I will never forget the day I found myself looking down my pants, there was blood everywhere, I was 10 weeks pregnant and I was sure I had lost my baby. I’ve never heard of subchorionic hemorrhage (SCH) and I didn’t know it was possible to bleed a lot and still be pregnant. Ever since that day I’ve learned a lot about these hemorrhages and want to share it with you, because if you’ve found this post you are probably going through what I did and have lots of questions.
The best person to answer all of your questions will always be your doctor because each case is different and there are many factors that come into play when it comes to SCH’s but make sure you are going to a doctor that has had patients that have gone through this before.
Subchorionic hemorrhage is something very common in pregnancy however it has not been studied enough and to this day no one knows what causes it, there are several theories out there but that’s all they are, theories. The most important thing to know is that it’s not your fault. This seems to randomly happen to different women, under different circumstances and scenarios and there’s not much you can do to avoid it.
A SCH will be diagnosed after you get an ultrasound, a trained tech will be able to recognize a “pool of blood” in your uterus (see picture below of my SCH). Your baby will have a heartbeat and most likely everything else will look normal. Sometimes women discover about their SCH during a routine scan and sometimes, like me, they discover it when they find themselves bleeding. The bleeding will vary from women to women, it can be spotting, it can be a lot and you can even pass big blood cloths. When you have a SCH you should expect to bleed but if you’re filing up more than one pad an hour or having strong cramps it is best to see your doctor inmediately.
The good news is that your chances of miscarrying due to a SCH are low and you are most likely to carry your baby full term without any complications. However, like everything, there are exemptions and things might get complicated. This is why it’s important to follow your doctor’s recommendations. Although I’ve come to find out the recommendations you should follow vary amongst doctors. A good rule is that if you’re bleeding red, you should be on bedrest – this means pelvic rest, no heavy lifting, no walking more than around the house, no standing on your feet too long, no exercise, basically you’re supposed to be in bed or a couch all day. I was also nursing before the bleeding episode and continued to do so with no complications. When I was diagnosed with the SCH I was put on strict bedrest and monitored biweekly, alternating between my midwife and a high risk doctor.
After my first bleeding episode I bled for 5 more days, it was still constant and bright red. My bleeding suddenly stopped and I didn’t bleed for 2 weeks. Then I started bleeding again but it was all sorts of browns, not bright red anymore. My high risk doctor informed me that it was probably my body getting rid of the SCH. Mine was close to my cervix and he expected me to bleed some of it out. He said as long as the blood was brownish and not bright red I had nothing to worry about. I was still on bedrest but allowed to walk a bit more, as long as I took it easy. The brown bleeding lasted for 4 weeks. Yes, I bled every single day for 4 weeks. It was emotionally heartbreaking and I constantly worried about my baby. I knew there was nothing I could do but it was hard. A week after I stopped bleeding I had an ultrasound and to my surprise my SCH had disappeared. I was so happy and was told I could slowly start moving around more and work my way up to going back to my regular life. Although the heavy lifting and no high impact exercise is a restriction that will remain until the end of my pregnancy.
Today, as I’m writing this post, I’m 32 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby girl. I am so grateful to have made it this far and hoping to make it full term. I am no longer considered high risk but having had a SCH puts you at a slightly higher risk for preterm labor so I’m being closely monitored by my midwife. I am back to living a normal life and I’ve been pretty active – after all I have a 2 year old I chase around all day. Right now I feel like a normal pregnant woman and I’m finally super excited about meeting this baby. My fear of losing her is gone.
The most helpful thing during this time was having support and understanding from other women that were going through the same thing. I found a Facebook group dedicated to this type of pregnancy condition and it was a life saver. I learned a lot about SCHs and found support in my darkest hours. If you’re dealing with this issue, I urge you to join this group, you will need the extra encouragement and support.
Update: I had a beautiful and healthy baby girl, read my birth story here.
Thank you to the link to the Facebook group! My story is very similar to yours. At 9w3d, I was in the grocery store and I feel warm liquid gushing down my leg. I thought it was urine, but I also felt confused because I didn’t have a full feeling bladder. I was horrified to look down and see a puddle of blood forming! Thankfully I had a black skirt on! I was only 5 minutes from home and hurried in hysterically telling my BF that he had to take me to the hospital. It was after the ultrasound techs left and they had to be called in. I waited for two hours, bleeding the entire time. The ultrasound showed a moving baby measuring ahead of schedule! Other than the ER doctor advising that I had a subchorionic hemorrhage, I wasn’t given any further details. I declined the pelvic exam because I thought that since I was still bleeding, infection may be an issue (although now I sort of wish I knew if my cervix was open or not). After coming home from the hospital, I passed a dark clot about the size of my palm. That was three days ago, and I’ve been spotting lightly. Hoping for a good outcome since I had two 2nd trimester miscarriages prior to this (related to my cervix though…not SCH).
