Placenta previa - your experiences?

[Circe]

I tried searching the forums, but didn''t see any separate threads - hope I''m not repeating an oft-discussed topic!

So on Monday, I had my amniocentesis done, and while the amnio itself went fine, according to the doctor who preformed it, I have partial placenta previa. She told me to avoid any sexual activity for the next month/until it moved away from the cervix, and gave me a little fact sheet that listed panic signs that should cause me to get in touch with my doctor ASAP. One of them was cramps 6 or more times in an hour, which isn''t exactly unusual after amnio, so yesterday I called my usual doc. in a tizzy. My usual doc. reassured me promptly that this was completely normal after amnio, that, in fact, it was waaaaaaay too early for placenta previa to be causing complications, and that, in fact, 98% of women had partial cervical coverage at this point, which only persisted into the 3rd trimester for 1 to 2% of women. Her response to the abstinence thing was, and I quote, "Huh."

Now, I have an appointment with her for Friday, but since I''m still a little worried in the meantime ... have any of you had placenta previa, early, late, or all throughout your pregnancies? Could you tell me what your docs said, and what it was like for you?

 

[DivaDiamond007]

I did not have it when I was preggo, but my mom did when she was preggo with me. Back in 1982, when I was born, ultrasounds were not routine so they had no idea until she went into labor. She had a lot of pain and gushed blood. The placenta was delivered first, followed by me. She''s lucky we both didn''t die. I don''t mean to scare you - you''re obviously seeing the right doctors and everyone is aware of what''s going on. Hopefully yours will move and it won''t cause any complications. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!

 

[somethingshiny]

I had placenta previa in early pregnancy. I was put on bed rest (and no sex) and as the baby and placenta grew it kind of shimmied over a bit so it wasn''t actually covering the cervix. A healthy pregnancy and baby followed. I have a cousin who has had it with both of her kids throughout the whole pregnancy. She was on lots of bed rest (and no sex) but she delivered two healthy babies. (I believe she was forced to have c-sections so the placenta didn''t rupture)

I think it''s a condition that needs to be monitored regularly but early on it seems it can correct itself.

Good luck, try not to stress!!

 

[Clio]

I had a partial previa with #1, which led to a very scary bleeding episode toward the beginning of the 2nd semester. It resolved itself, which is pretty common, as I understand. In my mind, it''s the kind of thing to keep an eye on but not worry about, especially at this point in the pregnancy.

I didn''t have ant restrictions, and my doctor was confident that everything would be fine, and it was.

 

[Blenheim]

I had a partial placenta previa early on and wasn''t given any restrictions. They told me that it usually resolves itself as the uterus grows but that they wanted to schedule follow up ultrasounds to monitor it to make sure. The way that the OB described it was to think of drawing a circle on a balloon, near the opening, and then blowing it up. The circle often moves on up as the balloon expands. They also warned me that there was a higher than average chance of me experiencing bleeding and that I needed to call immediately if I did. I ended up having a heavy bleeding episode at 28 weeks and spent about a day and a half in L&D while they monitored us. They thought that my placenta partially tore away from my uterine wall (which is more common with a low lying placenta) and needed to make sure that G was still getting adequate nutrients. It resolved itself, but when G was born at 39w5d my placenta was unusually big and looked more like a 42 week placenta in terms of age. We think that the unusually large, low lying placenta may have contributed to his breech positioning, but of course there''s no way to know for sure.

 

[puffy]

i found out i had placenta previa with #1 at my 18 week scan, but was put on no restrictions. they weren''t worried at all so i wasn''t either. DH and i actually left on a trip right after the scan and they told us to have a great time. it did resolve itself when we had to go back in 2 weeks for another scan, not because of the placenta previa. i was told that if it occurs that early in pregnancy, the chances of it resolving itself were pretty good.

 

[Pandora II]

I found out I had partial praevia at my 21 week scan.

In 95% of cases it resolves by term apparently.

In my case I had a u/s scheduled at 35 weeks to check and at that the edge of the placenta was 4cm from the cervical os, so I was 1cm outside the limit for compulsory c-section, which was a huge relief.

