Placenta Previa (low placenta) (Pregnancy Complications)

Member Name: christinemc

Product:	Pregnancy Complications
Date:	14/11/00 (3903 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: potentially fatal to mother

I have got two lovely daughters, and have had low lying placenta's in both pregnancies. With my first, it was detected at the 20 week scan. I was told that if it didn't move, it would mean a c-section, however I was also told that many of them do move as the uterus grows. I was re-scanned at 32 weeks. It hadn't moved. I was re-scanned at 36 weeks, and thankfully the placenta had moved well out of the way and I was able to have a natural delivery.

When they told me that I had a low placenta in my second pregnancy, I didn't really worry about it. I just assumed it would move as the first one had. At the 32 week scan it remained very low, I started to worry a little, as this time it was covering my cervix and the last time it had just reached the cervix. But I was on the whole positive and planning a natural delivery in my local maternity unit. At 36 weeks I was stunned to find that it hadn't moved at all. I was given an appointment the next week with a consultant to discuss a c-section. What I was not warned about was that I would probably be admitted. At that appointment, I was now 37 weeks. They felt that the risk of me going into labour was too strong to let me stay at home until the c-section (booked at 39 weeks) so they admitted me.

Once on the ward, I was able to have a proper talk with the midwives and consultant and discovered just how severe it was. I had a grade 4 placenta previa, covering my cervix. I was not allowed to leave the ward except for a few minutes. I was not allowed to go for a walk. I was not even allowed to lock the toilet door. I was also told that if I saw the slightest speck of pink on the toilet paper, I was to pull on the red cord continuously until someone came. I thought all this sounded a bit alarmist to be frank, but there was a good reason. With this condition, if you start to bleed, it can become a life threatening haemorrage within a matter of minutes. This made me fear
for my baby - but I was soon corrected. The risk to the baby, I was told, was actually far less than the risk to me. As soon as the baby was taken out of me, it would be fine. The problem comes in preventing the mother from bleeding to death. I am not over dramatising the severity of this, it is a serious condition.

I had a c-section at 39 weeks (despite pleading for them to do it sooner, they prefer to wait as babies are less likely to need breathing assistance at 39 weeks). Before the operation, I was warned that with this condition, when the placenta is removed it can be hard to control the bleeding. The lower part of the womb does not contract to stem the blood flow like the top part does. I went into the c-section with a one in six risk that I would need a hysterectomy to control the bleeding and save my life. I also had the added complication that the placenta was at the front, so they had to cut through it to get to the baby.

Despite all this, I had a safe delivery, and although I lost a litre of blood (twice the average from a c-section) I avoided a blood transfusion and went home a week later.

If you are told you have a low placenta, be aware of how potentially serious it is. This is not a time to shrug it off and go jogging! The odds are that it will move, as my first did, and you will be able to have a normal delivery. But until you know for sure, please, be careful. And go to casualty if you start to bleed - because it could be very serious. On the plus side, be thankful for routine scans. This is one of the conditions that women used to die of in childbirth, women like me, only 30 years ago.

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