Placenta Previa: What its meant to me.

On January 26th I went for my second ultrasound.  The poop tart’s growth was progressing nicely and he/she even gave us a wave at the start of the session (see bottom photo). All and all a very positive experience for both of us.

It wasn’t until 2 hours after my appointment that our midwife called……I had been diagnosed with a placenta previa. I of course had no idea what this meant, had never heard that term before or even gotten to that section in the What to Expect When Your Expecting Handbook. She did her best to explain the situation to me in the few minutes she had before going to her next appointment and said if I had further questions to contact her the next day.

So what is a placenta previa….”In placenta previa, the placenta implants so that it partially or completely covers the opening of the cervix. This can physically block your baby’s passage into the birth canal if it persists into the second or third trimester.” Read this for more information...Placenta Previa.

So what did all of this mean to me….Initially the shock of hearing that my pregnancy was well “Not Normal!” was devastating. Was there something I had done or could be doing differently to get things back on track, was this a sign I would be a bad mother….all those hormones were in overdrive as I spent the night reading mostly negative stories about others with the same condition. With the threat of possible bed rest or a hemorrhage I was an emotional wreck.

In addition, a previa is considered outside a normal pregnancy and that meant that my lovely midwives would be referring me to a local obstetrician for a consult. As expected, the experience was nowhere near as reassuring or pleasant as my midwife appointments. The doctor handed me a variety of paperwork listing vitamins I should be taking, a prescription for what I thought were pills (more on that in a minute), a requisition for another ultrasound, a copy of my results from the previous ultrasound and a stern warning that I shouldn’t be flying to Mexico in a months time for our vacation. He expressed his opinion that my ultrasound results were in fact conflicting and that I had a partial and not marginal previa. He talked and moved fast through the appointment but didn’t managed to settle my worries before sending me on my way.

So what was the final outcome of all this……We cancelled our trip to the Mayan Riviera at the start of March after discussing the situation with friends in the medical world. Since the previa would have been considered a pre-existing condition I was no longer covered by our travel medical insurance and we had to question whether we were ok with me receiving a blood transfusion in Mexico should I have a bleed. It was decided that the trip wasn’t worth the risk to poop tart or me. Mexico would have to wait.

As for the prescription I was given….it was in fact not pills but celestone steroid shots. Not only had that not been clarified at my appointment nor had who was to administer the stuff.

In the end all got sorted and I am happy to report so far so good. I have had no symptoms commonly associated with placenta previa. I have been careful to not do any heavy lifting and cut back on the type of activity I was doing…speed walking instead of running and pre-natal yoga.  The shots, while unpleasant (since I really hate needles) were done just a week ago and should poop tart decide to make an early appearance we have more confidence that baby won’t struggle with undeveloped lungs etc.

I’ve also gotten my head around the likelihood of a c-section. It is what it is and however baby enters the world we will be thrilled to meet them.

 

 

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