due date: August 26, 2002

Not much to tell yet. I was diagnosed with PP two days ago by ultrasound. I took a fall on the stairs and my family doctor had an ultrasound done to make sure all was well, since my OB was delivering babies that morning. They say that I have a total PP at this time. Other than the bad news, I have had a pretty good pregnancy. No bleeding or spotting at all. I will be finding out whatthis means for me next week some time and will update!

due date: July 1, 2002

I'm 33. Have two boys. No complications with the first two. I anticipated the same. Went in at 20 wks. for my ultrasound. The doctor said that I had partial placenta previa. It was not normal but not uncommon and would most likely move. The usual. No vaginal penetration during sex but I could get creative. Went in at 27 wks for ultrasound number 2 and was told it was complete. She says there is a slim chance that it will move. I'm going to have a c-section it is just a matter of when. She mentioned amnio, lung function, bleeding. yada yada. The next day reality set in I got on the web to get information and then had a breakdown. Scheduled an appt. with the ob that delivered my boys and now I'm waiting. I'm exhausted, I have lots of pelvic pain. I'm not sure whether I should be walking or staying in bed. I really think this thing is going to move.

Maybe I'm in denial. I have had no bleeding and I am working hard not to think about it or wait for it because I'm driving myself nuts. I'm doing all the things I normally do except lift my boys and sex. Thanks for letting me share my story. I know my outcome will be good and my little girl will be fine.

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Update: (5/28/02)

I had a doctors appt. today. I went armed with questions. She said she had seen many of these in her years. Her experience was about 10% did not bleed. So this is what I am hoping for of course because I have two little ones and a business to run. I have another ultra sound 5/1 to see if it has moved. My first said partial my second said total. Who knows maybe it's moving the other way. I still have lots of pelvic pressure especially if I do too much.

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Update: (5/28/02)

At 31 wks had a second opinion. Placenta has moved to low lying. ultrasound with my regular doc. confirmed this. Looks like I'm outta here.

Thanks

due date: August 1, 2000 and June 30, 2002

 

Hi! My name is Raelynn and I actually just found it last week (4/8/02) that I had

actually had a "vasa previa" and I didn't find that out until I got copies of my medical records.... Safe to say, my "vasa previa" daughter will be two in August... and also perfectly healthy.

 

Here is my story: I first started bleeding brown blood at about 23 weeks. I went into the hospital and they did an ultrasound and decided I had a placenta previa. I continued to bleed about every two and half weeks after that, and every u/s they did they said that it was placenta previa. Then finally, the placenta moved and everything was "okay" even though I continued to bleed. I was in and out of the hospital bleeding, on and off bed rest... most of the time my ob(before I switched) asked me why i was even on bed rest when he was the one who put me on it... Anyways.... 10 days after my due date I started bleeding again one night and my ob said that if i did again, he would induce me. So I went in and they let me lay there and monitored me, while the whole time I was bleeding... then about 7 am blood started pouring out of me, literally and they lost her heartbeat. They gave me oxygen to try and find it and then used an internal monitor which didn't work then they finally found it at about 80 and decided

to induce me.... Little did they know, it was my heartbeat they had "found" so they did an ultrasound and found her heartbeat at 30bpm and rushed me to do a csection... she lost almost ALL of her blood and had I think three transfusions, but all is well now, thank God... She is perfectly healthy. Pregnant now with baby # 2 edd june 30, 2002 hoping and praying this won't happen again... New ob said that the chances of it happnening again are just the same with me or any other woman... Thanks for listening, Raelynn Kendalynn Ranee' 8/10/00 Kortnie Colleen (so far) edd 6/30/02 :)

due date: August 22, 2001

I found out at my 20 week sonogram that I had Complete Placenta Previa. The doctor gave me the normal restrictions and told me there was a chance it could migrate up. I went home feeling a little depressed but was very optimistic.

I started having Braxton Hicks contractions during week 22. During week 24 I had some light brown spotting. The doctor sent me to the hospital to get checked out. When I went in they hooked me up and I was having contractions. They sent me down for a sonogram, which confirmed the CPP. They made me drink lots of water and started an IV to try to get the contractions to stop. They didn't, so they gave me a shot of Terbutaline. The contractions finally stopped and I was sent home on two-weeks of bedrest.

