Hi Lisa,

I'm just replying to let you know it will all be ok in the end for you, even if you do end up with placenta praevia. I had it with my first baby and my little man and I both came out ok! Here's the short version - at 19 wk scan, diagnosed with low lying placenta, anterior, and completely covering cervix. Told no chance of it moving up at all. It was basically like a cup covering the cervix, so i was told then and there that a caesarean would be the only option for us. Took me a while for me to get my head around it as i had planned my 'dream' natural drug-free birth, and this was going to be nothing like it!

Many many scans during the 20 - 35 week time period, all confirming the same thing. Started spotting at 32 wks, then 34 wks, then 36 wks, then told to stay in hospital till bub was going to be born. I gave birth caesarean-style (i refuse to think that it is not called "giving birth" - it is still birth - i had no choice as to how he was born as it was a medical problem). The doc gave me two choices - either at 37 wks 5 days, or 38 wks 5 days. I would have chosen the latter, but i started haemmorhaging again (bubby's head just kept pushing down on the placenta) so it had to be the earlier date to ensure my and the baby's safety. I had to have a general anaesthetic because the placenta was in the front and the doc had to cut through it to get to the baby. Bubby's lungs weren't quite developed when he was born, so he was in NICU for a week till he got stronger, but now he is an almost 5-yr-old very healthy and physical little fella and you would never know the entry to the world that he had just by looking at him.

I'm not telling you this to freak you out, but just to let you know that if you do find yourself in the same situation as i was in, that you will come out ok in the long run, and even if your bub needs help like mine did, he/she will come out ok in the end as well. Medical teams these days are absolutely amazing.

Then my next little bubba to enter the world came a few years later, and no placenta praevia with that one. (Still had another caesar as i was concerned that the scar may rupture - i know the rate of this happening is very very low, but for some reason in my family, we always seem to be in the less than 2% class of things that happen when things go wrong for us - eg. my Dad's cancer was so rare that his type happened in less than half a % of cases!!! So i guess i just wanted to be safe rather than sorry with my second birth as i had already had such a rare Grade 4 form of placenta praevia with birth no 1, and i just wanted a healthy baby in my arms again, i didn't care how she came out!!). So, baby 1 was grade 4 placenta previa, caesarean birth (under general anaesthetic), now a happy healthy almost 5 yr old boy. Baby 2 was normal pregnancy, no placenta pravia, caesarean birth (local anaesthetic) and now happy healthy almost 2 yr old girl. I feel completely and utterly blessed to have them both.

Happy to tell you anything you want to know if you need it, just PM me.

Loads of hugs and best wishes!