due date: 1/31/00 

 

I thought I should write this because I think that a "non-scary" placenta previa story is needed! I found out that I had complete placenta previa early in my pregnancy (I had been getting ultrasounds since the 8th week, due to having gone through fertility treatments). My doctor continued to monitor the placenta with ultrasounds, but it never moved from its position of completely covering the opening of the cervix. My doctor just told me to "take it easy" and at about 28 weeks he told me to stop working and go on "partial" bed rest (i.e. I could sit in a chair all day, but not really get up for anything except the bathroom and occasional walk into the kitchen for a snack). I hadn't had any bleeding episodes and when I stopped working I stayed in the chair all day, as the doctor instructed. I NEVER had any bleeding or any problems AT ALL. I was very lucky to have my parents take turns to come stay with me during the day (in case something would happen), and my husband was with me at night. I think it was a combination of luck and listening to the doctor - i.e. STAYING OFF MY FEET. (I think sometimes too many women "push it"). I was also lucky that I was in a position where I COULD stay off my feet (I had no other children, and I had my parents to help and do everything for me). Every time I went in for an appointment, my doctor was always amazed that I was having no problems (bleeding), especially with having complete previa. But I went to 38 1/2 weeks before having my scheduled c-section. The surgery was a BREEZE and I didn't even need any pain killers afterwards at all. My baby Marina was perfectly healthy (6 lbs 8 oz, 18 inches) and is doing very well now as a 10 month old. When I found this web sight, it was sometime in the middle of my pregnancy. I read the stories that were listed at that time, and they all scared me to death! It made me much more scared than I had been before I found the sight. But maybe being scared helped me to take the condition REALLY seriously, and I did not push it at all. And I had a very happy and easy ending. So, I just wanted to let other women know that it IS possible to get through this without the horrors that some women have had to endure. Just take it seriously and stay off your feet and you could be lucky, too!

You could say that I found out I had placenta previa by happenstance. I had called my dr's office about a week after my 1st ultrasound at 12 weeks just to make sure everything looked good like the tech had told me. Well, the nurse on the phone said everything was normal, but oh by the way your placenta is currently covering your cervix entirely. Don't worry it'll move and she hung up. Now having read pregnancy books, I did know that this could potentially be bad and I was surprised that the nurse explained that I wouldn't have known about these results until my next check up. Well at my next check up, I figured the OB would bring it up, however I had to bring it up and once again was told I had nothing to worry about. By the time I had this appt I had already found this website and new the whole gambit of how placenta previa could affect your pregnancy. I also knew that since I had a complete previa that the chances of it moving weren't as good. My ob hasn't recommended any lifestyle changes, so I've been taking it easy on my own. I most recently had another ultrasound this weeks (18wks) and the placenta previa has gone from a complete to a marginal. Thankfully I've had no spotting or bleeding, but I've noticed throughout my pregnancy that I have pressure in the area of my lower uterus as many of you have described. I've found this website very helpful and think it's wonderful resource especially for women in my similar situation whose dr's are taking the "don't worry it'll move" approach without providing any information about what placenta previa could cause to happen. Thanks for listening!

due date: Dec.23, 2000 

 

I have 2 children, both good natural pregnancies. I was in for an awakening for this one.I found out I had pp at 18 weeks.I never made it to the specialist,I had my first bleed at 24 weeks. I was rushed from my home hospital to a hospital 2 hours away,because they could handle premies and such.The bleeding stopped and in the hospital I remained. I was admitted on Sept 7. I had weekend visits 

from my children and husband. Talked to them on the phone every night to feel part of the family even if I was in the hospital, I wasn't sick and didn't feel sick. Even though I was on complete bedrest with bathroom pv I occasionally wheeled around in my wheelchair to feel a little normal, I was the only one.I felt alone a lot, and felt guilty when i felt sad because I knew this was the best for baby and me. I did all that I could to keep me busy.I painted, did crafts, drew, colored, read, cried,watched the same thing every day to help time pass. I feel I had to put myself in a certain frame of mind to get through this mentally.Well,it was either feel completley helpless and depressed or get through this it will be over in time.I did have the occasional bleed, a couple of close calls. The nurses did their routine check on me. I could hear the other babies and would feel a little sad but knew it was not time.At 32 weeks I asked my doc. to send me back home because they where able to handle me after 32 weeks. I was in my home hospital at 33 weeks. It was so nice to be home. My hubby was much more relaxed and the children were happy,too!We even had one sleepover in the hospital, chips and movies, mats for everyone to sleep on in the hospital. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and looking around at my family sleeping and breathing around me and it felt so good!!! 

 

We are very fortunate to have graduated past 32 weeks. I had another bleed that scared the nurses enough to prep me for OR. I called my hubby and he came up right away. The doc. came and said baby is doing fine the bleeding has stopped we will hold of. Thank God. 