I was back at the hospital the following week, this time with a little bit of bright red blood.

This time the doctor decided I was out of work for the duration of the pregnancy. I was on complete bed rest. During week 27, I had to go back to the hospital again for bleeding and contractions. This time the contractions slowed down without medication, but the doctor decided I needed to go on medication to keep them under control. I was prescribed Procardia, which is actually blood pressure medicine. It is used to help relax the uterus. I was also started on a home monitoring program for the contractions. Matria Healthcare set me up with a contraction monitor that I had to put on twice a day for an hour. This contraption monitored how many contractions I had during that hour. Then the information was sent over the phone line to my nurse. She would call me back and let me know how many contractions I had.

This lasted until week 29 when my contractions started picking up again and the doctor decided to change my medicine. He put me on Terbutaline, which was administered to me via a pump that injected medicine into my leg 24 hours a day. While the medicine really helped the contractions (it cut them down to 2-3 an hour) it made me feel yucky. I was very shaky and my heart would race. In week 34 my contractions started to pick up again. I started having between 4-6 an hour. But they didn't make me increase the medicine because they said it was normal for them to pick up the farther along I got.

Then during my 35th week I had problems that resulted in the birth. Early Friday morning I woke up with pain that I thought was heartburn. I got up and tried a couple things (Tums,crackers, gingerale) and nothing helped. It was a severe pain right in the middle of my chest.

After dealing with the pain for an hour, I called the nurse at Matria and described the pain I was having. She felt confident that it was either severe heartburn or a gas bubble that just had to work its way out. She had me monitor myself for contractions for an hour. I only had 3 contractions so she said to give it another hour and if the pain didn't go away to call back. After a little over an hour I finally got sick, which actually relieved the pain. So I assumed the nurse had been correct, and something was just irritating my chest. I had 13 contractions when I monitored myself that morning and the Matria nurse called very concerned and debated about whether to send me to the hospital or not. She decided not to, but told me if I had any other problems to call right away.

Then Saturday morning I had bright red bleeding. Not a lot, but more than I had so far. My husband made me call the Matria nurse again. She was concerned even though my contractions weren't bad. She called my doctor. Unfortunately, my doctor was off that weekend so I got the doctor that was on call. She decided she wanted me to go to the hospital to get checked since I was so far along. When I got to the hospital they once again hooked me up to all the machines. My contractions were 4-5 an hour and my blood pressure was a little high.

The doctor decided she wasn't taking any chances and wanted me to stay overnight just so they could keep an eye on me. They moved me out of labor and delivery to a room in the maternity ward. Through out the night I was up just about every hour on the hour going to the bathroom since they had me hooked up to an IV. I bled a little every time I got up.

By morning (Sunday) the pain had come back in my chest and I could feel the contractions. I talked to the nurse and told her about my discomfort. She brought over the contraction monitor from labor and delivery to see if anything was going on. The baby's heart rate was good, but my contractions were really going crazy. They decided to move me back to labor and delivery and call the doctor. They started drawing blood and running tests. The anesthesiologist came and talked to me about what would happen if I had to have a c-section that day. He wasn't happy with the line they had going in my vein and wanted a larger one in there in case I needed emergency medicine or a blood transfusion. So here came the nurse with a large needle. She had a hard time getting a vein and had both of my arms bruised up by the time she was finished.

The on call doctor got there later in the morning and gave me a Procardia pill to try to slow the contractions down. The pill was almost immediate relief for the chest pain I was having which was so bad now it felt like someone was standing on my chest. It hurt to move. It hurt to talk. It even hurt to breathe. The relief lasted about a half hour, then the pain was back in full force. I was beginning to wonder whether I was having a heart attack. At a little after 2:00 that afternoon the doctor came in with the test results she had been waiting for. She told me that I had developed Toxemia, and it was worse case scenario. I had a condition called the HELLP Syndrome. The nurses started coming in to prep me for a c-section. Sydney was born at 2:52 that afternoon weighing 4 lbs 12 ozs, 18 inches long. She was as healthy as healthy could be! I had to be on magnesium sulfate for two days after the surgery to get all the levels back where they should be and to prevent me from having seizures. I wasn't able to get out of bed until Tuesday. They let me leave the hospital that Thursday, and I was so happy to get Sydney home. I had been on bed rest for so long, even though I still couldn't do much because of the c-section it felt good to know that Sydney and I were no longer in danger from placenta previa!

