Bright Red Blood - *Updated*

[fcbella]

Hi Everyone.. first time poster, long time lurker (I'm even on page 360 of the softcups thread! It's like a novel.. lol)

A little background. I'm 28 years old and had a MMC on December 26, 2012 (medication assisted. I was 11 weeks pregnant and found out at the u/s that the baby only measured 6w3d). During that time I had my first official Colitis flare (indication I could be pregnant as my Colitis is very hormonally affected.) During my MMC I never had any spotting.

Jump ahead 3 months and I'm 4w4d pregnant! Unfortunately though, last night I was having some very mild af type cramps in my lower back as well as gas pains while laying in bed. After a short time I headed to the washroom to have a bm. When I wiped I saw about a teaspoon sized amount of bright red blood on the tissue and actually had some drip into the toilet (not enough to stain the water). I slept comfortably, knowing that if it was another miscarriage I couldn't do anything to stop it.

This morning, DH came in to say goodbye before he left for work. I remember telling him I was still a little crampy. 3 hours later I wake up, BBT 36.74 (yay!), cramps have subsided, still quite scared to head to the washroom just incase I would see more blood. Turns out there is nothing on my pad, nothing when I went pee or had my morning bm? I plan to continue to rest today (I thankfully have the day off) and pray my baby is ok.

My question is.. I know spotting can be "normal" during the first trimester. From the amount of blood I had, is that considered spotting?

I will be letting my OBGYN know today what happened, but I'm just curious as to your experiences?

Thanks!

 

[Dollybird]

Yes it is and it could well be normal as are cramps and discomfort but always best to get checked. Also are u sure the blood was from the front? Just u mention colitis and you had moved your bowels to maybe the blood was from the back passage- if pregnancy cause your colitis to flare up that would explain some cramps, the wind, and some fresh blood on moving bowels. Xxx

 

[fcbella]

Thanks for the reply Dollybird I wish in this case the bleeding had been from the back, but unfortunately it was definitely from the front. After the last pregnancy when my colitis flared, I was placed on medication that has kept it well controlled during this pregnancy! Because of this, I was more confident with this one but the spotting made me concerned.

I spoke with my OB's office today. Since it is so early there is nothing they can do, but told me to advise them if I start having strong cramping &/or heavy bleeding. As I'm just over 4 weeks they did confirm this time can be quite common for spotting as my body could still "want" to mentruate. Thankfully there hasn't been any more spotting today of any colour *crosses fingers*

 

[Dollybird]

Aw well j have my fingers crossed for you. I know a lot of women to have bright red spotting and there not be any problems, hopefully this is the case for you too. Good luck to u and your little bean xxx

 

[Momto4monkeys]

This has happened to me numerous times! (This is my fifth baby)
It happens to me during my first trimesters, but only after a particularly difficult BM.
It happened to me 2 days ago. I had bright red blood when wiping and that's it!
From what I was told, this is normal. Our cervix's are easily irritated, so if we strain during a BM it's possible to bleed a little bit.
However.....if there's accompanying painful cramps then I'd be more concerned.
It used to scare me to death. I remember 13 years ago, when I was pregnant with my first daughter, laying on the couch crying so hard because I was scared to death!
This time, I just kind of rolled my eyes and carried on with the day, lol.

Definitely mention it to your GP the next time you see him/her, but based on your description I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure everything is just fine!

 

[fcbella]

That's so relieving to hear MT4M! And what a wonderfully large family you have! We are hoping to have a large family as well, hopefully starting with this lil bean if it keeps on holding on!!

If it was just from the bm, that is wonderful. Makes perfect sense that it can happen! The bm though wasn't that 'difficult'. I was more concerned with the menstrual like cramps I was getting (even though they were light). I was also thinking back.. the morning of the bleed I had pain in my rectum upon bm.. and this happens monthly before and during my period due to my Colitis! This really makes me think my body still wanted to have a period! Lets hope it realizes I'm pregnant and keeps this lil bean strong and healthy!

Brand new day and I still haven't seen any more bleeding .. just some brown tinted cervical mucus, but that's expected as I'm thinking it's older blood remnants from the spotting. No more rectal pain, and bm's have not brought on any bleeding. BBT was 36.68 this am as well, so that's a relief!

We go for our first u/s first week of April, so I'll be sure to post any updates before and after then!

Healthy pregnancies/babies to all!

 

[fcbella]

Thought I would post my BBT chart in case anyone was curious


https://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/3cc498

 

[fcbella]

Well I have a bit of an update..

Tuesday night I started having this very mild 'ache' in my lower right ovary area. The pain radiated into my thigh.. didn't have any spotting, so I made sure to tell DH about it and show him where the pain was located. Seemed to calm down after a couple of hours.

Wednesday afternoon I started to develop the mild, menstrual type cramps in my lower back. Didn't seem to have any spotting at this time (kept checking in the washroom) and the pain stopped after about an hour and a half.. unfortunately though, it turned back into the lower right ovary area pain and became more moderate. I went to the washroom and found 2 small areas on my liner of dark, brownish red blood.

