Last weekend was a whirlwind. Just as I was getting comfortable with my new routine of no exercise and lots of downtime as a result of the placenta previa diagnosis, things changed.
On Friday John left town for a bachelor party that would entail camping and backpacking, so there was a good chance he'd be off the grid at times.
Saturday I woke up and went to the bathroom as usual, at which point I discovered I was lightly bleeding (TMI - thankfully it was brown blood, not "active" red blood). Regardless, it scared the shit out of me and I paged the on-call midwife from my birthing center (there are about four midwives I see), and she got right back to me and was the sweetest. She told me to relax, not worry and just rest all day -- basically do as little as possible -- and drink a lot of water. I followed orders, and my day was as lazy as they get. I watched nearly two seasons of Schitt's Creek haha. Later in the day I did go to my parents and we went to the hospital to visit my grandma, who had just been admitted. That's a story for another day, but for now the good news is my grandma has since gone home and is doing ok.
My parents were also so awesome to help out with Finley and doggy-sit him while I was on rest. His 50-pound puppy energy was too much for me to handle when I needed rest. Finley loved it, as he just got a long weekend playdate with their dog, Ashe.
John was in the loop on all this but there was no need for him to come home early.
My bleeding cleared up but then came back and was even a bit heavier by Monday morning. This time the midwife said go to the ER to get checked and make sure everything's ok. Hearing her say that certainly scared me at first and there was a surge of uncontrollable tears for a couple minutes, but I did my best to hold it together and not totally lose my shit. This time, John was off the grid with no service and my mom took me to the hospital.
Long story short, here's what happened:
There is NO placenta previa anymore. If I did have it, it already cleared up and the placenta is no longer covering my cervix. it was very clearly in an anterior position away from the cervix. Seems like that shift happened really fast, but I'm not an expert on this stuff.
So what was causing the bleeding?
Turns out I definitely DO have a subchorionic hemorrhage, which is basically a blood clot in the wall of the uterus. It's the "most common sonographic abnormality and most common cause of first trimester bleeding (1)," and thankfully I was told it's "less threatening" than previa and should work itself out (i.e. dissolve and disappear) in a matter of days or weeks. The exact cause isn't exactly clear, but they said that it's possible the hemorrhage formed as the placenta was migrating.
Or, maybe it always the hemorrhage and never even previa? Either way, it was good that I started resting when I did!
I won't get another ultrasound for another 4-5 weeks, so in the meantime, I still have to be on the same regimen of lots of rest, no exercise, no lifting heavy things, and no sex. We don't want the bleeding to get worse and it needs to heal without me being overly active.
I was able to get ahold of John while at the hospital, and this time he did end his trip early and came home as soon as he could. I needed (and will need) his help especially if we want to have Finley home, which of course we do!
Despite the scare, all this gave me a huge sense of relief. I was extra grateful to my on-call midwife (she's everything a gal would hope for in a midwife!) and also the ER staff who was so kind and thorough in their assessment. Yea maybe I sat in the hospital for 5 hours, but what else would I have been doing?! This is my life, this is my baby's life, and he/she means EVERYTHING to me.
I'm confident this baby is healthy, I'm certain the hemorrhage will clear up, stoked the previa is no longer an issue, and excited to get on with my second trimester!
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorionic_hematoma
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