Low Lying Placenta

[Ginaerhol]

i had posterior placenta with my first and anterior low lying placenta with my second ( i had a fair amount of bleeding in this pregnancy) which had just moved clear of my cervix at a 38 week scan so they said i could have a antural birth but it did not progress and i needed a EMCS. Ihad a scan at 13+3 with this pregnancy and i have anterior placenta again and it is completley covering the cervix again and is quite a bit past it. I have my 20 week scan on 25th November and i have been told that if it has not moved out of the way by then they will schedule me a 28 week and 32 week and if not gone by the 32 week they will do another at 38 weeks just incase like last time. I really hope that it moves as i hated having a section and really wanted to try for a VBAC as my first daughter was born naturally so there is no reason why i cant manage a normal delivery xxxxx

 

[sahara]

I have a low lying placenta - found out at my gender scan, low lying and on the right wall.

Gutted cos I too wanted a vbac this time so not sure I will get it if it doesn't move. Pants!!

 

[kimmyjane84]

I have a low lying placenta - found out at my gender scan, low lying and on the right wall.

Gutted cos I too wanted a vbac this time so not sure I will get it if it doesn't move. Pants!!

Have they booked you in for a 34 week scan?

We went to see our consultant on Friday (who was bloody useless!!!) and he's said we can go for a vbac this time round, but it's all dependant on the low-lying placenta... So he's booked us a 34 week scan and we have to see him again at 20 & 37 weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes OK

 

[Las78]

A friend had this, she bled quite a bit and was in and out of hospital for scans etc but she has a lovely healthy little girl now, do try not to worry too much x

 

[sahara]

Just had my 20 week scan and they have said its not low lying anymore so it looks like a vbac is on the cards again.

The sonographer said that lots and lots of placentas are low lying in early pregnancy so they normally wait until the 20 week scan to say if it is as often it has moved by then. If I hadn't have had my gender scan I would have been non the wiser

 

[kimmyjane84]

That's great news hunni. Did you find out if you're having a boy or girl?

 

[sahara]

Yes I am having a little boy so I am very happy - I will have one of each.

I think its sounds really promising that you placenta may well have moved by your 20 week scan - I hope it has for you

 

[kimmyjane84]

Well I've not had any problems since, so I've got my fingers crossed... Roll on 11 Dec so we can find out

One of each will be lovely - Hope everything goes well for the rest of your pregnancy hunni xx

 

[naddy2shoes]

Hi there

I too was told with my first pregnancy that I too had a low lying placenta and needed an extra scan at 34 weeks to check it had moved. Like you I wasn't sure what this really meant, but my midwife reassured me that in about 1 in 4 pregnancies women have low lying placenta's, but due to the fact your uterus grows this usually pulls the placenta up and out the way by 34 weeks.

I had my scan at 34 weeks and it had moved and apparently its only 0.5% of people whose placenta's do not move in safe time for delivery.

So when pregnant with my 2nd child and again told at 20weeks I have a low placenta I thought nothing of it and went about day to day life as normal.

However, I have had complications this time. I started bleeding bright red loss at 26 weeks. I being my calm self thought it was nothing and when it was only a small loss and it stopped as quick as it came I told my midwife who checked me over and said if I bled again I had to call my labour ward.

Sadly 2 days later I bled again, but more this time, so called the hospital who told me to go straight in. They scanned me and my placenta was completely covering my cervix. They explained to me then that the risk was a massive bleed which could occur at anytime and baby would have to be born by emergency section.

The Dr here is very cautious and apparently takes no risks with women with placenta previa hence I was admitted and that was 11days ago. The bleeding stopped and has not occurred again for more than a week now.

It is so hard not being home when I have a 2yr old son that I've never been apart from for more than a day, especially when he got chicken pox last week and that's the first time he's ever been ill. BUT I know that I'm in the best place and they are taking amazing care of me.

I have a scan on Monday to check everything but am mindful that I will be here now til baby is born that might be tomorrow and it might be 10 weeks away.

If I were you I would not worry unnecessarily, the odds are so good that the placenta will move and unless you have complications otherwise then you should be able to relax.

