Hi, My name is Kim Steel and my husband is Allan. We were about to celebrate 18 years of marriage in April of 1998, We already had two beautiful daughters Haylee 17 and Hannah 10. I hadn't been feeling well and I was late having my period so I decided to take a home pregnancy test, and, I discovered that I was pregnant. After my husband and I got over the shock we were happily anticipating our new arrival. But, in June because of my age I had an amniocentesis done and a week later I had some bleeding, I was so scared and upset because I had previously had two miscarriages and I was scared to death that I was losing the baby. The doctors put me on bedrest and the bleeding stopped. But I wasn't diagnosed with placenta previa until one night when I got up to go to the bathroom and I thought my water broke, when I flipped on the light to my horror blood was everywhere. My husband rushed me to the hospital where I had another ultra sound and it showed that I had complete placenta previa. After a few days in the Hospital the doctors let me go back home on bedrest. However, I would return to the hospital after having these bleeding episodes 5 more times. My baby wasn't due until Nov. 23rd,1998 but on Sept. 30th after another episode the Doctors admitted me on Oct. 1 and said I had to stay for the duration of my pregnancy. This was a very scary time for all of us. I just knew I had to do what I was told to keep my baby safe. My placenta ruptured on October 18 th and our beautiful daughter Holland Marie Steel was born, absolutely perfect. I had to have an emergency C-section. She weighed 5 lbs. 5 oz and was 17 3/4 inches long. She is now 4 months old and the center of attention in our house. Her older sisters are like doting mothers and my husband I are just totally in love with this little gift. We thank God everyday that she is healthy and we feel so blessed. (2/20/99) 

Here is my sad story:

Back in Europe (I am from Bulgaria and have only been in the USA for less than 8 years), I had a tubal pregnancy and it was too late when the doctor found out and I lost one of the tubes. I was afraid that I might not get pregnant again. In 1991, I got married. In 1993, I found out I was pregnant and the ultrasound confirmed twins. I was happy until one day I started bleeding. I went to the ER and after the urine test, the nurse asked me who told me I was pregnant. She said that the test did not show a pregnancy. A week later, I had a D & C. I guess I miscarried that time. Not long after, I got pregnant again. After many problems and being at home because of my back pain, my water broke five weeks before the due date. I drove myself to the hospital praying not to start the labor pains. Forty minutes later at the hospital, I had a 4 lb. 8 oz. baby girl. She had no medical problems and came home a day later. A few months later I got pregnant but had to have an abortion. There was no way to be able to have two babies at the same time, and not enough money. Until last year, I hadn't been able to become pregnant since 1994. We were in Las Vegas with my DH and I think it was then that I got pregnant. I started having a terrible pain on the side and was afraid it may be again tubal. The ultrasound confirmed that everything was ok. I had normal prenatal visits like everyone else. Nobody paid attention to my history, or to my fast delivery without any labor. 

 

At sixteen weeks I was sent to do a second level ultrasound to confirm the due date. I was told everything was normal and she even showed me the baby sucking the finger and all the funny stuff that babies do. A few days after that, I had a regular doctor's appointment. He again told me there was nothing to worry about. I was never aware of any problems, until one week after that. I felt the baby's movement and was enjoying it. That Sunday, I felt my belly tighten like a ball. I thought the baby was moving and since it happened once I did not pay any more attention to it. I just did not want to have negative thoughts. On Monday, I felt some cramping and that went away. By the time I got to work, I felt like I wanted to go to the bathroom and when I did there was something coming out. 

 

To make it short, I called the on-call nurse and she told me to go to the ER. The ER doctor said there was nothing wrong. From home, I called again and then I was told to go to the clinic. At the clinic, the RN told me that I am delivering the baby and I had marginal placenta previa and they needed to call an ambulance. I did not know what she was talking about. In my eleventh week, I had one day of bleeding but it was never checked at the time. The ultrasound at sixteen weeks had proven the placenta previa problem but I did not know it. 

 

Three hours later I was taken to the hospital eight miles away. The baby's heart rate was 160. One doctor told me that she would try to save the baby until the second doctor came and told me it was not worth it!!! I cried and begged for help. She left me to deliver it. At that time I had no infection, no bleeding and the sac was not broken. I had contractions but I was not aware of them. The next day I delivered my baby boy. I was diagnosed with an incompetent cervix because of the painless contractions and dilating. 

