bleeding stopped yesterday afternoon after i arrived at the hospital.
so now they sent me home..
i hope i won’t have the big bleeding like you said and that it stays like this!
Need to resist up to 37 weeks at least.

On friday i have my last vaginal ultrasound to check the placenta and decide the day of the c section

I was diagnosed with placenta praevia completely covering the cervix I
at 35 weeks when I started bleeding due to antepartum haemorrhage. I had an emergency c-section the same day. Because of the placenta praevia, they had to call in the top consultant to do the section and he did a great job of the surgery; it was my easiest and quickest recovery out it my three sections.

In hindsight, my biggest concern is the danger that I was in during my pregnancy. I had been for a short hike on a "babymoon" a week before DS4 was born and I had been walking up a hill carrying my toddler the day before I started abrupting. As it was undiagnosed, I hadn't known that I should have been on pelvic rest and probably confined to bed instead of having holidays and trips to the zoo!

Update:
i was discharged on sunday at 18.30 and by 23.30 had my third bleed… a big one.
it really suck how 5 mm of the placental edge over the cervix can mess things up so much.

15 minutes later i was in the emergency room.. baby and me are fine. The blood flow decreased and I am wearing my third pad since last night and i think it kind of stopped now.

BUT they asked my consent to receive steroids shots to develop the baby lungs since baby could be born yesterday night or in the next days.. and the only thing i am thinking now is, despite it was the right choice to do that, my baby could have an increased risk of developing developmental disorders.

any one had experience with steroids shots?

I understand it! To be frank , i started bleeding while I was laying on the couch…
i think it is just the way these things go…you can’t just control it and it’s also a matter of luck.
thanks for your reply! It gives me encouragement.. Now i am mostly concerned aboutnthe antenatal steroids shots and the potential adverse long term effect

I'm really sorry OP. By my maths you're 35+3 now? Chances are baby will be small but absolutely fine if they arrive now. Certainly safer than the repeated bleeds. If they don't recommend delivery I'd ask to be admitted until birth now.

I think now the steroids are more optional after 34 weeks. Can you get someone down to fully explain it?

I have asked and the doctor said there are more benefit than risks, and that studies on long term effects are currently inconclusive on the subject.
however i read that 34-36 weeks is always a borderline time when the brain develops a lot and that the ipothesis is that steroids could inhibit this development and have consequences later in life..
but studies are confusing

Hope you're both doing OK x

How are you doing today @Ema91?

So they planned a c section for tomorrow 12 noon!
so my baby will be delivered at 36 weeks!

i hope everything will be ok

Scary stuff but I'm sure it's all for the best. My youngest was born at 35 weeks and only needed less than a day in the incubator as the steroid injection had worked. I hope you get plenty of rest between now and tomorrow. They'll want you up and moving around as soon as possible after your section but please take it very easy. The first couple of days are difficult but every day will be much better than the day before. I've had three sections and the more you can rest, the quicker you'll recover. I don't know whether you're planning to breastfeed but, if so, the easiest way is usually sitting in a chair with at least two cushions on your lap to support the weight of the baby. Kangaroo care t-shirts are good for preemie babies; mine lived in one for the first three months to get lots of skin-to-skin contact. Good luck to you and keep on posting on here if you need any support.

@Ema91 Good luck! :D

How was it with breastfeeding?
i have heard that for preemie it can be hard until they reach their 40 weeks…

My milk took a couple of days to come in and my baby's blood glucose wasn't stable so he was given a couple of syringes of donor breastmilk until I could feed him myself. There's a family history of food allergies so I requested donor milk rather than formula milk, and I requested syringes feeding rather than a bottle to avoid nipple confusion. He was so tiny that they only needed one lot of donor milk to keep him going. It was my third section so I already knew about the cushion trick. Two cushions on your lap and one under your feet are ideal for getting the baby into a good position without putting pressure on your wound. Alternatively, lying down to breastfeed can be easy but they tend to discourage that in hospital. When the baby is really small it can be trickier so ask for a breastfeeding supporter or go to e.g. La Leche League if you need help. Some people lie down and put the baby on top of their breast if they have larger breasts and the baby is very small. There are lots of options and different holds such as the rugby ball hold to try to make breastfeeding as easy as possible.

UPDATE:
c section went well! Baby is born safe and healthy!

but at 5 days from the day he was born they don’t discharge us because baby is losing weight.

On the day of the c section he was 3944 g and kept losing weight. Today, on day 5 , he is 2566 grams and has lost other 50 grams from yesterday.
We are scared. They won’t release us until they see a growth and I am happy they are taking us in the hospital until baby is safe.

In the past two days, we have been supplementing my milk (i started pumping to track his food intake) with formula up to 30-40 grams. Yesterday, on day 4, he drank more than the recommended dose of 40 ml every 3 hours, as I am managing to pump around 50 - 60 ml every 3 hours.
He has appetite, he drinks all he needs… why doesn’t he gain weight?

I am devastated. I don’t understand why he does not gain weight. Pediatricians do not have an explanation.
Today they will take some blood to do additional checks.

Anyone who had the same experience?

@Ema91 congratulations on the birth of your baby.

There can be serious and there can be not serious reasons for a newborn not gaining weight as expected. The serious reasons are usually digestive system issues that affect the baby's ability to absorb nutrients. There can also be blockages in the digestive system but these would be more obvious as your baby would appear very ill after a couple of days. Another possibility is dairy intolerance but this would produce other symptoms such as loose, frothy, green stools, skin rash, irritability etc. If there is a medical condition then it might take time for the symptoms to become apparent.

The not serious reasons for a newborn not gaining weight as expected is that there is an assumption that they will gain about 30 grams per day. However, this is an average and not every child will be average! Sometimes the medications used during delivery make the baby sleepy for the first few days, couple that with the time for breastmilk to come in and weight loss can be more common under some conditions. All four of my children didn't gain weight as expected as newborns and three of them ended up as underweight, although very healthy, children.

The best thing you can do is to try to relax and give your baby as many opportunities for milk as possible while keeping alert for any symptoms that may indicate a medical reason for the lack of weight gain. The chances are that there's absolutely nothing wrong but you're in the best place to get the help you need. It might be worth getting your latch checked to make sure that the baby is feeding correctly. Sometimes a faulty latch can mean the baby has to work a lot harder to get milk.

A lactation comsultant told me that the latch is perfect, but nevertheless, to track milk intake, i am only pumping and giving my milk via a bottle, so we know how much the baby eats. And he is eating all and more that what was recommended.
Diapers are ok i think, the nurses check them every day and it seems he is digesting what he eats…

he just doesn’t get weight.

In that case there's probably nothing to worry about. He's in the best place to be monitored until his weight starts to come up again. I know it's stressful but it really isn't that unusual. Stay strong and you'll both be going home in a day or two.

Btw there was a typo in the weight. His starting weight was 2944 and not 3944 … that would have been even more concerning