Sch group (Subchorionic Hematoma)

[deltadawn1987]

Hi there had a small bleed last night and lots of cramping went to a and e they did a scan and baby was measuring 12weeks 4 days and seemed fine but doctor said I had a 2cm hematoma he didn’t say if this way big small nothing gave me no advice basically just said he didn’t know if it cause a miscarriage or not and told me I would probably keep bleeding for a few days I’m now waiting for appointment for another scan and I have no idea what’s going on anyone have any advice as I’m clueless to what’s going on x

 

[elliecain]

I know it is scary but you are most likely not going to have any further issues other than some bleeding. There is not much you can do, which is terribly frustrating, I know.
I didn’t do any bed rest or anything - having a toddler meant I had to carry on as usual. After 2 weeks of bleeding, it all stopped. My baby was born 4 weeks ago with no problems at all.

 

[bumble b]

I know this is an old post but i thought i'd still post on here.
On saturday morning at 11 weeks i rolled over in bed & felt a gush & i just knew it was blood. I went to the bathroom & it was literally pouring out of me we rung 111 & were sent to a&e where i bled ridiculously heavy soaking through pads & clothes. We were admitted to epu & eventually i was checked. Next of womb closed, wth! So they scanned me & both babies were fine. I was sent home with one dr saying take it a bit easy & another saying bed rest. Well i opted for bed rest & bleeding has slowed although not stopped completely nowwe have to wait until the 13th for our scan to see what is going on. So stressful xx

 

[HopefulDoc]

Hi there bumblb and anyone else still around! I have read the entire thread and it has given me a lot of reassurance and helped me pass the last 5 days without going insane.

I had a big bleed at 11 weeks, it looked like a spree killer scene with bright red footprints all over the carpets after a big sudden gush and I thought I had lost the baby. I fainted on the toilet as I lost more blood. It stopped 10 mins later though and as this happened at night I waited till the next day to visit the EPU.

Scan showed baby 5 days ahead of dates (impossible as was a donor insemination) so growing well but a large retroplacental haematoma of 65 x 65 x 16mm.

I got virtually no information of help regarding my chances and risks, despite waiting to see the consultant for 9hrs to try and get answers, and being an ED/ER consultant myself in the same hospital! It isn’t any less foggy even for someone with significant medical knowledge. I put myself on bed rest after spending the day at the EPU reading everything I could find in the medical journals online.

Next scan is NT scan in another 5 days and I will see the consultant again then as I am high risk due to my age. I have been spotting brown each day so hoping but not expecting improvement.

All that remains is to cross fingers and toes and hope for the best.

 

[bumble b]

I had my nt scan this week. I was told to expect more bleeding & i did last night. I have had 3 big bleeds, first 2 were a week apart & 3rd 6 days later. Mines a similar size to yours. I spotted brown inbetween. Good luck for your scan xx

 

[HopefulDoc]

Bumble b - I hope your twins behave and stay the course. I was secretly hoping for twins as i’m probably too old for another shot at babies after this. But to be honest I’ll be delighted with any baby - beggars can’t be choosers, especially as my entire pregnancy feels like it has been one complication after another.

I am a nervous wreck, which is totally out of character for me as the “cool & calm in any terrible emergency” doc. At least I am currently off work and GP will sign me off for as long as needed. I can’t avoid pulling/pushing/lifting and such in my line of work.

Do you get another monitoring scan soon?

 

[bumble b]

We are in london on the 8th of march for a level 2 ultrasound but that's just for the twins. No extra monitoring for the sch specifically. I'm terrified, i hate feeling like this. Haven't even thought of names etc yet scared to get too attached x

 

[HopefulDoc]

Haven't even thought of names etc yet scared to get too attached x

Yep know that feeling well. I was trying to explain it to one of my best friends today who was full of “but you must think positive and get ready for your bundle of joy!” We won’t be buying anything until 24 weeks at the very earliest, and i’m trying hard not to even think of it as a baby at all yet. Too risky.

I think I will have to either hoodwink the ultrasound machine from work somehow and secretly scan myself in an office when no one is around (if only it were possible and I knew what I would be looking at Haha) or will need to make the 90 min trip each way to nearest private ultrasound facility for a couple of scans before 20 weeks. Unless I can persuade Gynae for more scans. I’m determined to stay off work and fairly limited movement until this is either resolving or totally beyond any hope.

I may read the thread again from the start - it was so reassuring to see mostly success stories first time I read it.

 

[mara16jade]

Best wishes for everyone here! Not sure if any of you read my stories on here, but I had some pretty bad bleeds. I first started spotting at 5 weeks, and continued to spot or have huge bleeds until at least 17 weeks. I have 5-6 huge, dramatic bleeds...one in particular I remember I suddenly drenched my jeans and ran to the bathroom where a bunch of blood and clots dumped into the toilet. It was awful. But my little guy hung on. Hes 4.5 years old now. But I remember his pregnancy so vividly because of how scared I was. I now have an 18mo and didn't bleed with him at all. But I was so scared of bleeding because of my 1st baby so I checked every single time I went to the bathroom for the entire pregnancy. I totally understand how scary it is, and how it feels impossible to bond with the baby. There are so many positive stories out there. Be sure to stay on pelvic rest. Doctors don't really know much about SCH's, but the specialist I saw, was adamant that I remain on 100% pelvic rest until they were positive the SCH was gone. Feel free to ask me whatever if you want. I know how lonely a SCH can make you feel.

 

[HopefulDoc]

I did read all of the thread here before posting, so all of your story too Mara - it has just about kept me sane during the last week. I’m on my way through the whole 203 pages again at the moment for reassurance purposes.