 

I lost the faith!!! I needed a little help but it was not there. After a month I went to see a different doctor and she told me that sometimes bleeding may cause contractions and this may happen with placenta previa. From what I understand, doctors usually take action after the 20 th week. I think in my case, having PP caused more pressure to the cervix ; I read Michelle's story and she said her belly is very low this was my case and that is why I think makes it harder on the cervix. I still have a lot of unanswered questions and want to find the time to write to the director of my HMO and ask him for explanations. (2/22/99) 

 

One weekend I began the heaviest period I'd ever had, for a few minutes I actually wondered if it was a miscarriage. I bleed very heavily for two weeks and then it slowed down for another week. I then began black outs and was on the brink of total exhaustion. The night before I went to see an internist I cried to my husband and told him he had to be prepared for something serious, it never occurred to me I was pregnant because of all the bleeding. When we figured out I was pregnant my internist very nicely told me not to get my hopes up, for with so much blood I must be miscarrying or have an ectopic pregnancy. I saw a OB that day who confirmed the pregnancy, and saw the sac. 

 

I ended up switching OBs for a variety of reasons, the main being he misdiagnosed my PP. I was lucky I had experience on my side, I knew three weeks of bleeding was not something to ignore, I also felt differently with this pregnancy, extreme lower groin pain, and difficulty putting on weight. Low and behold my next OB diagnosed the PP within 5 minutes of my first appointment. I had complete PP, that was both anterior and posterior. 

 

I was very lucky with this pregnancy, my first bleed was my only bleed. I live minutes from the hospital and always wondered what I would do with my other 4 children if a bleed happened when I was home alone. I kept a list of emergency numbers by the phone. 

 

My pregnancy went very well, but I was very cautious. I put myself on a modified bedrest, I would get in bed every afternoon, usually with the kids, we'd read stories or watch TV. I also stopped lifting and did not go too far from home. 

 

Near the end I began to really worry, I knew I had to have a c-section and did not want to go into labor on my own before we decided on a date. One day at an ultrasound the decision was made for us, the amniotic fluid was getting low (an indication that the placenta was aging) so they decided to do the section the next day. I went in early in the morning to have an amnio to make sure my little girl's lungs were developed and then had the section that afternoon. I had an epidural and a mild sedative and the next thing I knew I woke up with my husband by my side. He explained that the epidural did not work so they put me out and that we had a perfect little girl. The anesthesiologist said he had never seen an epidural not work before. He thinks it was caused by a problem I experienced after a past epidural, when I leaked spinal fluid and had to have a procedure called a blood patch. (this all sound much worse than it is) I may have had a block of scar tissue. I didn't mind I was so happy to have my baby I didn't care how she got there! (2/23/99) 

My pregnancy started out as a triplet pregnancy, but we lost one of the babies around the 10th week. It was during the ultrasound that told us of the loss of that baby that "low-lying placenta" was diagnosed for one of the other babies. At that point, we were told it would probably "move." The next ultrasound was for the amnio around 15 weeks and the placenta was still low-lying and appeared to be partially covering the os. We were told that it could still change, but that if it didn't I would probably deliver via c-section. They also said to watch for bleeding, no sex, and watch strenuous activity. 

I was scheduled to have another ultrasound around 27 weeks, but a week before that appointment I had some minor bleeding so they did the ultrasound a week early. At that ultrasound, it appeared that the portion of the placenta covering the os had torn away from the wall and that was the cause of the bleeding. It was only a small tear and there was no need for great concern. The bleeding had stopped and both babies were looking fine. This could actually be a good thing because it freed my placenta from the cervix, more bleeding was less likely and I could possibly deliver vaginally.

However, there still seemed to be quite a number of blood vessels in the region and the phrase "vaso previa" started showing up in conversations with doctors. A vaso previa is a much rarer form of placenta previa. With a vaso previa it isn't the placenta that is covering the cervix, but the cord itself has formed in an abnormal place and the cord is over the cervix. Usually the cord is pretty well protected at the insertion point in the placenta. In this situation, however, it is much more exposed. It is only protected by a membrane rather than all the other material of the placenta. The biggest problem with a vaso previa is that it is the baby's blood NOT the mother's blood if any bleeding occurs. The baby can't tolerate the blood loss. I was told that if bleeding occurred, the only chance of survival for the baby would be if I were already in the hospital and it would still be highly unlikely that the baby could be saved. I wondered to myself why they weren't hospitalizing me if that was the only chance for the baby if bleeding happened. I learned later that the time frame they were talking about for saving the baby was 45 seconds! 