Hope this has helped as I have only recently joined to seek advice and help from people alike

 

[kimmyjane84]

Hi there

I too was told with my first pregnancy that I too had a low lying placenta and needed an extra scan at 34 weeks to check it had moved. Like you I wasn't sure what this really meant, but my midwife reassured me that in about 1 in 4 pregnancies women have low lying placenta's, but due to the fact your uterus grows this usually pulls the placenta up and out the way by 34 weeks.

I had my scan at 34 weeks and it had moved and apparently its only 0.5% of people whose placenta's do not move in safe time for delivery.

So when pregnant with my 2nd child and again told at 20weeks I have a low placenta I thought nothing of it and went about day to day life as normal.

However, I have had complications this time. I started bleeding bright red loss at 26 weeks. I being my calm self thought it was nothing and when it was only a small loss and it stopped as quick as it came I told my midwife who checked me over and said if I bled again I had to call my labour ward.

Sadly 2 days later I bled again, but more this time, so called the hospital who told me to go straight in. They scanned me and my placenta was completely covering my cervix. They explained to me then that the risk was a massive bleed which could occur at anytime and baby would have to be born by emergency section.

The Dr here is very cautious and apparently takes no risks with women with placenta previa hence I was admitted and that was 11days ago. The bleeding stopped and has not occurred again for more than a week now.

It is so hard not being home when I have a 2yr old son that I've never been apart from for more than a day, especially when he got chicken pox last week and that's the first time he's ever been ill. BUT I know that I'm in the best place and they are taking amazing care of me.

I have a scan on Monday to check everything but am mindful that I will be here now til baby is born that might be tomorrow and it might be 10 weeks away.

If I were you I would not worry unnecessarily, the odds are so good that the placenta will move and unless you have complications otherwise then you should be able to relax.

Hope this has helped as I have only recently joined to seek advice and help from people alike

Really REALLY hope all goes well and that you have no further problems hunni. Fingers crossed baby will be able to stay put for as long as possible. Thanks so much for your post, it really does go to show that every pregnancy is different. Please do keep us informed of how things are going

 

[Rach27]

Hi there

I too was told with my first pregnancy that I too had a low lying placenta and needed an extra scan at 34 weeks to check it had moved. Like you I wasn't sure what this really meant, but my midwife reassured me that in about 1 in 4 pregnancies women have low lying placenta's, but due to the fact your uterus grows this usually pulls the placenta up and out the way by 34 weeks.

I had my scan at 34 weeks and it had moved and apparently its only 0.5% of people whose placenta's do not move in safe time for delivery.

So when pregnant with my 2nd child and again told at 20weeks I have a low placenta I thought nothing of it and went about day to day life as normal.

However, I have had complications this time. I started bleeding bright red loss at 26 weeks. I being my calm self thought it was nothing and when it was only a small loss and it stopped as quick as it came I told my midwife who checked me over and said if I bled again I had to call my labour ward.

Sadly 2 days later I bled again, but more this time, so called the hospital who told me to go straight in. They scanned me and my placenta was completely covering my cervix. They explained to me then that the risk was a massive bleed which could occur at anytime and baby would have to be born by emergency section.

The Dr here is very cautious and apparently takes no risks with women with placenta previa hence I was admitted and that was 11days ago. The bleeding stopped and has not occurred again for more than a week now.

It is so hard not being home when I have a 2yr old son that I've never been apart from for more than a day, especially when he got chicken pox last week and that's the first time he's ever been ill. BUT I know that I'm in the best place and they are taking amazing care of me.

I have a scan on Monday to check everything but am mindful that I will be here now til baby is born that might be tomorrow and it might be 10 weeks away.

If I were you I would not worry unnecessarily, the odds are so good that the placenta will move and unless you have complications otherwise then you should be able to relax.

Hope this has helped as I have only recently joined to seek advice and help from people alike

Argh! I had just about rationalised my fears about this when I read your post. Thank you for sharing but now I don't know what to do again !!!

I have a low placenta (as at 20w scan) and I am flying from New Zealand to the UK at 26 weeks. Nobody, apart from me is worried about this - doctor, midwife have given the go ahead and everyone else thinks I'm worried over nothing.

