20 weeks can - low lying placenta

[Yellowdaff25]

Hi all,

so at my 20 week scan today it was discovered that my placenta is only 1cm away from my cervix (midwife said should be at least 2cm away).

They weren’t concerned and I have another scan booked in December to check as she said it should hopefully stretch away from the cervix as it grows but if not I may need to get a c section.

I have had some occasions of spotting this pregnancy which I assume may be due to the low lying placenta. I just hope this doesn’t get worse as I read it can become quite heavy which worries me.

Has anyone else got any experiences eith a low lying placenta? Did it affect your pregnancy or birth at all?

thanks!

I have the same thing, went back for a 28 week scan last week and the baby’s head was in the way so they couldn’t tell if it have moved. Been referred for another scan at 32 weeks.

They did tell me that 90% of them move up so not to worry too much. They also said that 1cm away wasn’t too low (it can totally cover it)

they did say I might have some bleeding.

Ill let you know how it all goes.

Thank you for replying! I hope it all goes well for you! x

I had a low lying placenta and had a biggish bleed at 34 weeks was in hospital for a few days for monitoring then I had another biggish bleed at 36 weeks and had to spend the rest of pregnancy in hospital until I had a c section at 39 weeks. My placenta didn’t move. But c-section all went well and baby all healthy. Hopefully yours will move in time.

This is called placenta praevia- the bless can be frightening and you may deliver early. I had an emergency C section at 34 weeks as my placenta did not move and I kept having bleeds from 26 weeks onwards. I spent nearly all of those weeks- (8) in hospital.

Mine was low lying, luckily I had to have growth scans every 2 weeks anyway for the baby, by 33 weeks I think it was around 2-3cm away from my cervix and I had a natural birth at 39 weeks. I didn't bleed through out pregnancy. My bump was very heavy but I have over 10lb babys so that probably had more to do with it than the placement of the placenta 😅 hope yours moves 🤞

Just for accuracy - think it's important as this post could cause unnecessary worry - low lying placenta and placenta praevia aren't the same thing. A low lying placenta is where the placenta is within 2cm of the cervix, placenta praevia is where the placenta partially or totally covers the cervix. The latter is more serious so it's an important distinction.

OP - I had a low lying placenta at my 20 week scan so was booked for another scan at 34 weeks. My placenta moved up and out of the way so didn't affect the birth at all (other than ending up so high that it took a long time to deliver and I lost a load of blood doing it!). If you read up on it, you'll see that the majority of the time a low lying placenta does move up so still having it late in pregnancy is relatively rare. You can't do anything about it so try not to worry too much about it right now, and make use of maternity triage if you have any bleeds other than a bit of spotting.

Thanks for this! Yes, thankfully the midwife did explain to me that I didn’t have placenta praevia and in 9/10 cases a low lying placenta resolved itself so hopefully I’m on of those 9! X