I was driving home after doing some shopping for my daughter’s birthday when I felt like I slightly peed myself.
I thought: “oh great, now I’m peeing myself without even feeling the need to pee”. I was 5 minutes away from home when it happened and figured I would pee soon and all would be fine.
I got off the car and as I carried my daughter home (she was asleep) I started to feel like I was peeing myself even more and started to feel it coming down my legs.
I rushed to the bathroom and sat on the toilet, heard a gush of liquid fall into the toilet and I thought to myself “how am I peeing and not feeling it?” That thought was immediately gone once I looked down to my underwear and saw it filled with blood. There was blood everywhere. It was my worst nightmare coming to life. I screamed for my mom and told her “I’m losing the baby”.
I started sobbing like a maniac as my mom checked to see if I had passed any tissue. She said it didn’t look like a miscarriage and to go lay down. I called my husband and could barely speak. He rushed come. Our PCP had said to go to the emergency room but once I laid down the bleeding stopped so I waited for a call back from my midwife. While I waited I just laid in bed, drank lots of water, cried, googled, prayed. My baby had made it to 10 weeks and I could not believe I might losing him/her.
Blood stopped coming out and I only had some when I wiped after I peed. I didn’t have any cramps nor any other symptoms. The midwife told me to take it easy and come into her office. She reminded me I have her cell phone and to call her if anything changed.
I wasn’t feeling sick nor had any other signs but wiping blood every timed I peed broke my heart a little. “Why? How could this happen? Is my baby alive?” So many questions…and I had no answers.
That night as I was putting my daughter to bed she pointed to the hallway and told me there was a baby. She blew the baby kisses and said “bye baby” – as in good night. I freaked out even more. Out of all the nights she does something like this it had to be that night. I thought our baby was saying bye to her.
Finally it was time to see my midwife and although it haven’t been so long it felt like forever. The entire car ride to her office I cried. I just couldn’t help myself and was so scared of the possibility my baby could be gone.
My midwife tried looking for baby’s heartbeat with a doppler but warned us it was too soon to be picked up so not to worry if she couldn’t find it. She didn’t find it and immediately sent us to get an ultrasound. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long and the moment came when I was lying in a bed waiting for the worst and hoping the best.
The first imagine we saw on the screen was our baby moving. Our baby was moving!!! Our baby was alive!!! I cried out of happiness. They checked me for about 15 minutes to make sure everything was OK and to figure out why I was bleeding. The baby’s heartbeat was strong: 171. My placenta was forming and everything looked right on track. They found the source of my bleeding: I have a subchorionic hemorrhage (SCH).
A subchorionic hemorrhage, also known as a subchorionic hematoma or simply SCH, is created when blood gathers in the space between the placenta and uterus. The technical term is chorion, but many doctors will simply call it a blood clot. These clots can be serious because they might grow large, and thus cause the placenta to separate from the uterine wall. This is especially true if the clot or bleeding becomes too large, cannot be reabsorbed by the body, or develops in a spot that makes separation more likely. –Source.
In other words a SCH is like a pool of blood that forms between the uterus and baby and to this day its cause is unknown. However, it’s pretty common and most of the time, with bed rest, it reabsorbs itself without threatening the pregnancy or baby.
My baby measures 3.5 centimeters and is lying on a blood clot that’s 5 centimeters long, so right now the blood pool is bigger than the baby. Luckily the SCH is close to my cervix and not close to the placenta, which could cause even more issues with the pregnancy.
Unfortunately, there is nothing the doctors nor I can do. This will resolve itself on its own or not. If it doesn’t, we will lose this baby.
The odds are in our favor and it seems like baby will make it but right now it’s all a waiting game. I now have to see a high risk doctor and I’m on bed rest for the next 6 weeks, hoping it will resolve on its own. I can’t even leave my house and I’m not supposed to be moving around a lot. I can’t even pick up my daughter, which makes me a bit sad.
I am so happy and relieved to know my baby is alive and well and although we are not out the woods, we have a strong little one so that gives me hope.
I also learned that bleeding in pregnancy, although it might look like a lot and scary, doesn’t automatically mean a miscarriage. The only way to diagnose SCH is by an ultrasound so if you ever find yourself bleeding (which I hope none of you do) try not to freak out before you see a doctor.
Pregnancy is a mysterious thing and although medicine has advanced a lot there are some things they just don’t know. SCH is one of them. This has been a huge reminder for me that we can’t control everything. Things happen for a reason and sometimes all you can do is have patience and be positive.
I’m scared about the baby and sad that my daughter will be most of the time stuck at home with me, with a mom that can’t move much but I have a great husband and some amazing friends and family that have offered help. I know we will get through this.
Were you ever diagnosed with SCH in one of your pregnancies? How did you cope with it? What was the outcome?
Update #1: Read my follow up post “My SCH pregnancy & outcome“
Update #2: I had a beautiful and healthy baby girl, read my birth story here.