I did have one episode of bleeding at 8 weeks but nothing else - however I was put on pelvic rest for pretty much the duration of the pregnancy - poor DH

- although we did cheat once during our honeymoon (you HAVE to dtd on your honeymoon I think

)

 

[MustangGal]

My mom had it with my sister in 1986. No ultrasounds then, so they didn''t know until she was in labor and almost bled to death. They did and emergency c-section and both made it. 3 years later she was pregnant again, and at 16 weeks was beeding pretty bad. Her lazy doctor told her she was fine and didn''t even see her, and she ended up loosing the baby. Her thought is that it was the same issue, but there was no way to tell.

It sounds they they''re on top of it, and you should be fine. If it stays there you might just have to have a c-section.

 

[curlygirl]

I had it early in my first pregnancy--they told me at around 17 weeks when I had my anatomy scan. I wasn''t given any restrictions, it resolved itself and I vaginally delivered a healthy full term baby. A friend of mine had it and it didn''t resolve so she delivered via c-section.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Circe, do a google search for Busted Babymaker - she had it, and spoke about it on her blog at length, but she was on bed rest almost her whole pregnancy because of a previous placental abruption so her experience might be different. She had a perfectly healthy baby boy in the end!

 

[Kay]

I was diagnosed with a full previa at my 20-week anatomy scan. The placenta was lying right over top of my cervix and covering it completely. I was told no sex, no exercise, no heavy lifting, and no travel. The Dr. who did the scan (not my regular OB) scared me quite a bit. He said if I started bleeding I needed to seek immediate medical attention to make sure my baby had not lost her source of nutrition. (I actually typed up a note that said I had a complete placenta previa, included contact info for my OB and DH, and said I should not be given a manual exam to determine the cause of bleeding without consultng the OB first. I kept a copy in my purse and gave one to my assistant just in case I even needed medical attention while unconscious.) When I saw my OB a few weeks later, he said the other Dr. may have been a bit overly cautious in prescribing all of those restrictions.

By the end of 6 months, the previa completely resolved itself and I had an uncomplicated vag delivery.

 

[Burk]

I find it interesting how many of us had placenta previa. I also had it early on but it relieved itself by my 20 week scan. I had quite a bit of bleeding around 10 weeks because of it but never had any restrictions and was told it relieved itself in most of its cases, which ended up happening for me and it seems like most of us who have posted here.

 

[Circe]

Date: 8/6/2009 9:05:02 PM
Author: Burk
I find it interesting how many of us had placenta previa. I also had it early on but it relieved itself by my 20 week scan. I had quite a bit of bleeding around 10 weeks because of it but never had any restrictions and was told it relieved itself in most of its cases, which ended up happening for me and it seems like most of us who have posted here.

According to my gyno, placenta previa can affect as many as 20% of women at some point in the pregnancy, but the majority of cases resolve themselves: only 1-2% of women total have PP that''s serious enough to affect their labor, apparently. So - thanks, Clio! - I am *trying* not to worry about it, but given my general Type A personality, I am not exactly succeeding. I mean ... I have to Europe for a christening in two weeks! And it sounds like that might be iffy under the circumstances ....

All of your posts are making me feel better: at first, I just sort of felt irritated with the amnio-providing doc, as though she was perhaps scaremongering, and then sort of worried that this was something my normal doctor had missed ... and then I started reading up on it on the Internet, and succeeded in scaring myself silly. Neither I nor my husband can remember if she said it was low-lying or marginal (not that I suppose that it makes a difference at this point in the pregnancy - I''m only 18 weeks tomorrow), but seeing how many of you had the issues resolve themselves as pregnancy progressed, and had healthy happy babies anyway makes me feel better.

I *do* wonder if the amnio-doc was being too cautious in suggesting restrictions this early with a partial PP, but that just makes it a Very Good Thing that I have a regular check-up tomorrow. Fingers crossed my regular doc can shed some further light on all of this ....