'Period' bleeding in early pregnancy.

[Spirael]

Hi all! I'd like as many stories and as much information as you can all give me, please. Ending well or ending not so well is fine, I just want to be as well informed as I can be, so I stand a better chance of avoiding false optimism or pessimism.

Just a quick disclaimer to say that I understand you can't have a true period in pregnancy. However by my understanding you can have bleeding that seems an awful lot like a period, which is why I'm using the term here. Just to clear up any confusion!

My situation is like this. I'm currently 4+4 with #1. I got a BFP one day before my period was due, then got a BFP on a Clear Blue Digital on the day my period was due with a time of 1-2 weeks.

I started getting some light spotting two days ago (at 4+2), which has basically followed my usual period pattern of slowly getting heavier until now it's reached being virtually normal bleeding levels for what I'd expect of my period. However, I have zero cramps, which is unusual for me.

I've seen two doctors, the first took the barest details off me before saying I was having a chemical pregnancy and that it was better off ending now and to just get over it and try again - charming! The next doctor said heavy bleeding like this isn't that uncommon at the start of pregnancy and that everything might be just fine, though I am still at a fairly high risk of MCing.

Neither surgery would let me have a blood test to check whether my levels are increasing or decreasing - costs too much apparently for something that I'll find out eventually anyway. Much easier to leave me hanging for weeks! The EPU also has no interest in scanning me for at least another two weeks. Nice to see my tax money is helping me out when I need it!

But anyway... I took a HPT on Tuesday just when I started bleeding and got a BFP. Took one this morning while I was heavily bleeding and still got a BFP - stronger than before. Surely if I did have a chemical pregnancy or was MCing then the tests would be getting fainter or be BFNs? Can anyone advise?

Also, I've still been monitoring my basal temperature first thing in the morning and it's still up at the higher level. Usually it drops down on the first day of my period, but it hasn't done that this time. Is that normal for someone going through a MC, or would you still expect it to drop?

I'm not asking you all to get your magical balls out and tell me whether or not I have a May 2010 baby in my future or not - I'll have to find that one out for myself. ;) However, if anyone could offer me any stories or information where they've had 'period' type bleeds in pregnancy and whether or not that did result in MC, so I can stand a chance of better guessing what's happening, then that would be great!

Thanks so much in advance!

hi, im in a similar position although bleeding not so heavy. i had a scan at the epu last week thinking i might be around 6weeks (not sure on dates as very irregular periods) but they didn't see much and said i need to go back next week, fingers crossed my dates are just out but i really don't know. it's so hard to sit back and wait and dr's are awful, they do seem very insensitive and rude, they said to me if i don't miscarry in the next month then i'll know things will probably be ok but no point worrying or testing until past 9 weeks... not helpful when i've already become so attached to the little bean!
Please keep me informed on how it goes.
got my fingers corssed xx

Hi

I can only tell you my experience - I have no medical experience at all so it's just that.

I'm 31 weeks pregnant tomorrow. According to all my scans I got pregnant on 21st Feb (a date when I did lure the husband to bed). However on 5th March I got my period. It was a proper period - normal amount of blood, no major aches and pains but a period. To the point that I went out to see some new born lambs, I went on a cycling holiday and went skiing in the next few weeks, eating dodgy cheese and drinking copious amounts of wine etc.

When I went for my scan and turned out to be 14 weeks instead of 10, I was utterly blown away. I have no idea how I missed those four weeks. I was incredibly dubious of the scan dates and it's only three more scans that have given the same due date and the fact that i know we had sex on the appropriate date for conception that has put my mind at rest.

Clearly I don't have my baby yet but all I can say is that every scan has shown him to be perfectly healthy. There were no anomalies that they could see at the 20 week scan. I'm not worried about him any more than any pregnant woman would be nervous for her child.

So yep....had a period when I was pregnant and at present (!!) everything is okay.

Hang in there.

I had something similar and am now 11 +1 and had a scan on Monday with everything being fine. My bleeding was around when my period would have been due but it was dark blood rather than bright red. This means that it is older blood and generally a result of the embryo implanting into the womb lining and some blood being lost. This lasted for about 4 days and it was only as I had a similar experience with my last pregnancy that I wasn't concerned.

My mum said that when she was having me (30 years ago) they didn't regularly do pregnancy tests until after you'd missed 2 periods and as there weren't the same home tests that we have now, I'm sure lots of women got their dates wrong, believing that some early pregnancy bleeding was in fact a period.

I hope that helps, and you can relax a bit until you can have a scan. x

Am 6+1 today and have had brown spotting since day period due. Very light, happens once or twice a day. Did test last week and got a faint line. Saw Dr and told him about spotting and he said not to worry. As it's now gone on for two weeks I saw another Dr today and she advised me to do another preg test and she's also going to book me in for an early scan. Did preg test this evening and got a very strong line which came up straight away. Hopefully scan will be early next week and I'll know more then. It's a bit unnerving but like all of us I'm just praying and hoping for the best.

thought i would just add that my experience wasn't so positive. had bleeding at around 8 weeks which got gradually worse and worse. a scan showed a heartbeat but they thought baby was only 6 weeks when i was pretty sure it was eight. lost the baby over next day or so with next scan showing nothing left. This is not to scare you but just to say trust your gut feeling- I knew something was wrong. Staff were all pretty good but do persist if you are not sure. GP initially said wait and see but that is the only sensible comment to light bleeding, if it gets worse or you get any pain, then pursue investigations. They cannot possibly justify huge amounts of testing on this every single time but it is awaful having to wait. My gp actually said quite a helpful thing, if it is healthy, not much you can do will shift it, but if it is not right, nothing we can do will save it. Sounds crass but sometimes waiting is all you can do. Am not sure , but believe that pregnancy tests may not be reliable during a miscarriage? someone else may have more info on this though, mine was done in hospital during it and came back positive.