Tanique says
My story is similar to yours. At 14 weeks I was awakened in the middle of the night with a gush feeling. I ran to the bathroom and it was like the floodgates had opened. There was blood everywhere. I yelled to my husband and he found me standing in a pool of blood. We rushed to the ER and they kept us there for hours, without knowing if our baby was alive or not. When they finally came to check me out, the nurses were already saying things like “You can try again in a few months”. I was a wreck. The doctor that saw me was also saying that I might have lost my baby. When they finally hooked me to the ultrasound and we saw the baby moving, it was as if I was breathing again for the first time. My SCH was huge, covering almost half of the bottom of the uterus and almost touching the placenta. The doctor said I had about a 50/50 chance of losing the baby. In the days after, they did the ultrasound and it has slightly shrunk but it was still there by my 20 – week ultrasound. I had horrible nausea through week 24 of my pregnancy so every time I had to throw up I was worried the SCH might cause the placenta to detach or something. Fortunately, I delivered a healthy baby at 38 weeks. She is now a feisty, strong – willed three-year-old!
Carolina says
Wow! What a scary experience. I was surprised to find out how common this is but I’ve never heard of it until it happened to me. I’m so happy you had a positive outcome out of this scary experience and that you have a healthy 3 year old. I’m so happy for you! I hope I’ll be able to say in the same in 30 weeks. 🙂
Carina says
Thank you for this information i had the same condtion, your story gives me hope. I was thinking if its my fault, i felt so devastated. I cried a lot, i thought we lost our baby. This is my second pregnancy and we really wanted to have a baby. I had a trauma with my first pregnancy because i had miscarriage, they called it blighted ovum. That’s why when there is continous blood flowing, I screamed and cried a lot. Then we called my OB doctor, she told to me to go to ER so she check it through Ultrasound, my husband and I thought that our baby is already gone thats why we will not be surprise if there’s no baby at all. But when the doctor check it, suprisingly there is already a heartbeat im 6 weeks and 1 day. My doctor prescribe me medications and ordered complete bed rest for 6 weeks. She told me to observed if theres any changes, like too much bleeding. Thank God the bleeding is not that much. Were praying everyday that my bleeding will stop and our baby will grow healthy, strong and normal. Thank you to your story.
Carolina says
Oh mama! I know exactly how you feel. It’s so scary not knowing if your baby is going to make it…but the odds are in your favor. I had to be on bed rest too and I’m sure it helped.
How are you feeling? Has the bleeding stopped a bit? Make sure you join the Facebook support group – it was a life saver for me during that time.
Good luck!
Amber says
That must have been so scary for you- I’m so sorry that you’re going through this. I’m glad to hear that they were able to find the cause of the bleed and hope that it will resolve quickly. I’ll be praying for you and your baby 🙂
Cheers, Amber at OurCharmedLife.net
Carolina says
Thank you so much Amber! I’m feeling optimistic and hope it resolves soon.
Silvia says
I hope everything goes well, I had a similar experience with my now almost 2 years old, so I know the awful feeling.
keep it up, be positive and take it easy, will be praying for you and your baby! Un abrazo
Carolina says
It’s comforting to know you had a positive outcome. I hope my story ends the same as yours.
Kynnedy Sanders says
I experienced bleeding on Saturday mid morning at the volleyball tournament I was coaching at. I called the oncall nurse and she said to monitor it and go to the hospital if bleeding got worse and i filled up a pad every hour or less. After my tournament around 4:30 I just didn’t feel comfortable waiting until Monday even though I had not filled up a pad yet. I went to St. Jo and got evaluated. They found I have a subchorionic hematoma. I left feeling like I have so many questions that weren’t answered and don’t know enough details about what is happening. When I got home from the hospital last night I passed a dark red blood clot. I would really like to come in on Monday to be evaluated by Dr. Whisler and have a sonogram at college hill so that she can see what’s going on and how severe it is. Please let me know if this can be done and what her opinion is on this. Thank you so much! I am freaking out a lot!
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says
Oh my goodness… this was heart-wrenching to read. I’m so glad things are settled. I will hold you up in prayers my friend.
Big hugs to you.
xoxo
Carolina says
Thank you Jennifer! It was so scary but I’m glad things are looking better now. All I can do is wait and hope for the best.
riyarenubodh@gmail.com says
i am experiancing it right now. i am 6 week pregnant and my bleeding started yestervday . i dont know what to do. its sunday and i cant even see doctor. i called to hospital they said gynocologist will be available tomorrow so come tomorrow. i cant tell you how m i feeling right now. its breaking me from inside i dont wanana loose my baby. coz i already face miscarrige 3 months before. what should i do. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
The Mad Mommy says
Thank you for sharing your experience. I know it must have been hard. I was not diagnosed with SCH, but I did have a threatened miscarriage with my son and it was the most terrifying thing.
Thank you for linking up at the #SHINEBlogHop.
Carolina says
I bet it was so scary. Sounds like your outcome was good. 🙂 I’m so happy for you.
Thanks for stopping by.
Charlee Anne says
Carolina, I’m so sorry that things haven’t gone so smoothly with your pregnancy. I am so glad you are getting help from your mom and husband. Please know that I am thinking about you and praying for the best for both you, baby, and your family. I hope things get better!
Carolina says
Thank you! It’s been a rough time but I’m feeling hopeful. My midwife thinks it might resolve by 16 weeks so I hope she’s right.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Means a lot!
vonny says
hi Carolina :
I just read your stories and it was the same as mine now. Do you mind to tell me what was your outcome? thank u and greatly appreciate your respond.
Carolina says
I had a healthy baby girl a little over a week ago. The SCH didn’t affect it at all and I made it full term – she was born at 40+3 weeks. I know it’s hard to go through this but the odds are in your favor. Good luck with your pregnancy.