Subchorionic Hematoma?

[Mild Mango]

At my appointment on Wednesday, the ultrasound technician found a "small inferior subchorionic hematoma". I just googled it (damn google!) and now I'm freaking out a little bit (ok... a lot). Apparently it is a clot of blood in or near the placenta that could potentially detach the placenta and cause a miscarriage. The u/s tech said my body may just end up reabsorbing the blood, so it's not guaranteed doom.

I think the u/s tech was limited in what she was allowed to tell me. She just said she would need to call my doctor. The doctor hasn't called me or anything, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

I haven't had any bleeding, and other than this issue, my u/s and lab tests were fine.

Has anyone ever heard of an inferior subchorionic hematoma before? Is it common? Should I be freaking out? The tech wouldn't tell me much and the more I google, the more I panic.

 

[MrsMcK04]

I had one with this pregnancy. I was 5w3d and just got home from the grocery store and was putting the fruit in the fridge when I had a large gush of blood run down my leg (I was wearing a dress) and it started pooling on the floor. Having had 3 miscarriages before, I truly assumed the worst - that I was miscarrying. I mean, there was so much blood!
I e-mailed my doctor and told him what had happened and balled my eyes out the whole day. The bleeding tapered down significantly in 3 hours and turned burgundy and was just getting on a panty liner which was sooooo unlike a miscarriage. So the next day my dr had me come in for an u/s just to see what was going on and there was a perfect little heart beat! I was shocked - but they did point out the SCH and showed it was significantly larger than the baby. They said it was a wait and see game.
They said I would have bleeding until it was re absorbed by my body or healed and not to worry as long as it was pink or brown. I did have bleeding for the next 3 week - it was always brown so they said that was good.
I had an ultrasound at 7w3days and the SCH was the same size but the baby had grown perfectly. Then my bleeding stopped around 8.5 weeks and by 9w3d when I had another u/s it was gone!
I hope my story helps. I googled it a lot too but for some reason (I must haw read the wrong sites!) but the outlook never looked that bad to me based on google. I saw statistics that said there was only a 3% chance of an increases miscarriage rate from a SCH. That's pretty low. I also saw they are extremely common and they are usually found at your first u/s at random since they don't make some women bleed at all. Plus, I had known of 3 ladies trough mutual friends that had a SCH and went on to have healthy pregnancies so I figured the odds were in my favor.
Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to make it better and there is nothing you did that caused it so you just have to take it one day at a time. Hang in there and hopefully you'll get a good report at your next u/s!!

 

[Yo_Yo]

Hi honey,

I have a quite sizeable sch that got diagnosed at 12+5 after a massive bleed. I bled for 7 weeks and it's gone down to 4.5cm and baby is currently kicking away and doing well.
A small one that doesn't present bleeding is not really anything to get worried about, and hopefully it will be gone by your next scan.

The sch is thought to be caused at implantation when the egg implants, it breaks away slightly causing a pool of blood. This blood usually reabsorbs and heals up by the 20 week mark, and in some cases it bleeds out.

Also, the sch isn't necessarily always near or touching the placenta-mines above the baby and the placenta is at the back (posterior)

Do not do any heavy lifting or anything to strain yourself to enable it to heal easier.ake sure you stay hydrated too.

I know from personal experience it's a stressful diagnoses, so if you want anymore advice, there's great support group on bnb over in the Pregnancy Groups section of the forum

 

[Jinga]

Don't google it! I made the same mistake. At my 7 week ultrasound, they found a small subchorionic hematoma. The tech told me they were common and not to worry. My RE told me the same thing. At my 10 week ultrasound with my OBGYN, she could no longer find the bleed so it's assumed my body already reabsorbed it. I never had any bleeding or other symptoms. The only precautions I was given was to avoid sex and heavy exercise (walking ok, running not ok) until it went away and to watch for bleeding. Anything more than a little spotting warranted an immediate call to the doctor. Thankfully, I never had to deal with that. Best of luck to you! It's so hard to wait, but it's very likely everything will be just fine.

 

[Mild Mango]

Thanks so much ladies!!! The sites I was looking at didn't give me specific percentages. Also, a lot of them specifically talked about large or numerous hematomas, not small ones like mine. It's helpful to hear from people who have had it before and still had successful pregnancies.

I figured if it was anything too serious, the doctor would have called me or asked me to come in for a follow up.

 

[UnderPressure]

They found one at my 12 week u/s and basically told me not to freak if I started bleeding. 13 weeks and stillni bleed here

 

[zenaa]

They found one at my 6 week ultrasound it measured 14 mm. Doctor said it should resolve on its own. In the mean time I did research and because its a blood clot some sites suggested daily low dose aspirin therapy. I'm already on it since the start of my pregnancy so I think it may have helped because at my 12 week ultrasound it had disappeared.

 

[Rickles]

I had this - gushing red blood at 5w 3 days - thought it was all over. Shocked when the scan revealed baby was still there.

