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Spotting
During Pregnancy
Spotting
during pregnancy can occur even in a normal, healthy
pregnancy.
Bleeding during pregnancy at any point is enough to make a woman feel
incredibly paranoid about their baby’s health.
Spotting or bleeding isn’t necessarily a sign of danger, but
it is a sign that you and your midwife or doctor should pay close
attention.
Common
Causes for Bleeding While Pregnant
Women can spot or have pregnancy bleeding for many reasons.
Whether or not it is a cause for concern depends upon the reason for
the bleeding. Women who experience bleeding
should consult their doctor or midwife right away.
Common
causes for spotting
during pregnancy include:
- Implantation Bleeding:
Bleeding at the very beginning of a pregnancy, even before you get a
positive test, could be a sign of implantation bleeding. This
type of bleeding during pregnancy is better described as spotting,
which is just very light bleeding.
- Implantation bleeding
occurs when the embryo burrows into
the lining of the uterus. Because the uterus is engorged with
blood to nourish the embryo, implantation can cause slight spotting or
bleeding. This is normal and is not a cause of
concern.
- Friable Cervix:
This condition, which is simply a cervix that is easily irritated, is
common in pregnancy. The 50% greater blood volume combined
with
the engorgement of the cervix makes it ripe for spotting during
pregnancy. If the cervix is bumped during
intercourse, a pap
smear, or a vaginal exam bleeding may occur. While this is a
concern to women, doctors or midwives know that this is common and not
a cause for concern.
- Sexually Transmitted
Infections: Certain
sexually transmitted infections like
HPV and herpes can sometimes cause spotting during
pregnancy if
the lesions or warts are by the cervix. While the infection
itself is cause for concern, the bleeding is considered a symptom of
the infection.
- Miscarriage:
Typically when women first see pregnancy spotting after they know they
are pregnant, their minds immediately go to miscarriage.
While it
is not definitely the reason for
- your bleeding, it the
most scary for women. The fear
that something is wrong with the baby is all consuming.
Miscarriage bleeding tends to be bright red and copious in amount
accompanied by cramping. Contact your provider if you
experience
this
- .
- Ectopic Pregnancy:
A pregnancy that has implanted somewhere in the uterine tube that
connects your ovary to the uterus can begin to rupture and cause
bleeding. An ectopic
- pregnancy usually is
accompanied by intense pain.
-
- Twin Demise:
In early pregnancy, the presence of bleeding could be the result of a
twin pregnancy in which one of the sacs has dissolved. This
does
not mean that you are not
- still
pregnant. Indeed, rough estimates put the
chances of this happening in about 20% to 30% of all twin
pregnancies. As the living baby continues to grow, the other
tissue begins to reabsorb into your body. The demise of one
twin
might cause bleeding.
- Placenta Issues:
If your placenta has implanted over your cervix or begun to detach from
the wall of your uterus, bleeding could occur. Typically,
placenta previa (where the cervix is covered partially or totally by
your placenta) causes painless bleeding that comes an goes with
increasing amounts.
- Placenta abruptio
(where the placenta completely or
partially separates from the wall of the uterus) presents with intense
abdominal pain and/or large amounts of blood. Both of these
conditions are considered obstetrical emergencies.
Periods
During Pregnancy
Some women report getting periods during pregnancy. While
this is
impossible, there can be episodic break-though bleeding that can be
perceived as a period while pregnant. Hormonal shifts in
pregnancy can cause bleeding where parts of the lining of the uterus
shed with regularity. It might, indeed, seem like a woman is
getting a period when in reality it’s just bleeding during
pregnancy.
Spotting during pregnancy can be a scary thing, and it requires the
knowledge of your doctor or midwife to help you make sense of it
all. Do not hesitate to seek out care if your bleeding is
copious, worrisome, or combined with pain and fever. Getting
help
to understand this issue is vital to your emotional and physical well
being.
Go from Spotting During Pregnancy to Pregnancy Problems.
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