12 Weeks: Day 9

A few friends have asked what exactly the situation is and what's going on. I'm certainly no expert and am still learning, but placenta previa means that your placenta is low-lying and usually touching or covering some part of the cervix. With a complete previa, like I have, the placenta completely covers the cervix. When this is what they find on an ultrasound, it's much less likely that the placenta will move (like it often does with a partial previa), meaning that a c-section is inevitable. Because the placenta isn't attached to anything, there are all these blood vessels just hanging there on the underside. They don't know exactly what causes the bleeding, but some thoughts are that the weight of the baby can lead to it, or certain activities. Once you bleed for the first time, or the "centinal bleed", you are at a much increased risk of bleeding again, and they may not be able to stop it the second time. There are women who actually have to continuously get transfusions until the baby is mature enough to be born. Obviously it's not ideal to be getting transfusions for a long period of time, so if the hemmorhage is going to happen it's better to have it happen as late as possible in the pregnancy. The only way to stop the bleeding is to remove the placenta.

Okay, I hope that somewhat answers questions. And I really hope I didn't relay any false information, because like I said, I'm still figuring it out. :)


On a lighter note, I have to share a very vivid dream I had last night. I dreamed that Ty Pennington and the Extreme Makeover team chose us for their Home Edition. When it was time for the big reveal they had finished our baby nursery. It was done with a buttercream color on the walls and cranberry, light pink, and brown bedding. The other room in my dream was our playroom, which had been made to look exactly like my hospital room! For some reason that really thrilled me during the dream. Craziness.