I bled brown for 3/4 weeks which they warned me about. They could see a grey patch on the ultrasound which apparently means old blood, black is fresh blood. By the time I had my 12 week scan it had totally gone.

They told me it was caused by implantation?? As long as it clears up by 20 weeks you have nothing to worry about. Even if it doesn't clear up you will still most likely be absolutely fine - there are some tiny increases in risk of early labour or placental abruption but the MAJORITY do clear up. xx

 

[Mild Mango]

I had this - gushing red blood at 5w 3 days - thought it was all over. Shocked when the scan revealed baby was still there.

I bled brown for 3/4 weeks which they warned me about. They could see a grey patch on the ultrasound which apparently means old blood, black is fresh blood. By the time I had my 12 week scan it had totally gone.

They told me it was caused by implantation?? As long as it clears up by 20 weeks you have nothing to worry about. Even if it doesn't clear up you will still most likely be absolutely fine - there are some tiny increases in risk of early labour or placental abruption but the MAJORITY do clear up. xx

Yes! The tech told me mine might have been implantation blood as well! Maybe because it's old blood? It was definitely a grey patch.

 

[Emmasmom2]

I don't want to scare anyone but here is my sad story. I am probably one of the unlucky ones as I lost my baby at 20 weeks because of SCH that lead to placental abruption. I had my 1st bleed at 5w4d and it was more like heavy spotting. U/s showed a sizable SCH but my baby girl was never bothered by it, she had an excellent heartbeat and always measured ahead of her dates. Around 10 weeks I had another spotting incident, nothing major. Meanwhile, all of my scans showed that SCH is on its' way out. At 16 weeks my OBGYN said she can't see it anymore. 18 weeks anatomy scan didn't see anything out of the ordinary. At 19 weeks I had a major bleed, had PROM and placental abruption. She died in my arms.

Later my OBGYN said the hematoma was still there, just hiding. How I wish, wish, wish I switched to a high risk OB who would've handled it better. It could've saved my baby girl's life. I put too much trust in my OBGYN -- a decision I will regret all of my life. At one point early on she said that if I miscarry then I miscarry. I should've run out of her office and never come back.

I hope all of you have your babies safely.

 

[Mild Mango]

Emmasmom2: that's terrible!!! That must have been so difficult. Don't beat yourself up about trusting the doctor. Anyone would have done the same thing. We put a lot of trust in our doctors for a reason. They've probably delivered hundreds of babies before. They're supposed to be experts so it's only natural to trust them.

I'm so sorry for your loss! My heart goes out to you.

 

[melly2]

I am six weeks pregnant and had spotting earlier this week and my doctor dismissed it and we had my ultrasound. She didn't note anything on the ultrasound, but maybe she wasn't looking either. Then last night, I had some major red blood coming out. They had me do an u/s this morning and we saw a very sizeable hematoma. I'm feeling very defeated right now, because it's so big and not in an ideal location.

 

[HopefulMarla]

So! I had one of these with no bleeding. The doctor said 50% of women get them, but because not every woman gets an early scan, they mostly don't know they got one. They normally are absorbed by your body. They happen when implantation happens, and it's pretty common! SOMETIMES. If they get reallllly big, they can cause a miscarriage. But this is sooooo unlikely!

 

[mjbj]

Hi! Thank you for this group. I am pregnant with my 2nd and my 1st pregnancy/labor/delivery was a breeze. On Wed. I started bleeding bight red when I peed, wiped, and a light pad. It seemed to come and go and I had some light cramping/pressure in my uterus. I called the doctor and they explained many women bleed/spot in early pregnancy and as long as no cramping or heavy bleeding not to worry. I just didn't feel okay with this so I called back a few hours later. I went in the next day for an ultrasound and I am 7 weeks today and the baby looked good and has a heartbeat. They told me I do have SCH and it measure 4 cm and is posterior. Anyone know what that means? I've been educating myself and it seems from what I've read, the bigger the clot is and depending on where it's located could be a negative outcome. I go back next Wed. for another ultrasound. Today I am spotting very light brown and they said it was old blood. They said the clot could either dry up or absorb itself on its own, or it could cause a miscarriage. So I don't like that 50/50. I am saddened that my 1st was so easy and now I can't be excited, I am just worried and stressed. I am taking it easier and not working out or lifting anything heavy. Doctor didn't put me on bed rest but said to take it easy, no intercourse, etc. Wondering how others are doing or how others who went through this made out.

 

[KrissyKris22]

Hey ladies. Soo I'm happy I'm not alone. I found out on Tuesday with my ultrasound that I also had a small SCH after hearing a strong heartbeats. At first it devastated me cus me and oh have been trying since last year. But since I found out their common and most cases our bodies dissolved them. I'm hoping that's the case. I've jus been praying and trying not to stress about it.

 

[Yo_Yo]

Those with sch's come over to the group on bnb as it's full of information and support. I've found it really good
https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/pregnancy-groups/142576-sch-group-subchorionic-hematoma.html