early pregnancy - bleeding nightmare!!

[bojangles]

I am new to Mumsnet but have been an observer for a few weeks. My DD is 15 months old and I am currently 8+5 weeks.

I am an insulin dependant diabetic so was sent for an early scan at 6 weeks where they detected a heartbeat and all looked well. I was hoping for a stress free pregnancy as with DD it was a nightmare ending in pre eclampsia, induction at 36 weeks, forceps, haemmorage (sp), blood transfusion etc. Looks like this time round the stress is starting earlier!

I started bleeding at the weekend, mainly brown spotting (sorry!) and by Mon am it had got heavier and was red. I telephoned my ante natal clinic who referred me to the Early pregnancy unit and they scanned me on Mon pm. Baby was well with a strong heartbeat and there was no sign of any bleed and no obvious cause.

The bleeding stopped but has restarted today - it is heavier, bright red with some lumps (again sorry!). The EPU say they won't scan me for another two weeks and it sounds like I could be miscarrying. They tell me to sit and wait!

Should I just be reassured by the heartbeat on Monday and not worry anymore unless it gets severe or should I try and get another scan.

Any thoughts/comments appreciated.

No advice to give but wanted to say, how sorry I am for your situation. I bled with my fourth pg but I turned out to be losing an undeveloped twin I had no idea I was carrrying in the first place and my baby was fine. I well remember the agony of waiting and not knowing and feeling like your dreams have been shattered. Hang on in there!

I would go straight to the EPU, look aggitated (as you must be feeling!) and they should give you a scan. These two week waits are bloody ridiculous honestly

I can't type! Wishing you all the best xxxxxx!

Sorry bojangles ive no experience but if it was me I dont think I could wait another 2 weeks for a scan.Maybe try your GP and you might get one quicker.Hope it all turns out ok.

Hi,
try to rest. They should be able to scan you immediately if you've had heavy bleeds. I had two early scans at 6 weeks and 9 weeks with my first following bleeds. I've also had heavy bleeding in the past two pgs as well, but I have four healthy children so it doesn't always mean the end. Fingers crossed for you.

i would go straight down there and don't leave until you get another scan. I also bled at 6 wks and a scan showed all was ok (strong heartbeat also), and then I bled again (day before Xmas eve). Was told I would have to wait until after New Year (!!!) for another scan and dutifully did as I was told. Xmas was ruined as I couldn't think about anything else. Everything turned out fine and ds was born perfectly healthy, but the memories of those couple of weeks were horrific. For your own peace of mind, cause a fuss and get seen!!!

The other option is a private scan but that would cost £100 - feel it would be worth it for peace of mind as they could do it on Friday if I can't persuade the EPU to do it.

I have no idea how much blood or how bad the cramps are in a miscariage so difficult to assess the current blood loss.

bojangles - I've have bleedign ranging from light brown spotting, to a heavy gush of dark red, thicker blood. (sorry if TMI) I don't think you can tell by the bleed.

oh, another thought, I remember being told when I had cramps, I was more likely to be miscarrying. Most of my bleeds were painfree, (but not all) and the DR seemed to think painless bleeds were realtively normal. You didn't say if you had cramps or not.

Thanks to all. Kelly1978, I don't really have cramps - slight discomfort but am also v. constipated (sorry) so could be that.

How heavy do you think very heavy is? I know difficult to assess but am having to use a pad but not changing it more than every few hours (sorry again!).

This is all gettign a bit gory, but when I had heavy, it literally poured out of me, so def heavier than what you are experiencing atm. I hope you get soem answers soon, it's horrible to be sitting there worryign about it.

Thank you Kelly1978 and apologies for being gory. I think I feel a bit reassured and perhaps I don't need (in a medical sense) to be beating down the door of EPU tonight but I do want more reassurance. I will talk to DH about the private scan tonight. We are off to a wedding at the weekend and I don't think I could cope with the worry of not knowing whilst trying to maintain a happy face for our close freinds. eSpecially when they know I am pregnant.

Sorry to interupt. I have had a pg when I bled heavily literaly pouring she is 3yo now so that turned out fine. But I have also had a m/c and the bleeding from that was exactly how I remember the lochia after I gave birth to my 3DC's. Sorry if TMI. Hope everything works out OK.

Thanks Xena - not TMI for me and thanks for your comments. Sorry about your M/c - how many weeks were you?

did they detect any fibroids on your scan? the bleeding could be due to fibroids necrotising (can happen in pregnancy), but if this were the case you would be experiencing quite a lot of pain as well.

Bossykate - nothing detected on scan on Mon other than healthy foetus no mention of fibroids or any other reason for bleed.

They dated the foetus about 5 days before my dates but other than that normal.

Does the chance of miscarriage decrease once a heartbeat has been seen even when there has been a bleed?

12wks when baby died. Once they have seen the heartbeat the liklyhood of m/c goes down to just 5%. But as I say I bled alot right the way through my 2nd pg ranging from loads to just abit so hopefully you will be fine.

p.s. FWIW I would be demanding an NHS scan so you can put your mind at rest and enjoy the wedding

I have been thinking about this over dinner and wonder if I am overeacting. Just over 48 hours ago the scan showed a good strong heartbeat and no reason for the bleed. What has changed?

The bleeding has got worse but to be honest it doesn't sound as bad as some that have been described. It seems to be slowing down too.

The only way I can have full reassurance is to have another scan but what do I do if the scan is ok and then the bleed gets worse - panic again and demand another scan? I can't be scanned every day can I?

Maybe I should jsut accept that pregnancy is a nightmare and presume that everything is ok, as it was on Monday, unless the bleeding gets much worse and/or I get cramps.

Does that sound sensible?

I think that sounds sensible as long as it doesn't get worse but have one in 2 weeks.

I would just go to EPU to be honest, thats what it is there for and just explain that you have started bleeding and you don't know whats going on. I am sure they will be more than happy to help you, otherwise you will just sit there worrying and worrying day in day out thats my opinion anyway but goodluck and i really hope everything is ok with your baby.

I'd see how it goes overnight. If it stops altogether I might leave it at that and have the scan done in 2 weeks. If its the same or worse then head straight for the hospital.

There isn't much that can be done for an early miscarraige but it must be really hard not to know what is going on.

Good luck xxx

Thank you all. I feel much calmer and am going to sit it out until the morning and then review the bleeding.

I am going to have a glass of wine and relax in front of the TV.

Ok this morning it has virtually stopped - back to a small amount of brown spotting. Do I just leave it presuming everything is ok with baby?

Hi Bojangles!Its good that the bleeding has stopped.Theres a good chance that theres nothing to worry about,but maybe you should get it checked out anyway just to be on the safe side.

I'd be tempted to go today to have it checke dout. You don't really know why you were bleeding and I think all bleeding in pregnancy should be checked out.

If you don't go today and wait for the scan in 2 weeks time instead, you will be worrying everyday (I know I would anyway)