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January 14, 2021

When I was 19w4d

Going back a little in time now because there is something I’d like to mention about my pregnancy in case someone else has to go through the same thing. 

This is a long story and has some personal details  🙂

My first trimester wasn’t exactly easy. Or, well, my body felt overall pretty good, just like my last pregnancy. I’ve never experienced any morning (or all day) sickness (ya I feel lucky!) and I can’t really complain. But, I was however experiencing bleeding this time and we all know that blood during pregnancy is quite scary. 

In the end of week five I noticed brown spotting. Didn’t think much about it, I know it can happen, implantation bleeding isn’t unusual. But then it turned into red drops, back aches and pain in my belly. I was convinced that it was the beginning of a miscarriage. Because of my partial molar history I got to see my doctor right away. She confirmed the pregnancy, didn’t seem worried but still sent me off to get an ultrasound the next day. I saw a specialist at the radiology, he confirmed that there was a baby with a strong heartbeat (which isn’t always the case that early on), he found no cysts or tumors, no bleeding, everything looked good. A couple of days later the spotting stopped.

Following week, I started spotting again. The next day (7w1d) as my husband went to get the delivery pizza, I suddenly felt really dizzy, I was freezing, sweating and my body started to shake. I grabbed my water bottle and sat down on the kitchen floor, J walked in with food. I quickly grabbed a slice since I thought maybe I just need to eat something. I felt better almost immediately. As I got up to grab one last slice, it felt like I peed my pants. I went into the bathroom and there was a flood of blood (it ruined my jeans). Since it was Friday and I knew the clinic would close soon I decided to call. Since I was no longer dizzy and the bleeding had stopped she decided to schedule me in to see my doctor and do an ultrasound on Monday. If something would happen again, she told me to go to the ER and contact the on-call doctor. 
Spotting continued but I didn’t think much about it. But then, in the afternoon the next day I went to the bathroom and as I flushed I noticed a larger piece of what could be tissue. I was confused at first, how did I not notice that? I told J and he told me that I now had to keep my appointment on Monday (I wasn’t sure I should go since I felt fine). All weekend I prepared myself for the news that I had maybe flushed my baby, that I was no longer pregnant, or that they would tell me that there is a baby but no heartbeat. I accepted another miscarriage. Surprisingly, I was very calm. Sad of course, but calm throughout the whole weekend. 

Monday, my doctor came in with a big smile, I told her everything and her face kinda changed. She didn’t really say anything, just said we should see what the ultrasound shows. 
My doctor came with me to the ultrasound room and I swear, barely 5 seconds after the lady had put the stick in (transvaginal) both ladies screamed right out “There’s a heartbeat!!” I was kinda in shock of what was going on. My doctor is too cute, she threw herself on the walls in this tiny room and yelled out “God is good!” She then grabbed my hand and said “I’ve been praying for you Fanny. And when you said you had passed tissue I tried to keep a neutral face cause you seemed so positive. But there is a heartbeat! God is good!”. 

But, there was a bubble on the screen. They told me that it was a subchorionic hematoma (SCH). I was told to refrain from activities like working out until my next appointment in two weeks, possibly longer. For someone who loves to move her body every day to be put on a pelvic rest, that really sucks. Happy that the baby was fine of course, but no dance, pilates or yoga for awhile, I was sad. But my body and baby comes first, I listened of course. I now went from being a higher risk patient (due to my PMP) to a high risk patient. 
The spotting had stopped once I came back home from the doctors. But the very next day, a sneeze caused me to bleed again and I felt back and stomach pain. That’s when I decided to put myself on a semi bed rest.
Guess if I was bored. 

In a way it was good to be forced to rest cause this pregnancy made me extremely tired (that was like the only pregnancy symptom I had). Like, insanely tired. I took 3-4 naps a day for maybe an hour or two each time, so it didn’t change too much. Working out would have helped gaining some energy but oh well. I drank plenty of water and changed from sleeping in bed to sleeping on the couch and then back to bed again. I did not lift anything, not even Thor, my husband had to help me with everything. I sometimes went for slower walks in the afternoon together with J and T, but that was about all the activity I did. 

Two weeks later (9w4d) I came in for another ultrasound. The subchorionic had healed! She told me that mine had been of a decent size so the fact that it was completely gone after only two weeks was incredible. I’m so grateful for my body! Then the doctor told me to continue to refrain from activity until the second trimester:( I listened, kinda. A few times over the next weeks I did prenatal restorative beginner third trimester yoga. It was so freaking slow and boring. Since I didn’t know how much my body could take I even modified every pose which basically meant that I was not moving at all, I probably moved more just by lying on the couch haha. But at least it was something, if not much for the body it was definitely work for the mind. 

So, what is this? “A subchorionic bleed (also known as a subchorionic hematoma) is the accumulation of blood between the uterine lining and the chorion (the outer fetal membrane, next to the uterus) or under the placenta itself. It can cause light to heavy spotting or bleeding, but it may not.” (google)
To hear you have a subchorionic bleeding in the first trimester probably means that it will heal on it’s on as long as you follow doctors orders of a pelvic rest (depending on a few things of course). If this happens later in the pregnancy it can have bigger complications. When you google about this (which btw noone should cause articles and info will worry the crap out of you) it says “it occurs in about 3.1% of all pregnancies, it is the most common sonographic abnormality and the most common cause of first trimester bleeding”, it also says that in worst case it can lead to miscarriage, you can also end up bleeding throughout your whole pregnancy and depending on size you might need medication, and you’ll be put on either pelvic or full bed rest, you can also end up having to have a cesarean section, in some cases it can affect the baby and sometimes it can lead to a premature birth. But! it can also heal itself and you end up having a perfect pregnancy, especially if you get it in the first trimester, I think. If you get it in 2nd or 3rd there might be more risks. Some women don’t even know they have this since not everybody bleed, it is only detected on an ultrasound. In some cases you can end up having more than one throughout your pregnancy, so just because mine healed doesn’t mean I can’t get one again. But, hopefully not and it’s definitely not something I’m walking around being worried about. I do however still always look in my underwear and into the toilet bowl whenever I go to the bathroom just to make sure there’s no blood, a habit I’ll probably have during the whole pregnancy. 

This was definitely a scary time, and also a very boring time. But when we got to see that the baby was healthy on the ultrasound in week 13 I felt that I could start working out slowly again, the doctor there said it was fine. She did however tell me then that my placenta was lying really low and anterior so I might experience some spotting because of that. So, I of course took it really really slow to build muscles back, I really listened to my body in order to get into my normal training. I did not experience any spotting and the placenta had moved up by time I had the anatomy scan in week 19. I’ve done yoga, pilates, ballet and gone for faster walks since my last scan and my body feels amazing now. 

6 weeks 6 days, two days before the blood fest
Follow up ultrasound at 9w4d – when the subchorionic was gone
I’m so happy that J could come with me for the 13 weeks scan (the only time he’s been allowed)
Modified and supported gentle restorative yoga to slowly get back to my old self