Bleeding that never seems to stop.
I am so pleased to find this thread and instead of writing reports for work I have spent the past few hours reading every post on bleeding in pregnancy. What amazes me is that even with the women who bleed no two experiences are the same. I was SO hoping to find an experience exactly like mine and say "Oh phew, everything will be fine" but then I realised that even if I did find an identical experience (which I didn't) it would be impossible to predict the exact same outcome.
I have 2 children - I didn't bleed at all in my first pregnancy but had some spotting during my second pregnancy (I was hospitalised from 7 to 9 weeks with the flu and gastro and it was put down to this) which freaked me out at the time but was nothing compared to this!
I went to my GP last Saturday to investigate the possibility of something sinister going on because my usually short period (2 to 4 days) had been going on for 10 days. It wasn't like my usual period in any way - longer, heavier, no clotty blood but just pink, mucousy blood. The first thing my GP suggested was doing a pregnancy test. I have VERY irregular cycles (28 days, 49 days, 38 days) and pregnancy hadn't even occured to me but I agreed and it came up positive. Not quick and dark but not that faint either. He took bloods and arranged an u/s for Monday (a week ago). The u/s found no evidence of a pregnancy and I assumed the extended bleeding was a miscarriage - although no cramping and no clots. However my hCG levels came back at 142 - higher than expected at day 10 of a miscarriage so my GP re-did the bloods the following day. They came back at 259. So they hadn't doubled in 3 days (as I have heard suggested that they should) but they had risen and I was now on day 13 of the bleeding.
When I say bleeding I mean constant, 6+ pads a day when normally I barely need sanitary protection during a period after the first day. It's worse when I'm active and doesn't tend to occur overnight.
Anyway, I had another hCG done on Friday and again it had risen. Again it hadn't doubled but was up to 389. Due to the irregularity of my period we can only guess how far along I might be and we assumed given my LMP was April 28 I would be 6+ weeks. The final hCG level would indicate more likely 4-5 weeks which would explain why nothing was seen on the u/s.
So now I'm sitting tight until next Friday. That is 6 days away and I have no idea how I will wait that long. If hCG levels have gone up again then we will organise another u/s. At this point my GP is assuming a viable pregnancy (I hate that term - so medical) due to the increasing hCG levels but no one can explain what is now 18 days of straight bleeding which is not getting lighter - if anything it's getting heavier.
I have had no knowledge of hCG levels or need for early scans in either of my previous pregnancies. This is all new and scary territory. At first I thought if my levels had gone up for the second test I would get excited and assume everything was ok but then it was last Friday's test and even now I can't feel certain of anything. I know in any pregnancy there is no certainty but I never worried like this with my pregnancies where I didn't bleed. The constant, relentless bleeding is so tiring - both physically (I have chronically low iron levels so it's not helping there) and emotionally and is a reminder of the fragility of early pregnancy that I didn't havewith my previous bubbas.