Has anyone got experience of Placenta Acreta?

[bevlin]

Im jumping the gun here but I had Placenta Previa in my last PG along with lots of other probs. Had c sect in end when he was born at 37 weeks.

After last PG being so high risk I spoke to a consultant before getting PG with 2nd who said the main worry would be if the next Placenta was anterior and therefore more likely to attach itself to the old scar causing placenta acreta.

Im 21 weeks PG with, yes you guessed it, an anterior placenta!

I won't know until 28 weeks if they think there is a need for an MRI depending on the whereabouts of the placenta. At the moment it is not covering the cervix at all but it did appear to be near the scar area.

Have you or anyone you know had similar probs and what was the outcome?

Hello
No experience but I am in the same boat as you and it is something I am trying not to worry about.

I had pp grade 4 with my first child, hospitalised from 24 weeks, bled on and off for 7 weeks and ds was born prem at 31 weeks.

My main fear for a second pregnancy was pp again but was told by my consultant that there was only a 3% chance of it occuring a second time.

Fast forward and I'm now 21 weeks pg with an anterior placenta. I have got my anomaly scan next Friday and I am worrying myself to death that they are going to tell me it is covering the scar.

I spoke to a GP friend of mine this morning who has assured me that Placenta Acreta is very rare so I'm trying to put it to the back of my mind. Not easy after last time!

I'm also reminding myself that thousands of women must have had an anterior after a section and all will be well!

Thanks CorkyOrorky, you are right, it must be rare because Ive never heard of anyone I know having it.
I wonder why our bloody placenta's have to misbehave twice eh, what's wrong with the top where it should be! I was worried sick about the anomoly scan too but this time I don't have placenta previa which I was so happy about. I just thought - oh so what else can I worry about!
Does this make you feel you couldn't chance a third? Just wondering because that's how it makes me feel. If I get through this PG I should thank my lucky stars and be grateful for what I have instead of going through all the worry again. BUT, it also makes me feel the choice is taken away from me and WORRY I can't have a third. Think last PG has sent me a bit mad!

It definitely makes me worry about chancing a third but hopefully our pregnancies will go more smoothly this time!

I would love another one after this one but when I saw my consultant to discuss an elective section this time she did ask me how many children I was planning on having.

Apparently the more sections you've had, the more likely you are to get placenta praevia! I was unlucky enough to get it first time around thanks!

At my last scan the sonographer said the placenta was anterior and 'not particularly low' so I will be asking her to have an in depth look at it next week.

Have you felt many movements yet? I've read you can't feel them as much with an anterior. I can tell that there's definitely something wriggling about but it's mainly when I'm lying down.

Yes my movement is the same and mostly when I first lie down in bed. Let me know how your scan goes.

Gosh - read about this placenta accreta and I too am worried. I had a c-section last time

I am only 11 and half weeks so don't know whre my placenta is yet, but petrified they are going to say its anterior.

I wish you ladies all the best with your scans.

I am so worried. i wish someone had told me before I had got pregnant angain

sahara78 If you didn't have placenta previa last time, just a c-section then you have less chance than us. It's not just anterior that matters, it's if it's low as well. Then it may be on the scar. don't worry, loads of folk have c-sections and this is rare. x

Thanks - I am a terrible worrier - why does having placenta previa last time make it riskier/higher chance? I thought it was if you got placenta previa in subsequent pregnancies - ie these or next that was when the risk was higher

Anyways I really feel for you ladies and I really hope your placentas move up and all is well at your next scans.

You are both in my thoughts

Take care hugs

I don't know for sure. Everyone has a 1% chance of having PP to term, so small chance anyway. If you've had it before then it's a 15% chance of getting it again and it rises with the number of pregnancy's. PP combined with section scaring increases your chances of P. Acreta because the placenta has 1) more chance of being low again 2) therefore more chance of ending up over the old scarring. I wouldn't worry if i'd just had a section.
Corkyororkey have you had your scan yet?

Hi ladies

No I haven't had my scan yet bevlin, it is on Friday afternoon. So still a few more days to wait.

I would love to be getting excited about maybe finding out the sex or something- but all I can think about is where this bloody placenta is going to be.

I am feeling quite a lot of movement now which makes me think it is anterior and low.

How are you going on? Such a long time to wait til 28 weeks to find out how things are.

