Low lying placenta

[MrsC10]

Hi!

Just looking for a little bit of advice.

I had my 20 week scan today and everything with little one is great. I've got a low lying placenta though. My placenta is right up next to my cervix. I've to go for another scan at 36 weeks to see if it's cleared of the cervix by that time. I know there's a good chance that by 36 weeks it could have stretched and everything will be ok, but if it hasn't I know I'll be looking at a c section. That's fine. If that's what I have to get, then so be it, my question is though....if at 36 weeks it looks like the placenta hasn't moved or stretched then how soon after will they usually like to do a section? Would they let me go to 40 weeks or would they look to do the section a couple of weeks before that?

 

[cupcakekate]

I had a low lying placenta whilst pregnant with my son and it had moved before I was 36weeks but from what I can remember I think they can't risk problems if you go into labour naturally so I'd imagine they'll book you in for c section at 38/39 weeks. x

 

[MrsC10]

Thanks hun. I've every confidence that it will have moved/stretched by the time I go for the scan just like yours.....fingers crossed.

 

[MindUtopia]

Do you know how close it is to your cervix? I had a low-lying placenta at 20 weeks, which was about 1.8cm from my cervix, so not covering it but right next to it. At 36 weeks, it had moved well out of the way, and I had a perfectly normal natural (home) birth a week later. 95% of the time they move so you likely have nothing to worry about. Even had it not moved, as long as it wasn't fully or partly covering the cervix, they would have been happy for me to have a vaginal birth. They probably would have recommended I be in hospital to do it (as I was planning a home birth, but still it's your choice what you decide to do), but they didn't seem to suggest it would have been an automatic c-section unless the cervix itself was affected. If they did, assuming you didn't go into labour sooner, I would assume they would wait until at least 38 weeks, as there are more risks to baby for doing anything earlier than that unless it's a true medical emergency (and just having a low placenta isn't necessarily, unless you go into labour and experience bleeding). You could probably even talk to them about the possibility of waiting until you went into labour naturally, particularly if the cervix isn't covered, even if they would still advise against a vaginal birth.

 

[MrsC10]

Thanks for your reply. They didn't specifically say how close it was to my cervix. Just that it was 'right next to it'. I'd hoped it would have been in my notes, but all it said was that it was low lying and an extra scan had been booked. It was maybe somewhere else amongst all the numbers on different sheets of paper, but I couldn't see it x