This is quite a personal blog post but one I have wanted to write for some time.

Not a lot of people know but when I was 5-6 weeks pregnant I thought I was losing my tiny little baby.

The Bleeding

When I was around 6 weeks pregnant I started spotting. To begin with this was very very light – It wasn’t in my underwear just on the tissue when I went to the toilet and it was dark red/brown.
I had been there for friends when they had sadly lost their babies so having a miscarriage had always been a huge worry ever since I saw those two pink lines.

Google

Like most women I instantly grabbed my phone and began googling “Bleeding in early pregnancy”, “bleeding 6 weeks pregnant” and “spotting during pregnancy”- I was terrified this could be the start of a miscarriage. I was met with a sea of forums and NHS pages all discussing potential miscarriages.

According to the NHS website in addition to bleeding/spotting early miscarriage symptoms include:

• cramping and pain in your lower abdomen
• a discharge or fluid from your vagina
• a discharge of tissue from your vagina
• no longer experiencing the symptoms of pregnancy, such as breast tenderness and feeling sick

Every forum or discussion I read either ended in miscarriage or there was no further update from the women to find out what happened.

I was only 6 weeks pregnant and hadn’t experienced any “pregnancy symptoms” up to this point. So was that a sign something was wrong? I didn’t think I felt any cramping or pain- but wait did I? You start to question and over analyse every pain/feeling/twinge. I’m sure a lot of it was probably in my head!

I remember reading somewhere that depending on which “side” you felt the pain this could be a good/bad sign – so then I was trying to remember which side I think I may have felt some pain/feeling.

I took a photo of the blood (yes disgusting) and called my mum to ask what she thought. She hadn’t ever experienced a miscarriage so didn’t have any personal advice on the matter, but like me also began googling to find some answers/comfort. She suggested that I called someone just in case. But who?

Who to Contact

I hadn’t had a “booking” appointment yet, I hadn’t met a midwife yet, I had no book or notes or leaflets. So I googled the local hospital and found a number for the Early Pregnancy Unit. I eventually spoke with someone who booked me in for a scan on the Sunday (it was Friday at the time). They didn’t seem very concerned as it was dark blood and I wasn’t experiencing a lot of pain.

Dark blood would suggest that it is old blood. This could be from implantation or cervical changes. So I took a little bit of comfort from this.

From this point I held my breath every time I went to the toilet in fear of there being more blood.
As it was Friday I had to go to work so I continued to get dressed. I wasn’t at work long when I went to the toilet. Holding my breath I looked at the tissue and there was bright red blood with a small clot (Sorry for TMI). My heart dropped and I could feel my eyes filling with tears. This was it I thought – I am losing my baby.

I went outside straight away to call Ricky and my mum who managed to calm me down enough to call the early pregnancy unit back. They booked me in for an emergency scan straight away.

I made up an excuse and left work to go meet Ricky at home (no-one at work knew I was pregnant yet so I couldn’t tell them the real reason I was leaving).

Early Pregnancy Scan

Luckily when we got to the hospital we were seen really quickly. I was told it would be an internal scan due to it being so early on in the pregnancy. The midwife explained that she may be quiet to start with as she does her checks, it doesn’t mean anything is wrong but she needs to make sure she checks everything first.

So I laid there on the bed, holding Ricky’s hand, staring at the ceiling, eyes filled with tears in complete silence. It was probably less than 30 seconds before she spoke but It felt like a lifetime. When she spoke she said “ok so here is your babies heartbeat, everything looks ok so far” and she turned the monitor round so I could see. I looked at the screen in disbelief and burst in to tears – tears of relief and joy.

Me and Ricky turned to each other and just smiled. I stared at this tiny little blob on the screen through tear blurred eyes. It really was just a blob, but it was my tiny blob and there was its flickering heartbeat. The amazing midwife gave me some tissue to wipe away my tears and as we were leaving she handed me a scan picture of our little blob (They aren’t supposed to hand them out but she knew how much it would mean to us).

Threatened Miscarriage

We spoke with a consultant after who said this was classed as a “threatened miscarriage”. I had a bleed both above and below baby. There was no definite cause for this but everything seemed ok and I just needed to take it easy. She said that I may experience some more bleeding over the next few days but only to come in if it was very heavy.

I actually experienced bleeding on and off until I was 15 weeks pregnant. I wave of panic come over me each time. But my little blob grew into a perfectly healthy little baby – who is now a perfectly healthy toddler!

My main purpose for writing this blog is to provide some sort or reassurance. When I was frantically searching google thinking the worst, all I could find were forums where all the stories were unanswered or ended in miscarriage. I want any other woman who is experiencing what I did to know that there is hope and things may be ok! It is definitely important to always speak to the hospital and get checked just in case. But bleeding or spotting in early pregnancy doesn’t always end in miscarriage.

I hope that you have found my story useful, informative or at least a little reassuring if you are going through something similar.

 

Find out how our birth went HERE!