There are a lot of 'ifs'. There could be a problem IF:
- My placenta is covering the cervix by then
- My cervix starts to soften
- These two events happen within the crucial 24 hours I'm in the air

Does anyone have any advice about how to handle this? I have been asymptomatic thus far and there is currently some clearance between the placenta and the internal os.

Would it be worth me having another ultrasound in a month to check the position? My midwife didn't even mention this as she is so unconcerned about it (which is great).

What are your thoughts? At least I'll be resting a lot on the flight

 

[MiissMuffet]

mines low and covering my cervix- will know in about 15 weeks if it has moved

 

[MollyApple]

I was diagnosed with low-lying placenta at 32 weeks. At my 36 week scan I had complete placenta previa covering the whole of the cervix (cervical OS) and was scheduled for a c/s two weeks later. I had no other symptoms and no bleeding in pregnancy after around 20 weeks nor was I in the "at risk" category. At 38 weeks I had more scans done (at my request), this time I had a TVS (vaginal scan) and they discovered that my placenta was completely out of the way of my cervix and I had could have a vaginal delivery which I did naturally at 41 weeks without any problems with bleeding or placenta.

I went on bedrest around 36weeks and my bump suddenly grew several inches over those couple of weeks (I looked about 6mths pregnant at 36 weeks), my doc thinks because I was small and late in bump growth it just didn't move out of the way until my bump got bigger. It may be possible that I never had the condition - TAS (tummy scan) apparently can misdiagnose the condition (i.e. saying it's there when it isn't) but the vaginal scan is really accurate. This would explain why I didn't have any other symptoms but we'll never know.

I think what is important is if you think there is even a chance you have the condition to take precautions - rest as much as possible, don't travel too far or without your notes very late on, no internal exams and get any bleeding checked out no matter how minor. If I recall correctly, it affects around 1 in 200 pregnancies but of those affected placentas only 5% are still low at 36 weeks and 1% will still have the condition at term. It is a serious condition and if you have it the consultant will try to schedule your c/s for 37-39 weeks because they won't want to risk you going into early labour.

Fingers crossed for it moving for you!

 

[kimmyjane84]

Hi there

I too was told with my first pregnancy that I too had a low lying placenta and needed an extra scan at 34 weeks to check it had moved. Like you I wasn't sure what this really meant, but my midwife reassured me that in about 1 in 4 pregnancies women have low lying placenta's, but due to the fact your uterus grows this usually pulls the placenta up and out the way by 34 weeks.

I had my scan at 34 weeks and it had moved and apparently its only 0.5% of people whose placenta's do not move in safe time for delivery.

So when pregnant with my 2nd child and again told at 20weeks I have a low placenta I thought nothing of it and went about day to day life as normal.

However, I have had complications this time. I started bleeding bright red loss at 26 weeks. I being my calm self thought it was nothing and when it was only a small loss and it stopped as quick as it came I told my midwife who checked me over and said if I bled again I had to call my labour ward.

Sadly 2 days later I bled again, but more this time, so called the hospital who told me to go straight in. They scanned me and my placenta was completely covering my cervix. They explained to me then that the risk was a massive bleed which could occur at anytime and baby would have to be born by emergency section.

The Dr here is very cautious and apparently takes no risks with women with placenta previa hence I was admitted and that was 11days ago. The bleeding stopped and has not occurred again for more than a week now.

It is so hard not being home when I have a 2yr old son that I've never been apart from for more than a day, especially when he got chicken pox last week and that's the first time he's ever been ill. BUT I know that I'm in the best place and they are taking amazing care of me.

I have a scan on Monday to check everything but am mindful that I will be here now til baby is born that might be tomorrow and it might be 10 weeks away.

If I were you I would not worry unnecessarily, the odds are so good that the placenta will move and unless you have complications otherwise then you should be able to relax.

Hope this has helped as I have only recently joined to seek advice and help from people alike

Argh! I had just about rationalised my fears about this when I read your post. Thank you for sharing but now I don't know what to do again !!!

I have a low placenta (as at 20w scan) and I am flying from New Zealand to the UK at 26 weeks. Nobody, apart from me is worried about this - doctor, midwife have given the go ahead and everyone else thinks I'm worried over nothing.

