Dr says low lying placenta/placenta previa ; Ultrasound tech says that's normal

[marigold91]

Hi all!

I've been having some occasional bleeding. My cervix is super, super low and really easily aggravated, but even when I'm not having sex or having an ultrasound or something, I bleed occasionally. I saw the doctor last week, who did another ultrasound. Baby looks great (so big and precious!!!), but she couldn't find my placenta with her machine and was just aggravating my cervix and making me bleed more, so she sent me to the specialty clinic for an ultrasound. She suspected placenta previa.

When I got there, the sonographer confirmed that the placenta WAS completely covering my cervix, but then also said that's totally normal for my gestational age??

Either way, the doctor is hoping it will move as I get bigger and there's more room for the placenta to travel away from my cervix. But why would the doctor send me for the ultrasound and be concerned about placenta previa if that's normal for this stage of pregnancy??

 

[kitchenware]

I don't think it's normal per say but that if often travels up as pregnancy progresses. Mine was really low with my first at the 20 week scan. When they scanned at 34 weeks it had shifted.

 

[PocoHR]

I think the doctor was confusing the terms "normal" with "common". I had the same issue as you, right around the same time in my pregnancy. I did technically have placenta previa, but they couldn't/wouldn't really diagnose me with it because it was so early in my pregnancy, and the placenta will often move to the right position (mine migrated to right place around 16 weeks). I was told they wouldn't really diagnose it until 20 weeks. They probably wanted to do the special ultrasound on you just to confirm why you are bleeding, and you should follow the resting guidelines as if you do have placenta previa, but just know that most likely it will get better!! I hope yours fixes itself really soon, I know how awful it is to have bleeding episodes xx

 

[Quartz]

the placenta can start off at the bottom and in most cases moves up as the pregnancy continues. Its important to note at the 20 week scan if it is placenta previa as it means it should be scanned for around the 32-34 week mark to see if it has moved up or not.

It does not happen in all pregnancies that it is still low lying at 20 weeks (certainly it had moved for my son by 20 week) and most that are do move up by the 32-34 week mark.

However if it hasnt moved by 34 weeks (mine hadnt with my daughter) then it will be a c section at around 38/39 weeks.