I had a low lying placenta and had a VD with DS2 - my placenta actually moved up and out of the way in the final couple of weeks of my pg (DS2 was delivered at 39+6). Unusual, but a REALLY good reason to have a scan as late into your pg as you can if your placenta doesn't appear to cooperate at 34 weeks.

When I was 20wk pregnant I think my placenta was about 2cm away from the os ... at 36 weeks it will still only about 2.5cm. But ... I never gave up hope of the placenta moving up, had lots of acupuncture and voila ... my last scan at 39 wks showed it had moved up at least another 1.5cm - the radiographer could see up to 4cm away from my cervix and no sign of placenta, so it may have moved further. No one was quite sure what prompted the big, last minute heave ho ... I don't care - something worked for me!

My Ob explained to me after my 20wk scan, that as you advance in your pg your uterus "grows upwards", generally moving the placenta away from the cervix.

And the type of delivery can often depend on your obstetrician. Some seem to shudder at the thought of delivering naturally with a placenta less than 5cm from the os, others are happy to let you have bub naturally at 2-3cm and "deal" with events if they arise. My fabulous Ob was happy to let me deliver naturally when I was 2.5cm (though she hoped I'd get to 3cm) - yet her colleague would have whipped out the scalpel without asking questions if my placenta had been less than 4cm.

Don't worry too much about this until at least 34 weeks ... and even then you'll have approx 6 weeks for it to keep moving up if it's being stubborn.

Andie