Placenta accreta

[Lid98]

Hiya
I went for my 20 week scan 2 weeks ago and was referred to the consultant and went today. They confirmed my placenta is touching my cervix and the suspect it's attached to the uterine wall (accreta). I'm going for MRI to assess further but am honestly terrified. She explained what delivery would look like and potential.hysterctomy. it's all just a lot to take in, she also said they can't confirm completely till the point of delivery so I feel like Its going to be a worry until then. Baby boy is absolutely fine measuring ahead but worried about him having to be delivered early. Anyone else had this, curious to hear other people's stories?

Hi there, I had placenta percreata when I was pregnant with my daughter, I was absolutely terrified after I shamelessly googled it. My hospital were amazing, I had the mri then weekly scans, I was taken into hospital with light bleeding, the blood was black so it was old blood but to be cautious they kept me in, i was in my hospital from 28 weeks on bed rest. They decided while I was there that I was to be moved to a bigger hospital with more drs, so off I went in the ambulance, my husband was allowed to stay in a room provided to him for family so I had him there all the time, the pregnancy went well, I was offered sterilisation if the c section went well otherwise it would of been the hysterectomy, thankfully all went to plan, I have a transverse scar..goes up just under my ribs and down to my pubic line. They left the placenta in my body to disperse naturally, that was pretty horrible, but they do offer you good pain medication. I was on oramorph and tablet morphine it really helped manage it. It took from may till October to be fully cleared of the placenta. You will be monitored at day clinics every week or so to see how your doing and have plenty after care. You will be fine. ❤️.

Baby was born at 37 weeks too so not too early but they made that plan so I didnt go into labour before the planned c section.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience this is really useful. I'm so glad you were able to keep your womb but leaving the placenta in sounds very painful. They are waiting on the MRI to confirm but consultant explained it's likely it will confirm suspicions. I have a 2 year old already so I'm just worried about how we will juggle it all and they said delivery will be around 35 weeks which is Christmas time 😂 I know health of me and baby is most important but you can't help but think about all of this. The consultants explanation was scary enough and then I googled it. The good thing is they are very on it.

I completely understand how you are feeling, they are doing right in giving you a mri then it will possibly be weekly scans to make sure baby is growing well, 35 weeks is probably the best though because if you go into labour it will end up an emergency c section. It was really painful im not going to kid you on, but we got there and the wee one is now 10. We got a scan the night before my op and she had her thumb up 😆. Have you got someone available to look after your 2 year old if you need to go on bed rest at hospital and your partner is able to stay with you? My placenta was fully covering my cervix, attached to my bladder, bowel and liver so thankfully the operation went really well, the recovery time was long and hard but I got there. There was also a lot of preparations before surgery that took hrs, balloons in my groin, mental thin rod thing in my wrist and the main artery in my neck and a whole host of tubes with iv bits on it. They certainly are very thorough. I really dont want you to feel worse with my experience, so I do apologise if I have. ❤️

Yeah they definitely want me to have a C-section and avoid labour. Goodness yours sounds really serious do you have any long term effects if you don't mind me asking? Is your bladder etc ok? No you definitely haven't made me feel worse tbh it's good to speak to someone whose been through it. X

Hi, I work in the field so hopefully can put you at ease. There's a spectrum of placental invasion of which accreta is the mildest form, then increta then percreta. Although there is a risk a hysterectomy may be needed, it's significantly lower than with the other types. I'm sure you'll be in good hands with all the necessary preparations, I just wanted to reassure you that it's at the less severe end of the spectrum.

They'd also be more likely to remove the placenta rather than leave it in place - they tend to leave it with a percreta due to the bleeding risk from trying to separate it. Again I hope this reassures you 💐

Thank you this is really helpful. I think the MRI will confirm where I am on the spectrum but good to know hopefully on less serious end

Can you tell me what the difference is with placenta acreata to percreata that I had? Mine was a grade 4. Thanks.

I have no long term side effects, everything seems fine now. Was just a very long recovery for me. I'm really glad the other poster came and explained more about your acreata to put your mind at ease, id love to know more about mine too actually. Xx

Hi flannelfeet, so there's a spectrum from accreta which is where the placenta firmly attached to the myometrium (muscle layer of uterus). In between is increta where the placenta is more deeply embedded. The most severe end is percreta where the placenta grows so far into the uterine wall that it grows out of the uterus and can attach to other structures like the bladder or bowel. With percreta like you had they don't always try to remove the placenta because of the risk of massive bleeding, they either leave it in or need to do a hysterectomy with it all attached.

Hope that helps, I found this web page with some more explanations if you need www.nbt.nhs.uk/maternity-services/pregnancy/pregnancy-complications/placenta-accreta-spectrum-pas

Oh wow, thank you so much, back then i was very scared and struggled to absorb what the drs were telling me. I think at that point I was in my local hospital in Scotland and was told thst they couldn't deal with me there and had asked 3 other hospital if they could take me, London, Newcastle and Edinburgh royal, thankfully Edinburgh royal could have me and they were fantastic. My operation went very well thankfully. They did advise me that I can remember that if everything went to plan then I would be better off being sterilised as I was high risk of having another pregnancy the same. I will have a read at the link later, thanks for your reply

Hi, I'm in the same boat as you. I went for my 20 week scan a couple of weeks ago and they said I had a low lying anterior placenta which is 2mm away from my cervix. I'm under the pre term clinic for other issues so asked them about it again yesterday, including if there was a chance the placenta is on my C-section scar. She looked shocked and asked if anyone had referred me and I said no. She went and spoke to a consultant and said I had to be seen by fetal medicine to determine the placement and if it has become too attached to my uterine wall. I asked what that meant and she said I'd have to have a C-section again. I got home and started googling what that all meant and ended up very stressed out! I also have a two year old who is struggling with separation anxiety at the moment so the thought of being away from him is difficult. The whole thing is very worrying! I keep checking my app to see if they've put in the follow up appointment yet. I wish you the best of luck!

@ShelbyH how are you getting on? My MRI came back as less concerning but that doesn't change there plan. MRI did show my cervix shortening but apparently MRI isn't that reliable for that. So just more scans and still plan to bring baby boy early. It's all so uncertain I'm not really coping tbh and it feels like just one thing after the other especially with this cervix now!

How are you doing?

@Lid98 my appointment came through for FM but not until the end of the month, so just waiting... It's horrible!
Oh that's rubbish news about your cervix, as if you needed another thing. Hopefully you get some answers soon on your follow ups and can get a plan in place so you can begin to process. The uncertainty of it all is horrible. Can you have the C-section at your local hospital or will you need to travel?

I know this thread is a few months old but is there any update on how you both got on? 🩷

Hiya so I had a scan at 34 weeks and everything had moved and is no longer an issue! Was honestly shocked. They've suggested a C-section still as baby 99th percentile so that'll be at 39 weeks if he doesn't come before x

@Lid98 oh that’s amazing news. All the best to you. I had a 7 week scan a couple of days ago, the gestational sac has implanted in the mid to low uterus as per the consultant, & as I’ve had 2 previous sections it puts me at risk of placenta previa and accreta. I have a pretty poor obstetric history, very fortunate to have two beautiful children, don’t know if I can go through another high risk pregnancy again. So hard to know what to do at this stage as there are so many what ifs.

@CG124 so sorry to hear this.. it's so horrible and so unknown. Really hope as baby gets bigger you get more clarity.. how are you feeling? X