Nothing strikes fear into a woman's heart like discovering she's bleeding while pregnant. The first thought is usually "is the baby alright?" The answer to that depends on a variety of things including the amount of bleeding, the stage of pregnancy, the age of the mom, other medical conditions that may be present, and so on.
Bleeding in the first trimester is most concerning for miscarriage or occasionally for an ectopic pregnancy. I tell my patients that call with early bleeding that only about half the time is bleeding an indication that the pregnancy will be lost, so to try not to panic right away. If the bleeding is very heavy (more than a pad an hour) or associated with any severe pain or lightheadedness, we will often have patients go to the hospital emergency department for evaluation. We also have a portable ultrasound machine in our office that can help determine the status of the pregnancy.
Bleeding later in pregnancy can often be associated with sexual intercourse or in more serious cases with preterm labor, placenta previa, or placental abruption. Another common source of bleeding late in pregnancy is the cervical examinations we start doing around 35--36 weeks of pregnancy, although it is usually not very much and stops quickly. Active labor is often accompanied by what we refer to as "bloody show" which is a mixture of blood and mucous that occurs when the cervix begins to dilate.
Whenever in doubt, we're of course always available to answer your questions and help you decide if the amount of bleeding you're experiencing needs to be immediately evaluated or not.
Bleeding in the first trimester is most concerning for miscarriage or occasionally for an ectopic pregnancy. I tell my patients that call with early bleeding that only about half the time is bleeding an indication that the pregnancy will be lost, so to try not to panic right away. If the bleeding is very heavy (more than a pad an hour) or associated with any severe pain or lightheadedness, we will often have patients go to the hospital emergency department for evaluation. We also have a portable ultrasound machine in our office that can help determine the status of the pregnancy.
Bleeding later in pregnancy can often be associated with sexual intercourse or in more serious cases with preterm labor, placenta previa, or placental abruption. Another common source of bleeding late in pregnancy is the cervical examinations we start doing around 35--36 weeks of pregnancy, although it is usually not very much and stops quickly. Active labor is often accompanied by what we refer to as "bloody show" which is a mixture of blood and mucous that occurs when the cervix begins to dilate.
Whenever in doubt, we're of course always available to answer your questions and help you decide if the amount of bleeding you're experiencing needs to be immediately evaluated or not.
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