Terrifying is about right. My first big bleed was like a scene from a horror movie - I sometimes see folk saying in other sections “I had a really big bleed, it soaked half a pad” and i’m thinking “you have no idea”. I see a lot of blood and gore on a daily basis at work. My big bleed covered about a third of the landing carpet, plus some footprints in another room . It did settle very quickly to just very minor spotting for the last 6 days though.

I’ve been significantly bleeding again most of the overnight, but it looks older than the first gusher, and no cramps. I had the whole placental abruption set of symptoms with the first bleed, including the textbook “woody uterus,” but less concerning this time as a lot more pinky and slightly darker and older looking. I hope it isn’t a bit watery from amniotic fluid. I’m just going to stick it out until my NT scan on Thursday though and hope the foetus is as wriggly as in the last US a week ago after first bleed. Shame my bum is getting numb from sitting on the toilet for an hour every while though! It has made me wonder if my small bleeding at 5+3 was actually the start of it all, but nothing untoward was seen on ultrasound after that at 6 weeks.

 

[HopefulDoc]

Good news so far in scan - first scan report was wrong and the clot is not anywhere near the placenta (big phew). It has changed shape and is still large but is organising so maybe the bleeding will stop soon. Now measures 8.1 x 2.6 x 1.7cm which is not that dissimilar in volume to the previous scan (6.6 x 6.6 x 1.7cm)

 

[bumble b]

I don't get an update on mine until the 8th. I only have brown bleeding now which i'm hoping stays that way. How are you feeling? xx

 

[HopefulDoc]

Massively relieved that the placenta isn’t involved and that the clot is becoming more solid. Hoping I can start feeling a bit more positive about the pregnancy now i’m 13 weeks and had the positive scan news. Got a second hand medical Doppler on eBay that arrived today, also managed to find the heartbeat quickly when I got home so that will also be reassuring to play with.

I don’t have any more scans booked now till April, unless something else goes wrong. I might get a private one in 4 weeks at the halfway point when I am visiting my parents as I suspect scan availability is better in Dundee than North Wales!

Only a couple of weeks more to wait till you can see your babies again bumble b. Every day without red bleeding is another good day!

 

[Praying268]

Hello

I also have a retrochonial hematoma (is this the same as a sch?), I’m 13 + 5 today, and have had 3 episodes of heavy bleeding since week 10, although I was told at my 12 week NHS scan the hematoma had cleared. This week has just been awful with a heavy bleed on tuesday, thursday and again yesterday. I have had 7 scans so far, and wasn’t being told very much, so on friday we paid a consultant to scan us. It was reassuring and he explained it all a little more, although since then I have had another heavy bleed! It has taken us 4 years and 7 rounds of IVF to get to this stage, I can’t help but feel like my body is letting me down yet again. I have no idea how I will cope if anything happens to this baby. xx

 

[bumble b]

We haven't been told much by the NHS other than its common & that's it. I was on bed rest but told it makes no difference so just on pelvic rest now so no heavy lifting etc x

 

[HopefulDoc]

Yes retrochorionic haematoma is the same as subchorionic haematoma - the former is what my original erroneous scan was changed to (from retroplacental).

I think my bleeding has settled now, for which I think the carpets are grateful as there’s going to be enough scrubbing them after a little one arrives, never mind me putting red footprints and puddles all over them.

It is interesting to look at what the Royal College of Obs & Gynae (kind of like the governing body of that type of doc) calls spotting, minor, major and massive bleeding. Spotting is streaks noted only on underwear or pads, minor <50ml (only 10 teaspoons although blood always looks more than it is on the floor or persons - we regularly do mock ups to train our junior docs to estimate blood loss accurately and they are usually at least 3-4x overestimates to start!); major is up to a litre but without clinical features of shock; massive >1l with shock.

To put in perspective, a whole period is about 35ml on average (Range 20-80ml), spread over 3-7 days. Or try tipping an egg cup of water in the floor and see how alarming it looks!

I had 2 major bleeds at 11 & 12 weeks, and the rest of the time has been just similar to a heavy period until the last few days of a bit in the morning and then just spotting.

I did do bed rest until the significant bleeding had settled but am now just avoiding sex and heavy lifting/pushing/pulling etc. There is one small study that supports it, but one has to bear in mind the corresponding increased risks of DVT & PE from immobility. I was careful to do lots of calf exercises whilst laid up.

It is a really common condition and most resolve by 20 weeks. In general, the medics are not interested in it because there is nothing conclusively proven to change what happens. I think a lot of people miscarry in the first 12 weeks for other reasons, usually aberrant chromosomes, but attribute it to the SCH so it seems a lot more scary than it should. After 12 weeks our odds of successful live birth also massively increase, just like those without a SCH.

I’m feeling loads more settled now that I know mine isn’t near the placenta, is getting smaller, and also I’ve got myself a Doppler and that has been a great reassurance to hear the heartbeat everyday. I know nearly all the professional organisations are against home Dopplers but I figure I am a trained professional so pretty unlikely to mistake any sounds of mine for the baby.

 

[HopefulDoc]

Praying - are you not getting good follow up and information from your IVF clinic? SCH are twice as common in assisted fertility patients as the rest of the population, so they should be more used to it than most!

 

[HopefulDoc]

Still ticking along here. Very inconvenient brown gushing every day which often exceeds an ultra pad, but still have a good Doppler heartbeat. It’s now nearly 4 weeks since my first big bleed and 3 since the last bright red bleed, and i’m going back to work next week at 16 weeks to just do office duties but no clinical work. Then just waiting out till 20 weeks for the next scan.

 

[bumble b]

My twin 1 has died hoping twin 2 survives without a brain injury but only time will tell. SCH appears to have resolved on todays scan, such bittersweet news xx

 

[HopefulDoc]

Big hugs bumbl.