Hi all, my first pregnancy started with quite heavy bleeding around 5 weeks and went on and off until abou 14 weeks, to this day i dont know why i had the bleeding but that pregnancy resulted in the 5 year old snoring upstairs!!! i was seen for early scans and they did examine me to check my cervix was still closed.
Sometimes people can have am implantation bleed and some people do have bleeding throughout the pregnancy, my grandma did with all 7 of hers! yes 7!! she must have been mad!
i dont know what to suggest about getting seen, didu tell the EPU your name?? Maybe you could try and get appointment and explain your not ue on your dates, i wouldnt normally say to do that but you should be seen, on the other hand the scan could be too invastive as it will be done internally so you could be triggering something off.
good luck xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Horseymum is right when she says that pregnancy tests may not be reliable during a miscarriage. With my first, I had a tiny amount of bright red bleeding at 10.5 weeks, had an emergency scan and was told that the baby had died at 8 weeks. I decided to let things 'come out' naturally rahter than have an ERPC (operation) and the hospital told me that I would know when all the tissue had been expelled when a pregnancy test no longer showed positive. They said that while there was tissue still inside me, a test would show positive because of the hormones in the placenta. In fact, until the foetal sac did come out, I still had horrible pregnancy symptoms even though I knew I was no longer pregnant.

On a more cheerful note, I had some dark (oldish) bleeding at 13.5 weeks with my second pregnancy, but little one was fine and is now a very actively kicking little chappie at 23 weeks through.

I really hope things work out okay for you, Spirael.

Morning everyone. Thanks for the stories and info, it's helping me get my head around what might be happening!

From the information here and stuff I've discovered in older threads, I'm pretty sure now it's not a chemical pregnancy that I'm having. In that situation most people have started having BFNs the moment the bleeding began it seems, where as I was still getting a BFP in the middle of bleeding yesterday. It may be a small thing, but that makes me feel a little better about pushing for some medical attention.

I'll hold off doing any more HPTs for the moment, since it sounds like it'd be a waste of time/money. Not sure whether the bleeding is lighter or heavier today yet, but I'm still not having much in the way of cramps. I was trying to work out whether I had some earlier, but I think I was just hungry as the twinges went away when I ate something!

I guess for now it's probably safest to assume the worst and start marking the calendar up for when I need DH on duty next month, assuming the first day of bleeding was the first day of my cycle. I have a midwife appointment a week on Tuesday which I made following the BFP I got last weekend. I think I'll keep the appointment and test on the morning of that day. If it's a BFP then I'll go in and beg for an early scan. If it's a BFN, I'll just get them to confirm that I have MC added to my notes, in case it happens again.

Of course, if I start losing pints of blood or have any unusual pains, I'll pack myself down to Jimmys EPU until I get some answers! I'm a little nervous about the ectopic pregnancy possibily, but as far as I gather that should be lighter bleeding with pain? Rather than heavier bleeding without?

Hi all, just to conclude the story for me in case anyone searches this topic for more information.

Been taking my temps for the last few days and they've still remained slightly higher than I'd expect for the start of my period.

However, I took a HPT this morning just to see whether any more information could be gathered and it's come up BFN, so it looks like I did MC over the past few days.

The stats - I was 4+2 when I started having spotting. It got heavier two days later, but I was still getting BFPs on tests. Three days after that, it's finally easing up but now I'm getting BFNs on the test. It was proper period level bleeding, with the whole spectrum of colours and type. However, there was a noticable lack of pain/cramps - so it seems they aren't essential for MC.

At least I can be grateful that my body seems to have cleared it relatively quickly and painlessly, so I guess it's back to TTC this month. My dates might be all over the place, but that's something the doctors can figure out if I do manage to conceive again relatively quickly!

I hope other people have a more positive outcome than I did. Thanks again to people for posting their stories!

I'm sorry to hear that, Spirael.

Thats such sad news, i hope we see you on here again in the future with some better news.
All the best xxx

really sorry to hear your news spirael I miscarried in April and bled for about 3wks from start to finish. I was told that you can still be getting positive preg tests up to two wks after completion of miscarriage and frustratingly mine was like that! (never did I dream I'd get to point where I was longing for a neg result just so knew I was getting back to normal!) I fell preg again two mths after and am now 13wks. Had spotting on and off for about a mth with this 1 but so far, so gd! Hope all works out for you in the future and if you try again for another, everything healthy & happy. x

Spirael, just wanted to say how sorry I am to hear about your mc but also to thank you for taking the time to start such a sane and balanced thread and for writing your follow-up. I'm 4+3 with DC3 and started having bleeding last night. I'm particularly tetchy as I had a mc at 11 weeks earlier this year. Anyway, GP has told me it's a threatened mc and I just have to wait until the scan at 6 weeks. Your thread and the responses have been really helpful in making me accept the need to just wait, particularly horseymum's comment about some pregnancies can't be shifted, others can't be saved.

Best of luck if you try again - I hope it all works out for you.