 

At 35 weeks and 3 days I had a bigger bleed and the nurses again prepped me for OR and the doc. came up and said no more chances and down to OR we went. I did have the steriod shots for his lungs at the start. Charles was born at 11:36 on Nov.21. His due date was Dec 23. He weighed 5 pds. 12 oz., 19 inches long. He was breathing perfect, he nursed,he stayed in the icu and he was brought to me every 3 hours for feeding the first 24 hrs. After that he was left in my room with me and ocassionally taken for a check up. I was in rough shape so I stayed an extra day.Mabie my pain tollerence level is not to high because I have never experienced a c-section before and holy cow that is awful for me.Anyhow it was worth it. 

 

Charles got to come home with me the day I was discharged,we were so happy and thank God for helping us be string to get through this and bring us home.I was in the hospital from Sept.7 to Nov.25.It was great getting home and it took time to adjust again.I t takes time to regain strength in your body again to do little things, but it all comes back.To any one who will experience pp, remember to believe and pray. Be strong and keep yourself busy while on bedrest it will keep your mind busy. All the best to you all!!!God Bless!

I had complete placenta previa and unfortunately, I'm one of the horror stories, but with a happy ending. 

I was diagnosed with a low lying placenta at my 18 week ultrasound. My dr. said that we would do another u/s at 30 weeks to see if it had moved if I had no bleeding. 

At 24 weeks, I had what is termed a "minor" bleed, but it seemed pretty major to me at the time. We rushed to the hospital and the bleeding stopped on its own. I had an ultrasound and found out my low-lying placenta had turned into complete placenta previa. I was put on immediate bedrest by my doctor and starting taking steriods for my baby's lungs twice a week. 

At 28 weeks, I had a major bleed--the ambulance emt's estimated it was approximately a cup or more of blood. They rushed me to the hospital, where my doctor determined that my placenta hadn't moved and I should be transported immediately to a tertiary care facility (35 miles away from home)for the remainder of my pregnancy. If all went well, I would be in the hospital until a scheduled c-section at 36 weeks, or may 34 if I could make it that far. 

Instead of being in the hospital 8 weeks, I was there 4 days before I had a massive bleed. It felt like all the blood in my body was pumping out through my uterus. The head neonatologist took one look at me and decided to do a crash c-section then and there. My baby was not in any distress, but my boy wasn't holding out. 

They put me under general anesthesia and on July 1, 2000, my baby was born. He weighed 3 pounds, 4 1/2 ounces (which is huge for a 29 weeker). He spent 50 days in the NICU. He is 5 1/2 months old now and doing GREAT!!! 

The thing I want to stress, and I'm sure everyone already knows this, is how SERIOUS previa is. 

My doctor chose to be straight with me and scared the crap out of me, but I'm glad he did. 

Good luck to everyone!

My story had a happy ending. I have a beautiful son that was born October, 25, 2000. It was not a easy getting my bundle of joy. I do have a 61/2 yr old daughter. I had two missed miscarriages in 1998. They were both so devastating, I said I would never get pregnant again! In Jan of 2000, we did start to talk about having another baby. I really wanted my daughter to have a sibling. I also really wanted to have and hold just one more baby! Much to my surprise, talking about having another baby led to a pregancy! We were so excited yet worried. I went to the doctor immediately. I had ultrasound at 6 wks and they said the heart rate was slow. I was told to be prepared. I had another ultrasound at 7 wks and the heart rate was fine! I had a progesterone test done that said my count was low. At 15 wks I had another ultrasound that said I had a low lying placenta. No biggy, I had that with my daughter too. At nineteen wks I spotted red and rested for a few days and it went away! At 30 wks I had another ultrasound that said I had complete previa. My doctor was a little concerned, he relooked at the previous ultrasounds and determined I had complete previa all along! He then gave me many restrictions and to rest, rest, rest! I had to take an early maternity leave from my job, which was fine, I was so tired anyway! 

I was signed up for a planned csection at 371/2 wks. I was really nervous about the surgery, but I was thinking positive, I got this far, things had to go well! I went in surgery on October 25, 2000, 18 days before my due date. The surgery went well, but I did lose a lot of blood. Luckily I didn't need a transfusion, just was sent home with iron pills! In the end I had my beautiful son, Owen. I survived complete placenta previa and surgery and had a happy ending! My doctor highly suggested no more kids due to my past miscarriages and pp. So I will enjoy my son thouroughly! He is a true miracle! Peggy

I am so grateful I found this website! I am in my 23rd week of my sixth pregnancy. I have two girls, ages 10 and 4, lost three babies at 24 weeks, 17 weeks and 11 weeks. When I became pregnant with my 4 year-old, I was diagnosed with incompetent cervix and a cerclage was put in at 12 weeks and I was on bed rest until the 38th week. Our daughter was healthy and had no other complications during that pregnancy except for a low alpha-feta protein score that gave us a scare. I was diagnosed with placenta previa during an ultrasound at my 22nd week. I was already on limited activity since I had another cerclage for this pregnancy. I was told no sex and limit activities more, that most of the time this corrects itself. I will have another u/s at 26 weeks. But that was all I was told. I had some bleeding in early pregnancy but it was attributed to my cervix. The weekend before the ultrasound I had light spotting and cramping and this was later attributed to pp. I constantly feel pressure in my lower abdomen and have lots of cramping. I am concerned after reading all of the other stories about bleeding and premature delivery. I did not realize it was so serious, I guess the nurses and doctors do not want to scare you. 