I listened to this information in an amazingly calm fashion. I asked what do we do? There wasn't anything to do but wait and watch. If it didn't change, we would schedule a c-section, balancing the need to let the babies mature and the need to avoid my going into labor or having the membranes rupture for some other reason. When I called the doctor who had read my ultrasound with a question, I told him that I wasn't feeling overly anxious and I thought maybe I was missing something. His response was that anxiety was not going to change the situation so I might as well remain calm. At that point there simply wasn't anything that could be done. This is where I began to use denial appropriately. I simply refused to think about the horrible possibilities. I allowed myself to think optimistically. We were going to be fine. 

 

There was still the possibility that this could all change as my uterus grew. The plan was to have a c-section around 34-35 weeks. Another ultrasound was scheduled to check the position of those vessels again. At that ultrasound there didn't appear to be a problem anymore! Hallelujah!!! We scheduled ourselves for the refresher course for childbirth. A weight seemed to lift from my shoulders. Just to be sure though, they scheduled me for a vaginal ultrasound to be interpreted by the doctor who was the best at vaginal ultrasounds. (As my OB referred to it, "There is the left toe doctor and the right toe doctor." Each doctor can have some very specific skills. My abdominal ultrasounds had been read by the best expert in those ultrasounds, but it was time to bring in the expert in vaginal ultrasounds.) We were either at or already past the 34 week mark at the time of that ultrasound. 

 

Bad news at the vaginal ultrasound. They very quickly identified the possibility of vaso previa. The c-section got scheduled for the next week, which was 36 weeks. I think the only reason I was allowed to wait another week was because I had a very long, tight cervix and it didn't look like I was going into labor very soon. We went ahead and did the steroid shots just to be sure. 

 

At my appointment the day before my c-section, my OB wanted to have it checked one more time since we had had one ultrasound that indicated that it wasn't there. No luck. The vaginal ultrasound still showed that it was there. 

The c-section the next day went fine except I lost a lot of blood and had to have a transfusion, which probably didn't have anything to do with the previa. Both babies were born healthy. The cord of Rachel (baby B) had an insertion point down at the bottom of the placenta rather than in the middle and 10 cm of it was exposed. 

 

Rachel is now 10 months old. My heart still skips a beat when I look at her and think about how we could have lost her in a tragic 45 second time period. I'm ever so grateful for advanced ultrasound equipment. Vaso previa used to be diagnosed at fetal death. We are so fortunate. What an understatement! (3/6/99) 

He was right, In December 1997 we had a visit with the perinatologist who told us, although this was a "rare" antibody, it was not uncommon (he sees about 3 a year..) (Didn't seem like a lot to my husband or myself BUT, HEY, he was a specialist).I needed to have my blood drawn every six weeks to check the antibody levels...

At my 17 week ultrasound the technician, nonchalantly mention that I had Placenta Previa (a term I knew too well, I had it with my 2nd and 3rd pregnancies) I was given NO restrictions and had no bleeding to this point..A follow up sonogram was scheduled for 28 weeks to check the Placenta Previa AND the Amniotic Fluid levels (a side effect of the antibodies)..

28 weeks came, I went in for the sonogram and the technician again, casually mentioned that I STILL had a FULL Posterior and Anterior previa..She would repeat the sono in 4 weeks...Still NO bleeding..I went home from this visit Absolutely certain, I would NOT have this baby vaginally..

The next day I received a phone call from my OB, Now he had "Not So Good" News and "Bad" News..The "Not So Good" News was that the placenta had not moved at all...Now there were restrictions, No sex, No heavy lifting and definitely not a good time to join the gym (as if....) And I would most likely be having this baby by C-Section..The "Bad" News was that my antibody levels had gone up (it means my body recognized the baby as an intruder and was now attacking the baby's red blood cells) More blood work to monitor the levels...

Thankfully, the levels never went any higher and nothing ever became of that, However, the Darned Placenta NEVER budged, I delivered a HEALTHY Baby BOY on June 22, 1998, with NO complications (via C-Section of Course)!

At 35 weeks they finally did an amnio to check for lung maturity. I still had a total previa. I had lost a lot of blood and they didn't want to wait any longer. My dad had donated blood for me. The amnio came back that my daughter's lungs were not ready. I was shocked! After the steroid shots and at 35 weeks I could not believe it. I cried and cried. I wanted this nightmare to be over. At 36 weeks they took her by c-section lungs ready or not because I started bleeding again. God blessed me with a beautiful baby girl who breathed on her own. It was a miracle.

I think one of the hardest things of this whole pregnancy was the fear of her delivery. I had to have a general anesthesia and I was very disappointed that I could not be awake. I was also nervous about bleeding to death. I had a whole slew of dr.s there for the delivery, and I was pretty sure that my daughter would be okay, but I was worried that I would never see my kids again.

God took care of us all, and we all came through it okay. I thank him for that. (3/22/99)

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