Low lying placenta?

[elleandsam]

My 18-20 week scan showed that my little man is perfect :highfive: however it also showed that my placenta is very low and so I need to have another scan at 34 weeks to check that it's moved.

So what are my options if it's still low? Can I have a vaginal birth if it's not covering my cervix? Or am I going to have to have a csection?

Is there anything I can do to encourage it to move? :confused:

[4babycinos]

It depends on how low it was at your 19-20week scan. Was it covering the opening? or was it sitting just above it?

Mine was sitting just above the opening at 19weeks, and now at 29weeks it is well cleared of the cervix. Usually it moves up with the growing uterus.

But if it still hasnt moved at 34 weeks and is covering the opening, it is probable it is placenta previa, and a c-section will be needed. There is nothing unfortunately you can do to help it move.

Just wait and see at your 34 weeks scan before stressing :hugs:

[BoyCrazy]

i agree, i had a low lying placenta which was just covering the escape hatch at my 20 wk scan with ds2.

i had a follow up scan at 32 weeks and it had moved well away so was able to birth vaginally.

most of the time they do move up and away while the uterus is getting bigger.

try not to worry hun :hugs:

[mini-moo's mummy]

hey hun! :wave:

at my 16w scan i had a grade 3 low lying placenta....
meaning it was partially covering my cervix, about 1/3 of my cervix was covered...

at 20w it had moved but not enough just yet....

ive got another scan in 2 weeks to check the position of it to see where we are at...

my OB will only allow a VB if the placenta is a min 2.5cm away from the cervix, any closer and he feels the risks are to high for haemorage and what not....

if it hasnt moved enough ill have another scan at say 34weeks to check and then if it hasnt moved enough ill be booked in for a CS

[Thermolicious]

I would not be worrying about it until you were nearly term 34-36 weeks 9 times out of 10 where the placenta attaches moves up as the placenta grows. Do your research and don't be scare-mongered!

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/placprev.html


Placenta previa - 97% of early diagnoses are misdiagnosed.

Ultrasound screening and perinatal mortality: controlled trial of systematic one-stage screening in pregnancy. The Helsinki Ultrasound Trial.
Saari-Kemppainen A, Karjalainen O, Ylostalo P, Heinonen OP
Lancet 1990 Aug 18;336(8712):387-91
The Saari Kempaainen study revealed that 150 women were diagnosed as having placenta praevia; when they got to term only 4 women actually had it. In the control arm the women who were not exposed to ultrasound also had 4 women whose placenta praevias were discovered when they went into labour. Both sets of women had caesarean sections and there was no difference in outcomes. The researchers did not investigate the amount of stress a diagnosis of placenta praevia could have caused in the 146 misdiagnosed women. This research shows that early diagnosis of placenta praevia is irrelevant and a complete waste of time, yet doctors and midwives persist in telling women they have low lying placentas.

Also this

The relevance of placental location at 20-23 gestational weeks for prediction of placenta previa at delivery: evaluation of 8650 cases.
Becker RH, Vonk R, Mende BC, Ragosch V, Entezami M
Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2001 Jun;17(6):496-501

"CONCLUSION: At 20-23 weeks, a combination of routine transabdominal and indication-based transvaginal location of placental position is a powerful tool in predicting placenta previa at delivery. The advantage of determining placental position at this stage of pregnancy is a low false-positive rate compared to at earlier stages of pregnancy. We conclude that an overlapping placenta at 20-23 weeks has the consequence of a high probability of placenta previa at delivery. An overlap of 25 mm or more at 20-23 weeks seems to be incompatible with later vaginal delivery. "
*note not low-lying!

You need to go back or call and ask exactly how low-lying your placenta was/is.

[elleandsam]

Thanks ladies and thanks for the info Babymaker.

I'll be asking my midwife when I see her on Friday.

[Josh]

I have had a grade 4 placenta praevia 3 times, all of mine were the complete coverage and mine stayed that way all through the entire pregnancies, I was monitored quite a lot once the docs realised that this was going to keep on happening to me:yes: and all my boys were born by caesar... my first was born at 35 wks(an emergency) cause I lost 2.5 ltrs of blood, then my second was scheduled at 38 wks.. no problems, and my third little bubba was done at 37.1 wks because I started to bleed a little and they were not taking any more risks with me, so just keep an eye on it I was obviously having scans done quite regular but yours will probably be ok.:yes:

[DonDon]

I had a low lying placenta with dd2 and it had moved at the 34 week scan so I was fine to have vaginal birth. with this pregnancy however i was diagnosed with grade 3 placenta previa at the 20 week ultrasound and have been scanned every four weeks since and it has not moved. I have to have c/s and it may be general anaesthetic because of the risks of bleeding. My ob said that he likes to be proven wrong but this one doesnt look like it will move. Also he said I am lucky to have made it this far without bleeding. It is stressful but I hope that with it just being low lying that it will move up by 34 weeks. Good luck

[3LilMonkies]

With DS2 I had a low lying placenta too. I had to have another scan at 34 weeks. Thankfully it had done as the sonographer had suggested and moved up with the uterus growing.

I was told though that until about 39 weeks I could ask for weekly scans to check where the placenta lied as there was still a chance it could move... From memory it has to be 1.5 cms or something away from the cervix... don't quote me on that exact gap but there is a distance it has to be... but yeah I was told if it hadn't moved at the 34 week mark to ask for weekly ones to check where it was to boost my chance at a vaginal birth!

Apparently it's very common to have it low at this stage of the pregnancy and it's just as common for it to move up. So fingers crossed for you it moves upwards! :hugs:

[JATS]

I had low lying placenta with DS, EVERYONE said 'don't worry it'll move in time'. It didn't, and I was so unprepared. :no: 38 week scan (3pm from memory) showed it still too low, I had to be at hospital 6am the next morning for an elective c/s.

Had we not lived so far from hospital we could have waited another week or so and done another scan but as we lived so far from hospital and I'd already had a threatened labour if I went into labour early there's a good chance I'd have bled to death long before an ambulance would have gotten to me so we went for the 38wk elective.

Find out exactly how 'low' it is at the 34 week scan. My hospital 'cut off' was min 2cm from the OS for a vb.

Prepare yourself for a c/s, even though odds are you won't need one I didn't prepare at all and it was a huge mistake. A c/s can still be an empowering birth. :thumbsup:

[babydolls]

I had a low lying placenta for my first too. It didn't move up until 36 weeks when it was 3cm away! So I was mentally all ready for a c-section. When I was told I would be able to do it naturally I didn't know how I felt about that!

Honestly, you will just need to wait to see what happens - it can all change - particularly as you get bigger!

My big piece of advice is DON'T lift anything heavy! I lifted some boxes - that I thought weren't heavy at all really, and I was admitted to hospital at 27 weeks with bleeding. I was then told not to have sex either - so you may want to ask if you are still allowed to!

My current pregnancy is all good though - placenta is nice and high! So it may not be a reoccurring problem either.
Just keep asking your doctor questions if you are unsure.
The cool part is though - they will keep scanning you to see where the placenta is - so you keep getting to see the bub!