There are a lot of 'ifs'. There could be a problem IF:
- My placenta is covering the cervix by then
- My cervix starts to soften
- These two events happen within the crucial 24 hours I'm in the air

Does anyone have any advice about how to handle this? I have been asymptomatic thus far and there is currently some clearance between the placenta and the internal os.

Would it be worth me having another ultrasound in a month to check the position? My midwife didn't even mention this as she is so unconcerned about it (which is great).

What are your thoughts? At least I'll be resting a lot on the flight

I think as long as all is still OK by then and all the medical professionals are happy for you to travel, then you should be fine. Can understand your concerns though, I think I'd be the same.

 

[kimmyjane84]

mines low and covering my cervix- will know in about 15 weeks if it has moved

My fingers are crossed for you

 

[kimmyjane84]

I was diagnosed with low-lying placenta at 32 weeks. At my 36 week scan I had complete placenta previa covering the whole of the cervix (cervical OS) and was scheduled for a c/s two weeks later. I had no other symptoms and no bleeding in pregnancy after around 20 weeks nor was I in the "at risk" category. At 38 weeks I had more scans done (at my request), this time I had a TVS (vaginal scan) and they discovered that my placenta was completely out of the way of my cervix and I had could have a vaginal delivery which I did naturally at 41 weeks without any problems with bleeding or placenta.

I went on bedrest around 36weeks and my bump suddenly grew several inches over those couple of weeks (I looked about 6mths pregnant at 36 weeks), my doc thinks because I was small and late in bump growth it just didn't move out of the way until my bump got bigger. It may be possible that I never had the condition - TAS (tummy scan) apparently can misdiagnose the condition (i.e. saying it's there when it isn't) but the vaginal scan is really accurate. This would explain why I didn't have any other symptoms but we'll never know.

I think what is important is if you think there is even a chance you have the condition to take precautions - rest as much as possible, don't travel too far or without your notes very late on, no internal exams and get any bleeding checked out no matter how minor. If I recall correctly, it affects around 1 in 200 pregnancies but of those affected placentas only 5% are still low at 36 weeks and 1% will still have the condition at term. It is a serious condition and if you have it the consultant will try to schedule your c/s for 37-39 weeks because they won't want to risk you going into early labour.

Fingers crossed for it moving for you!

Thanks hunni - Will keep you up-to-date x

 

[Foogirl]

Another scan might be useful. But absolutely follow the advice to take it easy and make sure whatever happens, they should not give an internal exam.

 

[sahara]

Thats interesting Molly Apple, so I guess when i went for my 17 week scan it could have been wrong and it wasn't low lying. I was suprosed it had moved by 20 weeks, but if the had it wrong to begin with then that may explain it.

 

[WW1]

Just thought I'd let you all know, I was told I had a low lying anterior placenta at my 20 week scan. I've just had my 32 week scan and it had moved up

The midwife and sonographer weren't worried at all - with good reason it turns out!

 

[MollyApple]

Thats interesting Molly Apple, so I guess when i went for my 17 week scan it could have been wrong and it wasn't low lying. I was suprosed it had moved by 20 weeks, but if the had it wrong to begin with then that may explain it.

Good to hear it's moved! It might depend how low it was too, there are different degrees of the condition, an LLP can be up to about 2cm from the cervix opening, so I guess if you're on the cusp, a bump growing at around 1cm a week will move up nicely.

One of the reasons I was told its possible to be misdiagnosed later on in pregnancy is because the baby fills the space so much its hard to see around him/her. That's why I had to have the TVS because by week 38 with the head engaging the sonographer couldn't see my cervix clearly by scanning my belly but she was convinced she'd seen a bit of the placenta much higher up than possible if it was also covering my cervix. When she did the TVS we could clearly see JP's head - no placenta in the way! Was shell-shocking when I was booked in for a c/s and would have had it unnecessarily if I hadn't demanded a second opinion!

Just thought I'd let you all know, I was told I had a low lying anterior placenta at my 20 week scan. I've just had my 32 week scan and it had moved up

The midwife and sonographer weren't worried at all - with good reason it turns out!

So pleased it's moved for you! My Midwife had exactly the same confident attitude and also that my baby would turn from breech (which she did!) I was really upset at the time thinking I had to have a c/s and I remember her "it will be fine" attitude really annoyed me! Glad she was right though!