Bleeding During Pregnancy - Women's Stories Of Bleeding In Pregnancy #3

[picasso]

I'm a 36 yo, no prev m/c or bleeding. I have a 2.5 yo daughter, who was conceieved through IVF (my partner had a vasectomy). Had three further IVF attemps before I conceived again. At 14 wks PG, lying in bed, I had bright red blood loss (about the size of a saucer). I freaked out, started crying, thinking the worst - m/c. I rang our local hospital (40mins away) and spoke with a nurse, who urged me to come in. After I was asked all the routine questions: cramping - NO, dark blood - NO, clotting - NO, the doctor (under the phoned advice of an obstetrician) did a vaginal examination. The speculum, caused another bleed (about the same size as before), and I was told I was most likely experiencing a "spontaneous abortion". A horribly distressing term, when she could have just said "miscarriage". I had stopping bleeding almost immediately, both times and just had a small amount of old blood spotting. I was sent home 3 hours later, only to return for an ultrasound appointment the following morning. Baby visible and good heart beat! Woohoo! Placenta lowish, placental lakes/pools visible... which I was told could cause bleeding again. 4 nights later I had a small bleed (about 50c piece size), did not sleep at all that night from worrying, next day I didn't 'feel' pregnant, but knew I had to find out for sure. So went to the hospital again - everything still okay, and as far as yesterday - everything still looks good! Keeping positive.
So I guess if you experience bleeding during pregnancy I would suggest: don't lose hope, get it checked out as soon as you can (either way it could help you sleep better) and get a second opinion if you feel you need to.
P.S. This was a fantastic thread for me when I needed information and reassurance - THANKS!

[arwenreborn]

Thank godness for this thread!

I found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago, doctor estimated me for around 5 weeks upon discovery which would have made me 8 weeks this Thursday. It wasn't planned and I had only just gotten off the implanon 12/09/08 but was very welcomed and my partner and I were stoked.

Everything has progressed along well, went for a dating scan last week in which everything looked normal but the radiographer put me back to being only 5-6 weeks. He told me to come back in 2 weeks and have another scan so I could get a determined due date. So I'm around 6 weeks and 2 days today! However on Saturday afternoon after having lunch with my friends, I went to the loo and had a little bit of brown discharge - really dark brown. About the size of a ten cent piece.

Well I panicked. Cried my eyes out, called my mum and calmed myself down before telling my partner who was also pretty worried. Thought I'd stick it out and see how I went. The discharge was there a little at night and when I wiped, had gone by Sunday morning but by Sunday afternoon I had another ten cent piece worth there. Again, really dark brown and not like blood but just like a mucus or something.

Monday was the same, had a little discharge at work and a little in the afternoon...and again today, none in the morning but a little this afternoon. Boobs are still really tender, I haven't been suffering a lot of morning sickness, just a bit of dry retching and feeling ill in my stomach which has continued. However I learnt that if I constantly snacked then I could avoid feeling sick so I've been snacking all today and have only felt ill a few times.

I called my doctor's office and they told me that he was going on holidays and fully booked out, next available appointment being in December. I explained to the receptionist that I needed to be referred for a scan and that I needed to see my doctor urgently so she's booked me in for an emergency consultation this afternoon. So will see what he says then...here's to hoping that everything is good and I have a sticky bub in there. Not sure if he'll send me for an U/S or whatever but fingers crossed and reading the stories on here have given me hope!

[~Trish~]

I have my fingers crossed for you arwenreborn. It is a good sign if you are still experiencing symptoms and haven't had any bad cramping with the bleeding. You're in my thoughts and prayers, all the best .

[JLeigh29]

Hope all goes well with your doctor's appointment arwenreborn. Fingers crossed.
I finally got up the courage to see my doctor yesterday (yes, have been stewing about this since my last post) and had a blood test this morning. Dr said it sounds like I was pregnant and m/c. Said it might be good to find out whether I was pregnant for sure (remember, test I did 3 days before bleeding started came back BFN) to at least reassure me that I can get preg (TTC 7 months) so here I am waiting for results til tomorrow...dr also said blood test may not show anything as hormone levels may have dropped already. So I may never know...

[arwenreborn]

Well it's good and bad news I guess. I'm just trying to stay positive.

The doctor is terming it as a "threatened miscarriage". If I had ovulated on time I should be 8 weeks, but he said it's very likely I ovulated later and am only 5/6 weeks (well the sonographer said last week I was only 5/6 weeks when thought I was 7).

Because of the spotting and the fact my levels aren't as high as they probably should be (but still high) he sent me for another HCG blood test yesterday afternoon - if my levels are lower than last week he's going to call me today and we know we've probably lost little bean. If my levels are higher than last week I have to go back in on Thursday and get another HCG blood test done to compare. If my levels are rising then it's a good sign and he'll refer me for a scan in a week or two.

I also found out I am O- blood type which apparently is a really good but sort of bad blood type. It's good because I can give blood to anyone with any other blood type, but if I'm in a car accident and bleeding to death I can only receive O- blood...

I had a needle in my bum yesterday as I'm rhesus negative and if the baby is rhesus postiive (eg. A+) then my body can start to produce antibodies to try and expel the "foreign object". It's amazing how my blood can cross the placenta and work against my baby. Apparently that's why a lot of people in the older days had "blue babies".

Anyway I have to have another few shots of stuff later on to prevent anything from happening to bub.

I got sick last night and didn't feel crash hot this morning. Still no cramping or anything but I'm not going to get excited over anything. It's out of my hands and out of my control. Just trying to cross fingers and hope for the best.

This pregnancy wasn't planned but my fiancee and I discussed it last night and getting pregnant made us realise just how much we wanted this bub and how scared we are we're going to lose it. So if this pregnancy doesn't succeed, I'm not going to go onto the pill or anything and we're going to try again.

It would be awesome if on Friday I call him and he says "Your levels are climbing, it looks good!" but I'm preparing myself.

[JLeigh29]

arwenreborn, I have my fingers crossed your BT brings good news tomorrow.
Any bleeding? Feeling sick and cramping could by preg symptoms so they may be good signs.
My BT didn't show a pregnancy but the girls on another thread tell me this isn't unusual as it was early days so I may or may not have been pregnant. Who knows?

[arwenreborn]

Well everything has been going along alright, felt crook as anything the last couple of days and hungry as anything as well.

Then this morning I got up, went to the loo and everything was fine a little spotting but still dark brown. Then I went to go again (typical me, I pee so much these days) and there was a dark red smear on my pad. I wiped, and again there was dark red blood. I wiped again, same thing. I flushed and went out for about a few minutes, then went back into the loo and wiped again. One again, a bit of dark red blood.

I called in sick to work and called my fiancee and told him that if it got heavier I'd give him a call and we'd go to the hospital.

It eased off for a bit, I went for a shower and nothing came out during that so that was good. Put on a clean pad and checked a moment ago and there was a ten cent piece worth of mucusy dark red looking stuff. I'm waiting til about 9 to call my doctor, and see what the blood tests say and see what he says. If it gets any heavier I'm going into the hospital to see if they can at least do a scan or something - I should be about 6 weeks and 6 days or so, so hopefully they will be able to tell me for sure if everything is good or bad. I'm preparing myself, trying to stay positive but not being naive about it all.

[~Trish~]

Best of luck arwenreborn. Definitely speak to your Dr, just for peace of mind. It is so stressful when you have any bleeding. I'm glad you have taken the day off, just rest and look after yourself .