Originally Posted by 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

Originally Posted by Rach27

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

Originally Posted by MiissMuffet

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

Originally Posted by 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!

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by 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!