Pregnant and Bleeding – When Should You Worry?

In case you are thinking about being pregnant and bleeding you should know that there are a lot of different causes that could lead to some spotting or bleeding.

If it happens during the first trimester, usually the pregnancy isn’t threatened. However in the second or third trimester things are a bit different.

Pregnant and Bleeding

Information about bleeding during pregnancy

If you notice any bleeding you should wear a pad so that you will be able to monitor the amount of bleeding and you will also see the kind of bleeding that you are dealing with. Avoid using a tampon or introducing any kind of object into the vagina like a douche.

The women affected by bleeding when being pregnant shouldn’t have intercourse until the bleeding disappears. If there are any other symptoms accompanying the bleeding, you should let your health care provider know immediately to make sure that the pregnancy progresses normally.

Miscarriage

The bleeding while being pregnant can be a sign of miscarriage, but this doesn’t have to be imminent. About 20%-30% of all pregnant women notice some bleeding during their pregnancy. About half of the women who notice bleeding don’t have a miscarriage. The majority of the miscarriages take place in the first trimester.

Besides spotting during pregnancy in case of a miscarriage you can also notice cramping in the lower stomach and some tissue passing through the vagina. In the majority of the cases the miscarriage cannot be prevented because this is the body’s way of dealing with an unhealthy pregnancy.

Ectopic pregnancy

When thinking about bleeding and pregnancy you should also consider an ectopic pregnancy. This means that the egg that is fertilized gets implanted somewhere in the body, outside the uterus. Usually the egg gets implanted in the fallopian tubes. These cases are less common than the miscarriages.

The signs besides spotting when being pregnant include cramping in the lower stomach, sharp pain in the abdomen and low hCG levels. You have higher chances of being affected if you had an infection of the tubes, if you had an ectopic pregnancy before or if you had a pelvic surgery.

Molar pregnancy

The truth is that spotting while being pregnant is rarely caused by a molar pregnancy. This means that instead of the embryo there is abnormal tissue growing in the uterus. This is also called gestational trophoblastic disease.

The symptoms besides pregnancy bleeding also involve high levels of hCG (showed by the results of a blood test), the lack of fetal heart tones and clusters that can be seen on an ultrasound. Normally this is a situation that women don’t really have to think about. The chances of you being faced with a situation of this kind are very small.

As it has been mentioned before bleeding in pregnancy is quite common especially during the first trimester. In case you notice some bleeding, you shouldn’t be worried because most probably everything is fine. However you could see your doctor just to make sure that the pregnancy progresses as it is supposed to.

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