due date: 2/8/04 Delivered 12/21/03

I was diagnosed in my twentieth week after finding a clot in the toilet and a trip to the emergency room. My doctor did not recommend bedrest but after finding this site I insisted on it. I had no children at home and an hour-plus commute to work.

I spent a lot of time on the couch but was mostly on what I call house rest. My husband worked nights and I got my mom to stay with me as much as she could because I was afraid of bleeding heavy and being by myself. In my 28th week I bled a bit maybe a tablespoon or so) and we rushed to the nearest hospital with a neonatal unit. They said I was in labor but all I felt were some slight cramps which I had been having every night and I thought were Braxton hicks. They gave me steriod shots and put me on Magnesium sulfate. Five days later they sent me home.
At 3o weeks one of my perinatalogists (whom I switched to after the bleed) told me he wanted to rule out Vaso Previa and I should come back in two weeks for a sono. This scared the heck out of me. The next week I insisted on another sono which showed the cord was over the cervix as well (no vasa previa thank god). I asked to be hospitalized. The hospital with the neonatal unit was forty minutes away and if I went into early labor the baby would be at risk if she pressed down on the cord. (not to mention the hemorhage riak with pp). I spent 7 days there and on my birthday (after a big meal) I bled again. This time my contractions didn't show up on the machine but I felt them. They put me bcak on Magnesium sulfate. # days later I bled again and started having major pains. It felt like labor pains with a steady pain all along with it. I tyhough it was acreta from the way i heard it described. After about 8 hours of this the resident came and said the attending wanted to do a c- section. He would be ready in two hours. My husband went to call our parents and suddenly my water broke. It became an emergency because of the danger of the baby pressing down on the cord. They raced me down tyhe hall with the resident keping the cord in place with her hand. I didn't think myh usband was going to find us and make it in time but he did. Thank God. Kathryn (Katie) Florence was born on 12/21/03. Sven weeks early. She was breathing on her own and after a small feeding problem came home on January 6th. She was and is on a monitor for apnea but we have had No incidents of that thank god. She has had some choking due to reflux including a trip to the emergency room. Watch out for this.

My husband and I could not be happier though and owe thanks to our familes the staff at Stonybrook and St. Gerard. I am wondering what the outlook is like for another pregnancy without complications. i'll continue to search for information from women who have had pregnancies after pp. Good luck and god bless. 

I am 38 years old and don't have any pre-dispositions for Placenta Previa except my age. This is my second pregnancy and with my first, I had a regular vaginal birth with no problems. With this pregnancy I was diagnosed with Complete Placenta Previa at 20 weeks, which as found from a routine ultrasound that I had. In addition, I was told that the baby was in the breech position. At that point, my doctor told me that I needed to rest as much as possible (in bed), no heavy lifting, no sex and contact him as soon as I started bleeding. I was very diligent about following these instructions. He told me that my case was particularly severe and advised me that most likely, the placenta would not move enough to have a normal pregnancy and delivery. Of course doctors need to make you aware of all of the possible outcomes, which he did and added that I should expect 3-5 episodes of bleeding before he would deliver by emergency c-section. So I waited, but I never bled. At 30 weeks he! acted surprised to hear that I still had not bled. I just had an ultrasound yesterday and to everyone's surprise, everything has resolved itself! The placenta has completely moved out of the way! In addition, the baby is no longer breech. I have to say that it is such a huge relief to hear this news. I was mentally preparing for the worst, but things turned out fine in regards to the Previa. I am not sure of the statistics of this outcome, but I wanted to share the happy news and let others know that this outcome is entirely possible!