Vasa Previa?
I'm just looking for some support or advice, possibly from someone who has dealt with the situation I'm in...
I had a routine pre-natal checkup Thursday morning. When I went to give the nurse a urine specimen, I was bleeding a little bit. Like a light period, a little more than spotting but not by much. The bleeding worried me a lot, but my doctor and the nurse reassured me that everything would be fine and it was probably nothing because I wasn't having any pain or contractions. I had an ultrasound about an hour later, and everything looked great. Harvey's still a boy, healthy, my placenta is a little on the low-lying side (about 1.9cm away from my cervix) but nothing to warrant any worries apparently. The light bleeding stopped pretty quickly and I just had some dark brown "old blood" spotting for the next couple of days. I thought to myself "Whew!" and was glad it was all said and done.
I woke up this morning and despite the house desperately needing to be cleaned, I decided I deserved a lazy Sunday and I just relaxed on the couch, did a couple of photo projects on the computer in the morning, watched a movie with my 17 month old and then we laid down together on the couch to take an afternoon nap. I fell asleep at about 1:20 and slept until 2:30 -- when I woke up, I felt a little wetness down under but its been so long since I've had a period that I brushed it off until a few minutes later when I felt it again,... So, I tried to slowly sit up so I could slip my arm out from under my daughter and she could keep sleeping but as soon as I moved I gushed blood everywhere. I stood up and left probably a liter of blood on the couch cushion furthest away from my sleeping child and ran to the bathroom, dribbling blood all the way there (and we just got a new rug in the living room too!). I was wearing a nightgown, which was unusual because normally I wear fleece pants and a baggy shirt to bed but for some reason last night I opted for my ugly, old lady nightgown that I wore when I was in the hospital when DD was born.
When I got the bathroom I went to sit down on the toilet and gushed probably 1.5 liters of blood into the toilet (and on it, and on the floor, and apparently on the wall, wtf?) I called my husband in a huge panic, by this time my daughter was standing at the bathroom door (which we always leave open, but with a baby gate to keep her out) and I messily stepped into the shower to rinse my legs off so that I could get clean underwear and pants on to go to the hospital. My hubby stayed calm, soothed me for a few minutes and then rushed to the hospital to meet me there. He was about 30 minutes away at work, so my Dad came and picked me up to take me to the hospital because I felt too woozy because of all the blood loss to drive myself.
We get to the hospital, get admitted into L&D right away, I get hooked up to the monitors, get a quick steroid shot, get my blood drawn and get an ultrasound and once again, my ultrasound didn't show diddly squat. Everything still looks fine. The baby's heart rate is great, he's still moving around all over the place, my placenta looks fine, still low-lying but not harmed in any way.
My doctor is keeping me here for the next 24 hours for monitoring, I have to get one more steroid shot in 24 hours to develop the baby's lungs just in case he's born prematurely and as long as everything goes well tonight -- I get to go home tomorrow afternoon sometime and I'll be on home bed rest until I go into labor. I certainly want the baby to stay in there as long as possible because I know that's definitely what's best for the little plankton but being on bed rest from now until May 1st or later sounds pretty terrible and dull, but I'm more than willing to do it for my son.
So, we've ruled out placenta previa, marginal placenta previa and total placenta previa via ultrasound HOWEVER, someone (here I think), suggested that I get checked for "vasa previa". (Which means: Vasa previa is when the baby's blood vessels come down in front of the baby's head or other presenting part. Typically the vessels are protected from the normal movement of the baby and compression during the contractions of labor by the Wharton's jelly. This makes a vaginal birth dangerous because of the possible disruption of the fetal blood supply due to the lack of protection and their location. It can also be seen in conjunction with a velamentous cord insertion or a multilobed placenta. Vasa previa happens about 1 in 2500 pregnancies.)
Has anyone here ever dealt with vasa previa now or in the past? I'd just like to hear from someone who's been here before and what happened, even if the outcome was bad.
I have been researching the condition while I wait to hear from my doctor, and while I am taking everything I read on the internet with a grain of salt, I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't concern me at all. It sounds pretty serious -- in most cases the mother is induced between 35-36 weeks because of the dangers of a vaginal delivery with vasa previa. Blood vessels rupturing can very, very quickly result in the baby losing alot of blood and can cause a still birth in the blink of an eye.
Also, my doctor (although I adore him mostly) has a tendency to be a little more laid back about things like this than I'm comfortable with and I'm wondering if it's worth getting a second opinion if I don't feel satisfied with how he handles my concerns when I talk to him about it this afternoon. I mean, if it could mean my unborn child's life -- of course its worth getting a second opinion, right?
TL;DR - I'm 33 weeks, I had some heavy unexplained bleeding but no pain and I'm going to be on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy, but I'm concerned about the possibility of vasa previa.