due date: 10/12/02

 

I am 26 years old and am pregnant for the 2nd. time. With my daughter I was diagnosed with a partial previa and delivered at 36 weeks, almost 35. I am now 17 weeks pregnant and was diagnosed with a full previa at 13 weeks. The day I found out was one of the scariest days of my life. I have had four previous miscarriages and just knew I was losing this one. I was transported to the hospital and was lucky enough to have my husband as my paramedic. I spent the night in the hospital so they could monitor my bleeding. I had very heavy bleeding when this started. I have been on bedrest ever since, which seems to be impossible with a two year old. But with prayer and love and all the support from family and friends we seem to be getting through this. Some days I just cry , I am so tired of being scared. Everytime I go to the bathroom I have to hold my breath before I look down and say a little prayer each time. My spotting has slowed down but I still have some cramping. We are scheduled for an us on tuesday 05/07/02 and are just praying for the best. Before I found this website I felt so alone, like noone could understand what I was going through. I would really like to talk to someone who is going through or has gone through the same thing. Thanks for listening.

 

Amy

due date: Delivered July 3, 2000

 

It's taken me a while to write my story. But I was a frequent visitor to this site when I was pregnant with my "previa " baby. I am now 6 weeks pregnant again and it has brought back memories. My story begins when I was pregnant with my 5th child. The 1st four pregnancies were uneventful. I had a miscarriage in August 1999 at 12 weeks. I became pregnant again in October 1999. At 8 weeks pregnant we discovered through U/S that I was carrying twins. We lost one of the twins at 12 weeks (cause unknown). After that my OB. did frequent U/S. Around 26 weeks they started mentioning placenta previa. I still had 2 placentas and both were in front and low lying. One completely covered the cervix. My OB put me on mild restictions (no sex, no heavy lifting, etc.). His motto was "If it hurts- don't do it. If you have any bleeding-call me ASAP." I had no bleeding or symptoms except alot of lower abdomen pain (didn't have this with previous pregnancies). I also couldn't feel the baby move much. We continued like this until 36 weeks. I had frequent U/S and checks. No problems or bleeding. My OB didn't want to do a c-section because both placentas covered the front of my uterus and it would be very risky. At 36 weeks my OB did an U/S and said we were in the clear. Both placentas had moved far enough away from the cervix so they wouldn't cause a problem. He gave me the go ahead to do light walking and exercise to get ready for delivery. Now understand that with 4 children I stayed very busy. I did 4-5 loads of clothes a day, climbed the steps 20-30xday, etc. We went to Zoo camp and an amusement park when I was 35 weeks. So at exactly 36 weeks (on a Monday) I started walking in my neighborhood. My abdomen hurt so much that I would stop frequently and talk with neighbors. I did this Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I was too tired and didn't walk. Thursday morning I woke-up about 4:00a.m. and went to the bathroom. I was very surprised by the LARGE gush of blood. It was bright red and had some dark clots in it. After the first gush it slowed down some. I immediately went back to bed and checked the baby's heartbeat with a doppler I had. It was fine and I had just a scant amount of bleeding. It quickly became brown in color. I layed there with the doppler on my belly the rest of the night and called my OB the first thing in the morning. I went in and they did bloodwork and an U/S. Everything looked fine. My HGB was good, baby looked good and they saw no new bleeding. My OB told me to go home and take it easy. He said I didn't have to be on bedrest. But to seriously cut back on my activities. I did that and took it very easy. It was the 4th of July w/e and my brother, s-i-l and their kids came to visit. Everything went fine. On Sunday I told my husband it looked like we were in the clear. My bleeding had all but stopped and I'd only had brown discharge. We went to bed much relieved. Then I woke up at 6:30a.m. and knew immediately we were in trouble. I was covered in bright red blood. I rushed to the bathroom and the blood kept coming. I bled so much it made the toilet flush on it's own. I yelled for my husband and he gave me the phone and quickly loaded bags into the car. My OB said to get to the hospital and he would let them know I was on the way. Thankfully my brother was the there to watch my other kids. We were at the hospital by 7 a.m. I continued to bleed slowly. They did bloodwork, an U/S., started I.V.s and had blood on stand by for me. My blood levels were still go and the baby