I am so sorry you’re going through this! It is so scary and the uncertainty is hard to deal with but don’t forget that most of these pregnancies have a positive outcome. I hope you join the Facebook group, you’ll find great support there. Plus the ladies are very knowledgable and can give you tips/tell you what worked for them. I wish you a healthy full term pregnancy. Hang in there mama!
This is exactly what I needed. A few weeks ago I had that massive bright red bleed and rushed to the ER thinking the worst (we lost our first pregnancy in January and I was so certain I was losing this baby too) only to be diagnosed with an SCH, babe was just fine, very active with a great heart beat. I bled for the rest of the day and then it tapered off and I thought it was over. 3 weeks later I had another bleed this time not as much and dark touch blood another ER trip and another happy healthy baby on the screen. Only a week after that I have been spotting for 3 days now and I’m beside myself with worry. This article gives me hope and strength! I see the high risk specialist today so I know I’ll be well looked after.
I know how stressful it can be and how hard it is not to worry but in most cases women with SCH end up with a healthy full term baby.
There’s a good chance that will be your outcome too. Have you joined the Facebook group? It helps to talk to women that are going through this too.
Good luck mama! I hope it resolves for you soon so you don’t have to worry anymore about it.
I was Diagnosed with an SCH at about 6 weeks into my pregnancy, nearly a month later i was told it was gone, all symptoms left, so I felt that it was in fact gone away. Well on 11/17/16 I delivered a healthy baby girl at 10:12 am, afterwards the pain however just wouldn’t leave I tried to hold my baby but i couldn’t even enjoy our first moments because i hurt so bad, after standing up to try to go to the restroom for the 3rd time thinking it’d help blood went all over the floor, nurses constantly fed me pain pills, i cried out please help me as I couldn’t take any more pain I told them something was wrong because i hurt so bad…they assured me it was the Pitocin. a couple hours later i told them i wanted God to take me because I couldn’t handle the pain any more, they FINALLY called the doctor in, before long i was surrounded by about 6 doctors, that SCH that was supposedly diminished had been there all along and it was so big it had tried to come down but was stuck. I had emergency surgery which required being cut from the vagina to the anus. Overall I was thankful that my baby made a healthy entrance into the world, but she and my older son could have lost me…so I say all this to say if you are diagnosed with an SCH make sure they give an ultrasound at every appointment. I almost died due to how much blood I lost and the amount of pain I was in caused my blood pressure to be stroke level high so please enforce the monitoring of it.
OMG! I didn’t know that could happen and I’m so happy you’re okay. Now that you tell me this, I did bleed a lot more after the birth of my SCH baby, so much that my midwife gave me pitocin to stop the bleeding. I wonder if it’s related…
I wish doctors would take SCH more seriously. Thanks for sharing your story!
Hello thank-you for this and the link to the FB page you are wondering. Do you know if there is a difference between SCH and the bleeding they call threatening miscarriage.
Regards Helen.
Helen, as far as I understand, there’s bleeding because you’re miscarrying and bleeding due to SCH (where you don’t miscarry).
Gosh I have been under the opinion that SCH will most likely make a miscarriage. Then I found a page for the main cities woman’s hospital which totally down played the whole SCH which had me totally bamboozled. I have been laying still for 10 thinking if I move too much the SCH will get bigger and keep bleeding and I will lose him. On Thursday the stand in OB said it had gone, healed, it was 6.5 cms by 5.5 cms by another number. Wow how could positive thinking and every one cheering for me heal this thing !!!!!! Then on Friday the red came again. I am so confused. I had “normal” bleeding before the SCH appeared and wondered what is the difference. Very confuseing. Thank-you for your reply Carolina.
Kendra- please tell me you consulted a medical malpractice attorney. That does not sound like you received care within the standard of practice.
I am 8 weeks as of yesterday and had an SCH on Sunday while out doing errands and not 24 hours before my first OB appointment. Scared me to death. I have the Factor 5 Leiden which puts me at risk for blood clots but my doctors are unable to tell me if that’s a factor. They’re holding off on blood thinners until this passes. Fortunately, my husband is incredible and helping with stuff around the house. I sit at work so I haven’t been put on leave yet but my best friend and her husband have a bet on when I’ll be put on bed rest, ha ha. I go back Monday for another ultrasound. When I first heard the heartbeat, I started to cry with relief. So glad you’re doing better.
Thank you VERY much for sharing your experience. I had a SCH event yesterday and it was very frightening. Thankfully my husband kept me calm, and my OB was able to take me in that day where she confirmed I still have my baby and it had a wonderful little heart beat. It was a SCH and now I’ve been slightly spotting, so that freaked me out again. Your post REALLY put my mind at ease. Thank you so much for sharing. I’m going to definitely join that FB group. Have a great day, and again, thank you for sharing!
Hi… i read your article… i am that stage where i still dont know whats wrong with me… i started spotting one day…and by the 3rd day its was like big blood clots…i am 8 weeks pregnant…i have been to 3 differents ERs and they jist say the uterus is intact…we can detect a heartbeat… but we dont know tbe source of bleeding… its driving me nuts
Thanks for sharing your story. Just when I wanted some hope to deal with my condition.