I had a routine pre-natal checkup Thursday morning. When I went to give the nurse a urine specimen, I was bleeding a little bit. Like a light period, a little more than spotting but not by much. The bleeding worried me a lot, but my doctor and the nurse reassured me that everything would be fine and it was probably nothing because I wasn't having any pain or contractions. I had an ultrasound about an hour later, and everything looked great. Harvey's still a boy, healthy, my placenta is a little on the low-lying side (about 1.9cm away from my cervix) but nothing to warrant any worries apparently. The light bleeding stopped pretty quickly and I just had some dark brown "old blood" spotting for the next couple of days. I thought to myself "Whew!" and was glad it was all said and done.
I woke up this morning and despite the house desperately needing to be cleaned, I decided I deserved a lazy Sunday and I just relaxed on the couch, did a couple of photo projects on the computer in the morning, watched a movie with my 17 month old and then we laid down together on the couch to take an afternoon nap. I fell asleep at about 1:20 and slept until 2:30 -- when I woke up, I felt a little wetness down under but its been so long since I've had a period that I brushed it off until a few minutes later when I felt it again,... So, I tried to slowly sit up so I could slip my arm out from under my daughter and she could keep sleeping but as soon as I moved I gushed blood everywhere. I stood up and left probably a liter of blood on the couch cushion furthest away from my sleeping child and ran to the bathroom, dribbling blood all the way there (and we just got a new rug in the living room too!). I was wearing a nightgown, which was unusual because normally I wear fleece pants and a baggy shirt to bed but for some reason last night I opted for my ugly, old lady nightgown that I wore when I was in the hospital when DD was born.
When I got the bathroom I went to sit down on the toilet and gushed probably 1.5 liters of blood into the toilet (and on it, and on the floor, and apparently on the wall, wtf?) I called my husband in a huge panic, by this time my daughter was standing at the bathroom door (which we always leave open, but with a baby gate to keep her out) and I messily stepped into the shower to rinse my legs off so that I could get clean underwear and pants on to go to the hospital. My hubby stayed calm, soothed me for a few minutes and then rushed to the hospital to meet me there. He was about 30 minutes away at work, so my Dad came and picked me up to take me to the hospital because I felt too woozy because of all the blood loss to drive myself.
We get to the hospital, get admitted into L&D right away, I get hooked up to the monitors, get a quick steroid shot, get my blood drawn and get an ultrasound and once again, my ultrasound didn't show diddly squat. Everything still looks fine. The baby's heart rate is great, he's still moving around all over the place, my placenta looks fine, still low-lying but not harmed in any way.
My doctor is keeping me here for the next 24 hours for monitoring, I have to get one more steroid shot in 24 hours to develop the baby's lungs just in case he's born prematurely and as long as everything goes well tonight -- I get to go home tomorrow afternoon sometime and I'll be on home bed rest until I go into labor. I certainly want the baby to stay in there as long as possible because I know that's definitely what's best for the little plankton but being on bed rest from now until May 1st or later sounds pretty terrible and dull, but I'm more than willing to do it for my son.
So, we've ruled out placenta previa, marginal placenta previa and total placenta previa via ultrasound HOWEVER, someone (here I think), suggested that I get checked for "vasa previa". (Which means: Vasa previa is when the baby's blood vessels come down in front of the baby's head or other presenting part. Typically the vessels are protected from the normal movement of the baby and compression during the contractions of labor by the Wharton's jelly. This makes a vaginal birth dangerous because of the possible disruption of the fetal blood supply due to the lack of protection and their location. It can also be seen in conjunction with a velamentous cord insertion or a multilobed placenta. Vasa previa happens about 1 in 2500 pregnancies.)
Has anyone here ever dealt with vasa previa now or in the past? I'd just like to hear from someone who's been here before and what happened, even if the outcome was bad.
I have been researching the condition while I wait to hear from my doctor, and while I am taking everything I read on the internet with a grain of salt, I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't concern me at all. It sounds pretty serious -- in most cases the mother is induced between 35-36 weeks because of the dangers of a vaginal delivery with vasa previa. Blood vessels rupturing can very, very quickly result in the baby losing alot of blood and can cause a still birth in the blink of an eye.
Also, my doctor (although I adore him mostly) has a tendency to be a little more laid back about things like this than I'm comfortable with and I'm wondering if it's worth getting a second opinion if I don't feel satisfied with how he handles my concerns when I talk to him about it this afternoon. I mean, if it could mean my unborn child's life -- of course its worth getting a second opinion, right?
TL;DR - I'm 33 weeks, I had some heavy unexplained bleeding but no pain and I'm going to be on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy, but I'm concerned about the possibility of vasa previa.