I called my OB's office (as I work right next door to them), but unfortunately they were closed. I texted DH and said we should head to the hospital once I'm done work. (Was definitely not fun working with this pain/worry!)

Sat at the hospital for hours, but thankfully saw a wonderful doctor.

Cervix check was ok. Cervix is closed, but there was a great deal of brownish blood inside my vagina and on my cervix that he was concerned with; however, since there was no active bleeding he wasn't concerned with me going home that evening and returning for an ultrasound (once the u/s department opened in the am).

my HCG was 473.. fetus age is only around 3 weeks as I ovulated February 28th. He wasn't too pleased with this number and because of my pain/spotting, told me to prepare for the worst. Either an ectopic pregnancy or another miscarriage.

I returned to the hospital in the morning for the ultrasound. Unfortunately because I am so early (and hcg is low), they were unable to see anything on it. The u/s tech did show me the lining within my uterus which looks good.

I'm to hear from my OBGYN today regarding follow-up. The hospital suggested I have another HCG test to see if my numbers are in fact doubling, as well as another ultrasound to see if they can find this baby!

Jump ahead to today and the dull ache is still there. I haven't noticed any spotting yet.

I have to be honest, my instincts are saying this is an ectopic pregnancy. To have such a localized pain and spotting for this many days in a row just doesn't give me a good feeling.

Since my DH and I were told to prep for the worst.. my mind is already getting over the fear of losing another baby, although we can't jump to conclusions until the next blood work and ultrasound is completed.

 

[sandyhen85]

Well I have a bit of an update..

Tuesday night I started having this very mild 'ache' in my lower right ovary area. The pain radiated into my thigh.. didn't have any spotting, so I made sure to tell DH about it and show him where the pain was located. Seemed to calm down after a couple of hours.

Wednesday afternoon I started to develop the mild, menstrual type cramps in my lower back. Didn't seem to have any spotting at this time (kept checking in the washroom) and the pain stopped after about an hour and a half.. unfortunately though, it turned back into the lower right ovary area pain and became more moderate. I went to the washroom and found 2 small areas on my liner of dark, brownish red blood.

I called my OB's office (as I work right next door to them), but unfortunately they were closed. I texted DH and said we should head to the hospital once I'm done work. (Was definitely not fun working with this pain/worry!)

Sat at the hospital for hours, but thankfully saw a wonderful doctor.

Cervix check was ok. Cervix is closed, but there was a great deal of brownish blood inside my vagina and on my cervix that he was concerned with; however, since there was no active bleeding he wasn't concerned with me going home that evening and returning for an ultrasound (once the u/s department opened in the am).

my HCG was 473.. fetus age is only around 3 weeks as I ovulated February 28th. He wasn't too pleased with this number and because of my pain/spotting, told me to prepare for the worst. Either an ectopic pregnancy or another miscarriage.

I returned to the hospital in the morning for the ultrasound. Unfortunately because I am so early (and hcg is low), they were unable to see anything on it. The u/s tech did show me the lining within my uterus which looks good.

I'm to hear from my OBGYN today regarding follow-up. The hospital suggested I have another HCG test to see if my numbers are in fact doubling, as well as another ultrasound to see if they can find this baby!

Jump ahead to today and the dull ache is still there. I haven't noticed any spotting yet.

I have to be honest, my instincts are saying this is an ectopic pregnancy. To have such a localized pain and spotting for this many days in a row just doesn't give me a good feeling.

Since my DH and I were told to prep for the worst.. my mind is already getting over the fear of losing another baby, although we can't jump to conclusions until the next blood work and ultrasound is completed.

Hey hun....I don't have any real advice, just wanted to let you know I am going through exactly the same thing.....started spotting brown blood on Sunday, hcg levels are on the low side so been told to prepare for ectopic.....dull ache in my back yesterday which then turned into a pain that shot through my leg and made me see stars.....doc said there was nothing showing on the scan which I guess is because my hcg levels are low, but this meant the pain was not my tubes, after speaking to others on here I think it was my sciatic nerve.....I now have to wait until Monday to see what my hcg is then and hope we can see something on the scan.....its a scary time, but I do hope everything works out for you and that your little bean shows up in the right place xxx

 

[fcbella]

Oh Sandy, I'm so sorry to hear that you are going through the same situation!

Thank you for the kind words, and I truly hope it is simply a sciatic nerve issue for you!!

Lets pray our little ones show up nice and cozy in our uterus!

Stay strong and please do keep us updated!

 

[Dollybird]

I'm so sorry to hear you are going through this. Tbh, it does sound very like what happened to me with my ectopic- the bleed, the ache, and the low hcg.. Plus in my heart at the time I knew that it wasn't right, I knew it was ectopic. I really hope this isn't the case for you honey, an there is still hope- maybe bubs is just a late bloomer and the hcg will pick up. Also I had a lot of one sided pain with this preg and convinced myself it was another ectopic, but turned out the pain was just from the corpus leuteum. Anyways keep me updated, will be hoping the best for you xxx