Unexpected Spotting and Bleeding- Collected Stories
Hi everyone-
I am 11w3d, and started light brown spotting at 11w1d. Yesterday it wasn't as light-- much more pronounced, and while it was still brown, very scary! I did a search and found how many similar scared posters we've had regarding spotting of various types at various times, and tried to collect the most substantial of those posts here.
When you are stressed and nervous, searching for all of these different stories is not fun. I thought I'd make an attempt to start a central thread of all stories-- good and bad-- that pertain to unexpected spotting and bleeding in early pregnancy. It seems like there are a lot of happy endings out there, but it is hard to focus on that when you are scared.
So, for what it's worth, here is the collection of threads, and I invite you if you are having or have had spotting to post your story as it happens or after the fact, trying to add how far along you were at the time, what your symptoms were, possible causes, and of course, the outcome. As a matter of fact, if you are posting after the episode has concluded, it may be best to use the outcome as your subject line, in case some readers don't want to read every type of story.
So as I said I'm 11w3d and had obvious brown spotting most of yesterday. Not enough for a pad, but a pantyliner. It can't be due to sex or to an internal exam. But last week I had a physical therapy appt. to help with back pain, and there was a lot of deep stretching of my lower back... I don't know if that could have had anything to do with it? Also, I walked *a lot* on the two days when the spotting began (1.5 hours each day) and was rather stressed (a lot to do on and off campus in short amounts of time, etc.)
The day before most of the spotting I felt like I had more cramps than usual, but nothing since then. I wonder how long people often spot like this before miscarrying?
Today I've had little if any spotting, but I've been trying to stay off my feet, just in case. Which I guess is sort of silly, because if it is going to happen, it's going to happen, right?
I'll update by editing once I know more. I have an appointment on 2/15.
ETA-- The next day: Sweet relief- the spotting, instead of getting worse, stopped abrubtly. I'm still a bit on edge, but with a resurgence in PG symptoms (esp. nausea), I'm relieved.
I've been a little lenient with the off-limit food list, but no more. This little scare has caused me to be very protective of my little bean.
Bleeding (and hospitalization) at 28 & 29 weeks, healthy baby boy at 37 weeks
I'd had a pretty uneventful pregnancy - a bit of fatigue, but not even m/s. The most I had was an aversion to cigarette smoke and Vietnamese food. (Weird, I know, but well, it is what it is...)
Anyway, at 28 weeks, I was working part-time at a retail shop, and came home from work. DH was at a business dinner that evening in the city, so I made my own dinner, ate, then sat down to watch television.
All of a sudden, I felt a warm wetness in my underpants and I thought, Darn, I peed my pants again (which sometimes happened during my pregnancy). So I got up to go to the bathroom and change when I realized I was gushing bright red blood. I absolutely freaked out. Called my OB's emergency #, called my DH on his cell (he was on his way home). The on-call OB called back and told me to go to the hospital.
Got to the hospital at nearly midnight, they put me in a L&D room and started monitoring me. I was actually having pretty regular contractions. Not strong ones, but they would happen every 10 minutes or less. They called in the attending physician and he looked at the ultrasound. They couldn't quite figure it out except to speculate that maybe part of the placenta was over the cervical opening.
They stuck an IV into me and gave me a shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions. I stayed overnight and got terb shots every four hours. They made me shaky and jittery. Finally, sometime late next morning, the contractions had stopped, so they discharged me with instructions to see my regular OB and to take it easy.
Saw my OB that afternoon, was fine. That night, while lying on the couch, I started having contractions again. Went to the bathroom, found spotting. Called the OB again, she said to drink lots of water and time the contractions for the next hour and call again. When I did, she told me to go back to the hospital. They did all the same things, but discharged me the following day with a prescription for terbutaline pills.
Got through the weekend fine, told my part-time job I probably wouldn't be coming back, but the following week, I started to have contractions again, even on the terbutaline. Went back yet again for a third hospitalization. This time, they started to talk about giving me steroid injections to mature my baby's lungs. I was pretty scared because I really didn't want to be having my baby yet. They switched my medication to nifedipine and kept me a whole 24 hours this time and I was discharged with orders to go on modified bedrest (showers, bathroom breaks, meals okay, everything else I had to be in bed or on the couch).
I stayed on bedrest for about 6-7 weeks, with maybe one or two light trips out of the house per week. No more bleeding, some episodes of very light contractions. Then my OB started to allow me to move around a little more, but I still had to take it easy. I finished my meds at the end of week 36. During week 37, I had one day where my baby stopped moving inside the womb and I called my OB who sent me to the hospital for a NST (results were normal). That evening, my water broke and I went into labor. Twelve hours later, my DS was born. Totally healthy, normal weight, APGAR was 7-8 I think, can't remember.
They never could quite figure out what it was. At first, they thought it might be partial placenta previa. But either it wasn't previa or the previa moved out of the way. Then they said I had an anterior succenturiate placental lobe, which meant that a little piece of the placenta was growing separate from the main placental mass. But when the OB who delivered me examined my womb and the placenta, it was all there in one big piece. It sucks, because if I don't know what it was, how am I supposed to prevent it from happening again?
