Bleeding after internal ultrasound

[Thinkingpositive2]

Hi Everyone,

Have been reading these forums which have been a massive comfort so far but cant’t find much on this situation so hoping for some positive stories in similar cases!

We’ve just had our 12 week scan this morning, baby looked great, heart rate steady, measurements all good and lots of movement and waving from baby. I had a fibroid which the sonographer wanted to get a better look at so she asked if she could perform an internal ultrasound too which I agreed to. She was in there a while, it was fairly uncomfortable but again, nothing concerning with the fibroid and she got all the images she needed.

Fast forward 3 hours and I’m at my desk and feel a rush of liquid, so I go to check thinking it’ll just be some gel from the probe or something but it was some bright red blood. It continued to drip a little bit in the toilet and on the issue when I wiped. I’ve since put on a pad to track it. So far I’ve had bleeding on and off for 7 hours, hasn’t filled a pad but I’d say about a teaspoon an hour. I’ve called the midwife and 111, they both said it was probably some irritation from the scan and they’ve booked me in for a reassurance scan on Tuesday. I’m still panicking though, has this happened to anyone and the pregnancy turned out okay?? I’m not sure how I’m going to last until Tuesday if the bleeding doesn’t taper off!

Not quite the same, but I had to use progesterone inserted by pessary, and
I had two episodes of bleeding. It turned out that inserting the pessaries was causing the bleeding, so it’s possible the internal ultrasound has done the same thing. Do you know if you have cervical ectropion? (Also known as cervical erosion - not as bad as it sounds!) It often gets identified during a smear test and was the cause of my bleeding.

Thanks for sharing! I’m not aware of having cervical ectropion, at least it was never mentioned during any of my smears. But slightly reassuring to know that inserting something for an extended period of time can aggravate and cause bleeding.

Just in case this happens to anyone else, thought I’d come back to conclude. I caved today as the bleeding got slightly heavier and went to the A&E. After a 4 hour intense wait, I had an uncomfortable speculum examination where they confirmed the cervix was closed followed by an ultrasound in which we saw baby with heart beat and moving just fine. So all good in the end, although they couldn’t or wouldn’t confirm what caused the bleeding in the first place.

@Thinkingpositive2 so glad everything is okay with your pregnancy and baby is healthy in there. That must've given you such a shock. I'm 16 weeks now but I had an early scan with EPU at 6 weeks, due to spotting at 4/5 weeks (spotting had stopped by that time). They did an internal scan and everything looked as it should for 6 weeks, including a little heartbeat, so I was very reassured. However once I got home, only 1-2 hours after the scan, I started having awful cramps and bleeding red blood. I'd had a miscarriage 3 months prior to this, so I was convinced I was losing this baby. I filled a pad within half an hour or so, but then it tapered off and I was left with light pink spotting for the next day or so. I had another scan 3 days later (the soonest EPU could fit me in) and everything was fine. I never did find out the cause and neither scan seemed to show any possible reason for the bleed. Maybe just one of those random things but very alarming. I thought it was too much of a coincidence that I'd just had an internal scan immediately before the bleed, and surely they must be connected. In case anyone reading this thread in future finds this reassuring. It's very scary but doesn't always mean the worst is happening.

Wishing you all the best with the rest of your pregnancy OP xx

This happened to me after my 12 week scan, which was abdominal and internal.

He's now 4 asleep in the next room 🥰

Aww bless you, so glad that it worked out okay for you too and congratulations on 16 weeks (it’s my first pregnancy and every week feels like a milestone!)

You’re so right, incredibly scary to see red blood and hard not to jump to the worst conclusion and hoping this gives others reassurance. Have an amazing rest of your pregnancy xxx