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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Low lying placenta

12 replies

Becs77 · 22/04/2008 14:26

Hi everyone, I had my 20 week scan last week and everything was fine with the baby which is the main thing but the Sonographer told me I have a low-lying placenta and booked me in for a scan at 36 weeks. She was very laid back about it and told me me it should have moved up by then but if is hasn't I'll need a cesarean. The thing is, since then, I have read all sorts of stuff on the internet about what it may mean and what I should/shouldn't be doing. Also a friend of mine had a low lying placenta and gave birth at 24 weeks! They didn't mention any of this at the hospital and I didn't ask because at the time, it didn't mean anything to me....If anyone has any experience of this and can offer advice that would be really helpful.
Thankyou! xx

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Mikafan · 22/04/2008 14:31

I had a low lying placenta with DS2 and all it meant was I had to have a c-section. Also I had bleeding on and off in the latter stages of pregnancy but my DS was absolutely fine. It could yet move anyway so please don't panic.

Coca · 22/04/2008 14:33

Don't panic, I had this aswell and it moved in time. They are going to check later on so try and relax and DON'T LOOK UP HEALTH ISSUES ON THE INTERNET!

pipintroll · 22/04/2008 17:03

I had the same experience as you. Was told at 20 week scan by sonographer that a caesarean was very likely due to low lying placenta. She told me not to worry about it and to go off and enjoy my pregnancy. I did exactly the same as you and started to read allsorts about it in books and on the internet.
The best advice really is not to worry. There are various grades of low lying placenta and in most cases they do move out of the way. The main thing is like you said, your baby is fine.
Take Coca's advice and dont read anymore on the internet!

Catilla · 22/04/2008 17:18

I had this too. Basically they measure the distance between the cervix and the placenta. If it's shorter than a certain amount, they plan to scan again. Because everything grows & stretches so much in the next few months, they just can't predict what the distance will be by the end.

AFAIK there's nothing you can do to affect it either way. At the end of the day, if the placenta is too low, the baby will squash it when it's pushed down through the cervix, which could cause a big bleed - so if this is the case, they will do a cs to avoid the risk.

The good news is that the scan will be able to check this, which is much better than not knowing about something and ending up with a bleed during labour.

Please don't worry. Hey - you get to see your baby on the screen again even sooner!

Original poster

Becs77 · 22/04/2008 19:40

Thanks for your advice, it's good to know there are other people who've had the same thing. You're very right that looking up medical issues on the internet is a bad thing - will try my best not to in future!! x

OP posts:

Moomin · 22/04/2008 19:42

JUst get on with normal things and forget about it til your next scan

... except if you have any bleeding, but I guess you'd see someone about this anyway. If you do get any bleeding, ring for advice straight away.

In the vast majority of cases, there is no further problem and the placenta does its job and moves up.

SazzlesA · 22/04/2008 22:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

tadpolesmum · 23/04/2008 10:18

Sorry for the hijack! Does anyone know how far away the placenta needs to have moved from the cervix in order to be able to have a VB?

LadySanders · 23/04/2008 10:23

tadpolesmum, depends on your obs/mw. i had low lying placenta with both sons. first was 1cm away, i started bleeding and went into labour at 37 weeks, had c section.

second one it was 18mm away, hospital wanted 25mm away to consider normal, but my independent midwives said 18mm was fine with them to try natural delivery.

Rolf · 23/04/2008 10:25

I've had this 3 times and each time it's moved. It's very very common to have a low-lying placenta at 20 weeks and in almost all cases it is fine by 36 weeks. There is a school of thought in favour of not even re-scanning at 36 weeks unless there are symptoms indicating placenta previa (eg bleeding).

LadySanders · 23/04/2008 10:28

worth asking if its anterior or posterior too, as anteriors (as i understand it) are possibly more likely to 'move' up as your womb grows, this is what happened with my 2nd one.

Moomin · 23/04/2008 22:28

Think I am a medical oddity and/or have womb shaped like a banana, as I had placenta praevia grade 4 (completely covered os) for both pregnancies with no bleeding whatsoever - very very rare apparently . Both were anterior and the c-sections had to be done by the top bods as these are tricky, but both ops and both babies were absolutely fine.

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