Im fine thanks. I feel alot of movement now too and mine isn't low.
The thing is though, don't pin your hopes on getting all the answers on Friday. Yes you will find out if you have PP or not but it can still be slightly over the scar, you'd need an MRI at around 28-32 weeks to find that out.
You might find you placenta is right over the top by now so no further scans needed. As my sonographer said the good thing about anterior is, it's the one place it will move the most in. The front of the uterus expands the most pulling the placenta right up so that's a positive. In prosterior in moves alot less.
I will come back on on Friday to see how you got on. Are you going to find out the sex?

Hi ladies, I had placenta accreta with my 3rd pg. Well, percreta actually - the one where the placenta grows through the wall of the womb and into something else.

First pg was a cs, second pg was placenta previa (and cs, obv!).

3rd pg, I found out I had a low-lying placenta at the 20 week scan. They didn't say it was anterior, just low.

At 23 weeks I had a haemorrhage and ended up on the antenatal ward.

At 25 weeks I had an ultrasound scan to check for percreta and they said it was quite likely from what they could see. They also said no one was very good at spotting percreta so they just had to work with a good guess and prepare for all eventualities!

A few weeks later I had an MRI and they said they still thought it was percreta. Not through my scar though, but near it.

At 33 weeks I haemorrhaged and had a crash cs. It turned out I did have accreta/percreta/thingumeta but not where they though. The placenta had grown through my cervix.

Ds2 is fine and healthy and I'm fine now too, but I did have a hysterectomy.

The docs are right though - it is very rare. All the while I was in hospital I kept asking questions about stats and how likely this or that was, and they'd say "um, we don't know, it doesn't happen enough". When they did the MRI they said they didn't know how useful it would be for me but "it would be really useful to have the data to help diagnose the next woman".

You're going to get a baby at the end of all this - mine is sat on the sofa trying to work out how to eat a pear without removing his dummy.

fruitful What a lot to go through. I just can't imagine how scared you must have been. I know you have 3 and that's great but you must have been shocked to wake up to having had a hyterectomy?
Im glad to hear your DS was fine even though born so early, I actually cried to hear he was sitting there trying to eat a pear with a dummy in, so cute!
I think im just terrified that they say I have it, I will be scared my DS is left without a mum more than anything else.

They did warn me that I had a 50% chance of a hysterectomy - and since there was no way I was ever going to knowingly get pregnant ever again, I was actually quite pleased. It has nice side-effects .

They also reassured me (frequently) that they don't "lose" women with accreta these days - or not in women who are receiving antenatal care, anyway. They tend to go overboard on preparing for all disasters, instead. (that's probably a good thing).

If you have it (and let's face it, you most likely don't) then you will get the top consultants and the best care. They'll all be all interested and wanting to sit in on your scans to look at the pictures ...

Hello ladies
Bevlin, I'm definitely not pinning my hopes on having all the answers tomorrow!

I had no problems with my first pg until the 20 week scan and it all went downhill from then onwards!

Fruitful you have been through so much. Glad to hear your ds is fine. Must have been hell, was he in SCBU for long? My ds was in for 5 weeks and it was torture.

Hopefully all they will tell me tomorrow is that there is a perfectly healthy little baby in there and the placenta is out of the way and behaving itself!

It's good to hear reassurance from you both.

He was in for 2 weeks, came home on Christmas Eve .

Good luck tomorrow!

Well I've had the scan and the results are good.

I don't have placenta praevia again and it does not appear to be low either.

The sonographer couldn't get a clear look at first because there was a foot in the way and she thought I might have to be rescanned at 32 weeks.

Then the baby moved and she had a very good look and said she was happy everything was fine and no need for any more scans.

I have just looked at my notes at home and they say the placenta is anterior high.

She also said what you mentioned bevlin, about it being more likely to move higher with it being anterior.

So hopefully that is the end of it and I can start to enjoy this pg.

Hopefully yours will be moving on up over the next few weeks bevlin. Fingers crossed for you.

Oh fantastic! That is good news.

hi guys.

dont forget sometimes these midwives like to scaremonger i find. I have 5 children aged 9-1 and when i was preg with no 5, the midwife told me all the awful things that could happen to me the cow! I have had 5 c-sections! and with no 5 had placenta previa, but no bleeding and was absolutely fine, just took it easy. They could not be certain either the entire time although i did have scans etc that i didnt have accreeta. but the consultant prepared for it anyway. dont spend you pregnancies worrying to much because it will probably all be ok and you waste so much time worrying.
I am currently considering no 6 (and last) but for me the accreeta risk is obviously in the forefront of my mind.
Fruitful - i would be interested to hear what your hystorectomy effects are as if i go for no 6 i will definately have one on the table
x

Hi there, I was diagnosed with pp at my 20 week scan with dd2 and as I had had a section with dd1 had extra scans to check whether the placenta had grown into the scar. I was told that it hadn't. I had my first bleed at 29 weeks & had regular bleeds until 36 weeks when they decided to deliver dd2.