Anyway, I hope this helps someone else out. I'd be happy to answer any questions re: my experience.
unexplained bleeding (red; gushing) at 9wks - healthy DD
i think this is a great thread. i know it would have helped me during my pregnancy. my story is all over these boards but i will post it here for good measure.
at 7.4 weeks i went to the bathroom at work and noticed dry, brown blood on my undies and traces of brown blood when i wiped. very little though. u/s revealed fetus was fine. doctor said this happens in 1 in every 4 pregnancies.
at 9.4 weeks i woke up at 4am to find myself covered in new, red blood. went to the bathroom and left a trail behind me. sat on the toilet and kept bleeding into the toilet. blood started tapering off. at 9am the OB did an u/s and the fetus was fine, showing an excellent heartbeat. still, OB said there was a 50/50 chance of survival. he sent me to the ER for a shot of rhogam since i have a negative bloodtype. by evening the blood was tapering off. it lasted for about two days (more spotting than gushing at that point) and then went away.
i was monitored (had u/s) every week until week 17 and then every other week after that until week 28. fetus grew healthy and strong and i ended up having a healthy baby girl at 41.1 weeks!
best of luck to all of you - i know it is a horrible feeling.
Awesome thread.... Thanks for starting it (awhile ago)...
I've had bleeding during this pregnancy as well. Not done (so don't know if it'll end healthy) but I bled for a month and a half, during which I found out I was pregnant My 'period' started on time and 3 weeks into it I got a BFP. Went to the dr's, had a blood test & u/s and everything was fine. Bled for another 3 weeks and then it stopped. No cramping or pain.
3 weeks later I started bleeding again, this time VERY heavily and went and had an u/s and again, everything was fine. That episode lasted 6 days, at 9weeks.
I'm now almost 13 weeks and haven't bled since. I'm hoping that was the extent of my bleeding issues and they don't come back.
Pink spotting at 9 weeks, bedrest, still pregnant at 22 weeks!
Thank you for starting this thread, what a wonderful idea!
So we were trying to get pregnant and I had some brown spotting about 14 dpo so I figured, ok here comes my period, great. Well then it stopped after a couple of hours. Took a pregnancy test 3 days later and it was positive! Since I had a previous m/c I was in for ultrasounds starting at 5 1/2 weeks and repeating every 2 weeks. Heard/saw the heartbeat around 7 weeks.
At just under 9 weeks I noticed a tiny amount of pink - really more pink tinged cervical fluid than actual bleeding. I freaked out. Called my RE who immediately put me on progesterone and bed rest. Unfortunately this was over a holiday weekend. If it continued or got worse I had to come into the hospital for an u/s - but it stopped. Went in that Monday for an u/s where they found an area of bleeding in the uterine lining - about the same size as the pregnancy at that point. Continued bed rest, continued progesterone and came back in another week for another u/s. If anything else happened I was to call immediately. No additional spotting ever happened.
That u/s showed the spot had almost completely reabsorbed. By the next u/s it had gone away completely. I'm now 22 weeks, still a little freaked out and worried but doing well. The peanut is moving and healthy.
Friend had spotting and scary u/s, but all is OK now!
My friend K has had spotting for weeks and she's at 12 weeks right now. She went for an ultrasound at ~10 weeks and the baby's skull was not visible, so the MW thought it wasn't developing and the baby would either miscarry or not survive once born. K had a week of extreme anxiety before a follow up u/s. Thankfully, the second u/s (at about 11.5 weeks) showed the cranium and normal development, so all is well. No cause has been found for the spotting and the MW is not concerned.
My sister also had spotting for weeks with two of her children, and they're 2 and 4 now. Other than the spotting, those pregnancies and deliveries were healthy and normal.
Thank you for compiling all of these threads - it's very helpful.
I had implantation spotting at 9DPO. When I went in for my 8 week appt., they saw a patch of blood in my uterus. My OB said that hopefully it would be absorbed by my uterus. Two days later I had bright red spotting. I went in for another u/s the next day and the patch of blood in my uterus was gone. My OB thinks the patch that they saw in my first u/s is what caused the bright red spotting at 8 weeks. I haven't had anymore spotting since then (I'm now 10 weeks) and had another normal u/s at 9 weeks.
This story ends well, but man oh man was it scarey.
I got out the shower, dried off, and flipped my head over to wrap my hair up in a towel. What I saw was bright red blood running down both legs. There was enough to soak 4-6 kleenexes, and I was panicking.
I got to the midwife, and they determined it actually wasn't coming from inside... it was actually a varicose vein on one labia that had ruptured. It wouldn't stop, and they had to cauterize it. Apparently, it isn't very common to get a 'varicosity' in that area, and to have one bleed so much is even less common, but I thought I'd post it here since it wasn't something I'd ever heard about.
It was pretty scarey, but baby is fine and I'm recovering from the anxiety.
Just goes to show you it isn't always the worst case scenario.
Unexpected Spotting and Bleeding- Collected Stories
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My 'period' started on time and 3 weeks into it I got a BFP. Went to the dr's, had a blood test & u/s and everything was fine. Bled for another 3 weeks and then it stopped. No cramping or pain.