My due date is May 4, 2001 and we know this will be a boy. I would appreciate any encouragement and feedback I can get. I have been more anxious about this pregnancy than the others, it seems. I am trying to give it to God and not worry but it is difficult. Thanks for all of the stories, it is really encouraging to see that I am not alone!!

I was 3 months pregnant with my second child and miscarried. I had a D&C the next day and then two weeks later found out I was pregnant again. I started to have moderate bleeding when I was about 7 weeks along and my doctor could not explain why. After my first ultrasound, I was told I had a low lying placenta, but not to worry as this is very common in the first trimester. 

While my husband was out of town on business, I had my second bleed where I passed a large clot. It was 3:00am in the morning so I got my 1 year old son out of bed and drove us both to the hospital to make sure all was ok. In hindsight, this would have been a good time to call an ambulance. A sono showed the baby was fine. I was released that morning and sent home on modified bedrest. This never happened. I resumed my normal schedule although I tried to be more careful about not overexerting myself. 

Future sonograms confirmed my worst fear, I had a complete anteriorly placed previa. My husband was in Vermont on business when I had a third massive hemmorhage at 32 1/2 weeks. I called my neighbor, poor guy, who showed up at my house immediately and there I stood butt naked in a pool of blood. He made some calls for me, as I was going into shock and couldn't think straight. After half the neighborhood arrived, someone asked me if we had called an ambulance. Not yet was my answer, I was still trying to get my OB via after hour paging. I went to the local hospital where I was supposed to deliver and my doctor met me there. After a few shots to mature the baby's lungs, I was stablized and air lifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital since they were better equipped to deal with preemies and their moms. My husband had just arrived in VT and had to turn around and catch a flight back to Baltimore. He arrived with a few hours to spare. I was placed on a magnesium sulfate drip which left me with virtually no control over my body. I could barely muster the strength to reposition myself from one side to the other. I started to become toxic from the mag-sulfate and was hallucinating and crying uncontrollably. Then I started to feel some pressure down by my vagina, similar to the pressure that preceded my hemmorhage earlier. The doctor came in and did the one and only vaginal exam I had ever had for that pregnancy. She removed a lemon size blood clot and told me the placenta was trying to deliver itself. She then informed me we had to do a c-section right then and there. I was ready, I knew I was in the best care I could dream of and I knew it was the best thing for both of us. I was administered an epidural and was numbed from my chin down. I turned to my husband and asked him to just please tell me when they start to make the incision, he informed me at that point that they were trying to remove the baby. Because my placenta was situated right at the place where they made the incision, they had to cut through it to get the baby out. I lost a lot of blood on the OR table. My pressure dropped, I passed out, and had and out of body experience. From a skeptic, I am now a believer. I started to say my goodbyes because I was sure this was what death felt like. I came to in time to see them wheel my son out of the OR. 

My hemoglobin levels were 6, and my hematocrit was 18. My husband is an ER nurse and he said that was pretty bad. They normally give tranfusions to people with higher scores, but I was making good progress on my own and they prefer to avoid transfusions altogether. I was able to stand next to the bed the next day, but was astounded at how weak I had become. I could not stand long, I could not take any steps. 

Hans Sebastian weighed in at a hefty 6lbs, 9oz on the OR scales. Much of the weight was attributed to residual fluid retention from the mag-sulfate drip which crossed the placenta. By the time he was weighed again in the NICU he was down to 5lbs, 12oz and dropped to 4lbs, 6oz during his biggest weight loss. He hadn't learned to "suck, swallow, and breathe" yet so he would periodically stop breathing. He did this a couple times while I was holding and nursing him. The fetal monitor alarms would go off and a nurse would come over and gently shake him to startle him into breathing on his on. His heart rate would dip to alarming low levels which also shook me up. After 2 weeks in the NICU and a little old fashioned caffiene to stimulate his HR, I was thrilled to have him released to my care. I thought the rollercoaster ride was finally over. 

He had to be on an Apnea monitor for 5 months. For anyone else who had to go through this, my sympathy goes out to you. It was the worst experience of my life. Five months of getting up about 12 times a night when the alarm would go off, mostly in error. How can you NOT get up and check and make sure your child is still breathing? I'd rather do this then face the other reality. 

Hans will be celebrating his first birthday in a couple of weeks and I must say this has been a rough year. He had a moderate case of reflux, he wheezed on and off, and had been in Early Intervention rehab ever since we got back from Hopkins. On the up side, his reflux and wheezing is subsiding. He is eating well and cruising on furniture. 

We choose his name before he was born, but realized how appropriate it fit him under the circumstances. Hans stands for "Gift from God" and Sebastian stands for "revered one". He truly is a Gift from God and every day he gives us a gentle reminder of how precious life truly is. 

I am currently 15 weeks pregnant with my third child. I had some spotting recently and a sono ruled out a previa altogether. The placenta is anteriorly placed beneath my c-section scar so my doctor's only concern is the potential for placenta accreta. I am optimistic things will go well as it is in God's hands now. My blessings and best wishes to all of you who have endured so much and continue to face each new day with a smile.