All was fine initially & dd was born and whisked off. They closed me up but eventually realized I was still bleeding. They eventually managed to stop the bleeding after I had lost 7 litres & obviously had a massive transfusion. I didn't have to have a hysterectomy. In the days after a couple of doctors muttered 'accreta' at me but I wasn't really with it enough to ask questions. When I went back to see the consultant 6 weeks later she finally said, 'yes, I suppose you could call it accreta, it was certainly a bit stuck!' Anyway point is, it was stuck on the back of my womb, not on the scar.

Like fruitful, my dd is absolutely fine, snoozing next to me now. I am fine too, but have been advised strongly by 2 consultants not to have any more kids, which is a bit .

Hope that none of this story is relevant to you! It was all worth it anyway! Best of luck.

Where do I start....Corkeyorokey that is absolutely brilliant news, Im so glad for you and it gives me a bit more confidence too.
deo357, 5 sections, you are very brave and I wish I was more like you. Im being such a worrier but your right, during my first PG the scaremongered all the way through....had blood flow probs too and it was all doom and gloom. Baby may be starved of oxogen at any point, delivered early, blood loss, low weight bla bla. Im a nervous wreck now!! They are treating me high risk and looking for all these probs again so im not surprised im a bit mad! Do you think you are more swaying towards a 6th then??
rek21 Im sorry to hear you had such a bad time, glad you have 2 healthy DC's but I know you must hate knowing a 3rd is not advised.
fruitful what are the nice side effects of having a hysterectomy? It's not a full one is it, as in, you don't go through hormonal changes do you? I thought maybe that's when they remove everything, overies etc.

I had a "partial" hysterectomy - they removed the womb and cervix but left my ovaries. So technically there should be no hormonal changes but they did warn me that sometimes the body "notices" and you start menopause a bit early. I don't know if that matters though!

The nice side-effects are just the obvious ones - no periods, no need for contraception (dh is very very grateful since I would have been packing him off to the docs!).

It is a little odd to still have a monthly hormonal cycle with no period. Sometimes I have a rough week and wonder if that was a PMT week.

Getting over the operation was hard. Ds2 was born in Dec and in April I suddenly realised, one week, that I felt "normal" again. I hadn't realised how rough I'd been feeling till it stopped - just tired and unable to cope with what I normally would.

The docs said that one of the reasons they try to avoid doing a hysterectomy is because it is a big op that takes more recovering from. Its hard to tell - I'd been sat in hospital for 3 months, I lost 16 pints of blood, I had a 12-hour general anaesthetic, and I was looking after a prem baby and 2 slightly traumatised/confused older children. So I don't know what was the result of the hysterectomy and what came from the rest of it. My friend who is an ICU nurse said some of the extra recovery was because of all the "rummaging around they did in there". Technical terms, you understand!

Deo I hope that helps, and Bevlin I hope that is all irrelevant to you!

hi

Bevlin - yes i think i am swaying towards my 6th and final baby. ineed to go see the consultant first to discuss notes of last one so unless he says no way. if the risk is going to be just a hysterectomy, which is a standard op and if prepared for is fine. i will probably go for it. life is too short to sit there wishing i had done it. i have read alot on the net on madical journals about hyst at same to of c section, and they say...! that recovery should be easier as less layers to heal?? obviously fruitfuls experience wasnt good, but it wasnt a planned hyst was it? I like to think dont worry about it until it happens you know?

xx

Well I don't mean to worry without reason, but I went for my scan and I have an anterior placenta too.

I feel quite anxious about it to be honest. I haven't had placenta previa before, but I can't help but worry its going to sit right over my scar.

I spent my last pregnancy worrying about everything under the sun and I feel the same is going to happen agsin.

I really pleased yours is OK Corky.

I wish I didn't have 8 weeks to wait until my next scan.

shame you havent got a more understanding midwife that may be able to push it sooner? try not to waste your energies worrying it could all be fine and u will have wished u had enjoyed the next 8 weeks x

Thanx - I went to the hospital for another scan - long story and ended up blubbing like a baby so they have booked me in with the consultant next week to have a chat.

I expect they will say wait until you 20 week scan but hoping she will give some reassurance