looked good so my Dr. said we would continue without the c-section. (He later told me with the 2 placentas he was afraid of losing the baby and me if he tried the c-section). I started having contractions on my own but my OB decided to start pitocin to speed things up. I know it's controversial to use pitocin. I felt pretty good until about 11a.m Then they started giving me more fluids and meds to keep my B.P. up. My husband said I was past pale and onto gray by then.The baby's heart rate was starting to show signs distress. Around 12o'clock my Dr. tried to manually pull the baby's head down to put pressure on the placenta. It didn't work. He said I was between 7-8 cm dialated then. At 1p.m. my nurse checked me and said I was only 3cm dialated and all she could feel was placenta! She had the nursing supervisor and another nurse check to be sure.I was shocked and asked her how much bleeding was too much. She said she was calling the Dr. back and recommending a c-section. By now I must have had 4-5 nurses in my room "just hanging out". My Dr. came immediately and rechecked me. He said they were feeling blood clots and not the placenta. He asked me to push and I heard this "whoosh" and plops (gross). Dr. immediately told me to stop pushing. My husband said it was running off the bed. (YUCK). I told my OB to do what ever he had to to get my baby here. He said he was more worried about me and DID NOT want to do a c-section. He had the OR ready and the neonatologist on the floor waiting. He tried to pull the baby's head down again. This time it worked and he got an internal monitor on me and on the baby. They gave me shots of ephedrine for my B/P and more fluids. The anesthesiologist got my epidural in ASAP. I was so weak I don't remember much except there were alot of people in the room. I remember starting to push and passing out. They had me turn on my side to push. The baby's heart rate kept going down. At one point the Dr. yelled ! for forceps. I remember looking over my shoulder and telling the nurse I couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat anymore. She said the monitor probably came loose. Finally they got him out with forceps. The neonatologist was standing by. I didn't even see the baby except his foot (it was grey/purplish). They immediately started compressions and resusitating him. It seemed to go on forever! The Neo. Dr. showed my OB large clots they suctioned out of his lungs. My Dr. told the nurse to call the o.r because I was going to need a hysterectomy. They gave me a shot to get my uterus to clamp down. I was crying because the baby was still not moving. It seemed like forever. But all at once I saw his little foot move and a few seconds later heard a quiet cry. About the same time my uterus finally clamped down and they got my bleeding under control. It went from very bad to wonderful in a short time. Baby Alan was born 3 weeks early and weighed 6lbs. 13 oz. They did a couple of x-rays on him and checked him out throughly and he seemed fine. My blood level (HCT) dropped to 20.9- about half of normal. But they didn't think I would need blood. They checked Alan throughly for the 1st year for developemental delays but he is now 22mo. and WILD. He's fine. My only side effects were an incredible headache for about 2weeks from the wild fluctuations in B.P. and it took me about 2 months to get my strength back. Now I'm pregnant again and hoping for a boring pregnancy and delivery. P.S. I didn't find out until the day after I delivered that while I was in labor they'd gone room to room and told people that there was a traumatic delivery going on. Everyone who could got together and had a prayer vigil until I delivered and everything was fine. Take care and best of luck, Judy and her crew.

due date: 2000

 

When I was pregnant with my daughter I was about 17 weeks when they told me that I had placenta previa only marginal. They said everything would be fine. Well everything went good as they said and my daughter was born a vaginal delivery with no complications so we thought. Now 2 yrs later and we are finding out that with the fact of the placenta previa is more than likely the cause of our daughters deafness in her left ear. The doctors asked me about pregnancy problems and I told them about the placenta previa and they immediately asked what kind and I told them Marginal and they asked if they did Cescerian and I said no. Then they told me that, that is more than likely the cause even though she had ear infections but they were all in her right ear and we went all the way back through her medical record and this is the only thing they can find that could of caused it so what I am asking if anyone else has heard of placenta previa causing developmental problems with t! he child or not. please feel free to email me at xxbrighteyez@aol.com express your concerns, or just to talk.