"Brown Blood is Old Blood"

[shiner]

I keep reading this writtern to reassure people in 1st tri and I wonder where this started? When I had my MC it was all brown blood. There wasn't any bright red blood that I remember at all until I had completely passed the sac and placenta. Then I saw a bit of bright red.

According to my doc any color blood is equally bad but they single out red blood as potentially related to an ectopic and raises more red flags as far as the mother's health goes.

Does anyone know why all of these posters say brown is fine? What is the source?

 

[danielle1987]

I was told brown was fine too and I miscarried too, mine was not red until I passed my bambino, So i believe that any blood is bad regardless of what colour. xx

 

[coccyx]

Completely agree with you. All my miscarriages started with brown blood. Not saying always leads to a loss, but do think it is bad info

 

[fluffywabbit]

im not sure. all i remember is during my mc with was 11 years ago i saw red with clots. i have had brown blood but my doc told me it was left over from the period before. i would think any color blood would be a good reason to call a doc if you are preggers

congrats on your baby and a happy 9months

 

[Beadette]

I agree that blood of any description is not 'normal' in pregnancy and should be checked out. I too had brown blood with my first mmc but strangely only the day before my 12 week scan and it turned out bubs had died at 6 weeks. With the second mmc I had nothing at all to indicate there was something wrong until scan.

This time I had brown watery spotting at 5-6 weeks which terrified me! I was reassured by many on here but did not believe them. I had a scan at 6+3 and all was well and there was no sign of a bleed. They said the brown spotting was an implantation bleed.

No matter what colour bleeding is I would get it checked out! It would hopefully be nothing but you've no way if knowing until you get scanned.

 

[amyj27]

I too started to lose brown blood and wad told everything should be "fine"... The brown blood sure enough turned red and I miscarried. So devastating!

 

[meow951]

It really annoys me as well!

I had brown blood at 9 weeks and was told by my doctor all is ok! When actually that is when baby had died. Then i got to exactly 12 weeks and had brown spotting which turned to red over the next few days and i lost baby.

 

[Vickieh1981]

I have always been told by the hospital that brown blood is old blood and normally less worrying.

However because a lot of miscarriages occur when the baby has died a few weeks previously it could be "Old blood" and still be bad news.

I don't think they would necessarily say any blood is good but red is usually more ominous. I've had brown spotting in all my pregnancies (except for Isabella ironically) and it was never anything but an old implantation bleed coming out

 

[kanga]

i agree hun, both mine started with brown and there was no red in sight for ages x

 

[Beadette]

The thing is lots of people bleed in pregnancy and everything is fine and on the other hand I had no bleeding at all and found out at scan had lost baby.

There can never be hard and fast rules x

 

[mislaww]

That's true - my mc started with brown blood too when the mmc finally started to mc naturally.

Brown blood is indeed old blood, though....

But the info came from my doctor. I've had brown blood this time around that hasn't concerned him at all and has turned out to be nothing. When it went red, that's when he ordered the scan. Turned out to be nothing (phew!).

As for getting a scan - for the most part, if it happens in early pregnancy - all it does is tell what's happening. Doctors can't prevent a miscarriage as we all know too well.

I think it's still a good rule of thumb, and it's still reassuring. At least half the time, brown blood means implantation or irritated cervix and isn't a cause for concern. Red blood is quite a different thing.

 

[twinmummy06]

my miscarriage as started with brown blood, which then progressed into bright red. But i guess nothing is set in stone, you do hear the happy endings! although i know that if i ever see blood again i would automatically assume the worst after last time

 

[pickleton]

My last MC started with brown blood and I was told that it was fine! I actually believed them and then a week later I MC'd.

This time I started to bleed dark red/brown blood at 6weeks 6days and rang the emergency docs (was weekend) and they tried to tell me again brown blood is ok. But I wasn't having any of it. They basically said that you have a 1 in 4 chance of MC when bleeding and he referred me for an early scan.

It turned out in my case that the bleeding was because of a small blood clot in the uterus. I could get more spotting because of it. So in my case 'brown blood is old blood' was right...but that still doesn't mean it's all going to be ok!!

I think it's just a reassurance tactic to stop us from stressing out anymore than we already are.

 

[Jem88]

With my 1st mc at 9 weeks, i had brown spotting which lasted about 4 days before i started to bleed heavy and passed the baby, but 3days before that, my doc said it was nothing to worry about as i didn't have any cramps but he arranged a scan, but i passed the baby the night before the scan but then with this pregancy i start having the same brown spotting at 8 weeks and automatically thought i was going to miscarry but then had a scan at 8 and half weeks and everything was okay, even tho i continued to have the brown spotting on & off until 9 weeks, but now i'm 20 weeks. I guess most cases of brown spotting does end in mc but sometimes you can have brown spotting and still be okay.

 

[Flick]

I think MisLaww hit the nail on the head.

I had brown spotting, that got steadily heavier, and 3 days later I m/c.
I was abroad at the time, and the midwife said to me, basically there is nothing they can do when it's early; if you're going to miscarry, you will. She told me to rest if it would make me feel like I was helping, but even so my course was pretty set by that point.

I've had some pale pink spotting this time, that's always followed by clear, and again there's nothing I can do about it, so I keep telling myself 'it doesn't mean anything' even though I know that of course it can.

And now I must go distact myself with shiny things, I think

 

[momto4girls]

I've had lots of blood this pregnancy, varying in color from brown, to red to wine colored to even a little black. I've spent countless hours at the doctor trying to figure out where it was coming from and why. Finally I was referred to a specialist after I bled so heavily I was sure I had a miscarriage, especially after the clots. Turns out I have a Subchorionic Hematoma causing all that bleeding. So for now I'm taking it easy and resting, hoping that it heals. Point is, bleeding doesn't always indicate miscarriage, sometimes its something else.

 

[sue247]

I do wonder where this came from too. I read many threads on the 1st and 2nd trimester boards where ladies are saying all should be ok as the blood is brown and it is old. With my MC i just had a small amount of brown bleeding and that was what alerted me that there could be a problem. I found out a week later that i had miscarried. Brown (or even red ) bleeding does not mean anything bad has happened, but i don't think we can say as it is brown all is ok either, and should be checked out.

 

[Lucky777]

I had some brown spotting and went to the gynecologist... he did a scan and it turned out to be old blood cause the baby was fine. And it was very little spotting. And it went away as quickly as it came.. so i guess brown spotting that doesn't go away after a while or gets worse than better (bright red blood and clotting) should be very alarming.

 

[Chaos]

I can't say I'm particularly favourable of the 'brown blood is old blood and its ok' threads either .. my ectopic started with brown blood. This recent loss started with brown blood. It gives false hope or could stop someone getting checked out you know?

Bleeding of any colour, although COMMON in early pregnancy, is never 'normal' ..

 

[secretbaby]

I was told 'brown blood is old blood' by my doctor and believe it! I won't respond to these threads now after reading this. Although I have never had a miscarraige - it is the same with what I had, even the doctors tell you conflicting things so thats how these things get bannded about on the net. I truely believed brown blood = nothing to worry about till I saw this thread.