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Dana - I am not sure about the percentages. i am also confused like you. I live in UK and when I saw my consultant regarding it he said it is still 50/50 for me even though I was 14 wks at the time (15 wks now) My area of bleeding is: 45 x 16 x 39mm. The reason it is more dangerous with regards to the fundus is because it is the top part of the uterus thus above the baby and that will threaten to bring poor baby with it if it decides to bleed all at once. Think of a flood taking a baby tree with it. If your area is below the sac and baby then it does not really threaten to dislodge baby. I would love to know more about prognosis. I guess docs don't like to tell us yeah you should be okay as we may go back to them and complain if it isn't. Here is a good link: http://www.angelfire.com/home/joeynrobin/subchorionic.hematoma.html Kathryn x

i wrote in in may. i was 13 wks and started bleeding and went to the er and was diagnosised with sch. well one week later i saw my ob and they did an ultrasound and the baby was doing well and we found out it was a boy! but the was alot of blood around the sac and a hematoma the size of the placenta. well on june 30 i went in for my 4 wk ck up and the ultrasound had showed some reduction in the hematoma and the baby was growing really well.but then the doctor told us that my afp blood test came back positive for down syndrome but seemed to think that the sch had interfered with my blood levels. so he set up an emergency visit with the perinatologist. we went there on july 1 they did a level 2 ultrasound and none of the markers for ds were present so they went ahead and did an amnio which he said was very risky because of the sch and all the blood around the sac. and they found that my placenta was in the wrong place. its almost ontop of my cervix. it seems like i cant stop running into complications with this pregnancy. it is so hard to deal with considering i have delivered 3 very normal babys and not one complication with any of the pregnancys. but ladies there is hope my son is strong and growing bigger every day. he is 9 oz now. but my poor husband is having to do most of the work around the house besided his full time job i feel so bad for him. but its just sit and wait for the amnio results to come in in 7 to 10 days and i go back to my ob in 4 wks and the specialist in 6 wks.. this is killing me cause i am not a patient person. but ladies there is hope. im not on the progesterone shots. my ob feels they really dont make a difference. he and the specialist feel only rest and god are going to decide the fate of my son. so be patient ladies. have hope and try not to worry that just adds stress to the baby cause dont forget the feel what you feel. stay positive and keep resting. good luck to us all

Sabrina - My blood never smelt like anything other than blood so I'd go to your doctor and get checked out for a v____al infection - these are very common in pregnancy esp. when you are bleeding. Dana - My hospital doctor told me he deals with loads of women with hematomas and 90% make it - the vast majority with normal pregnancies. I had a similar sized clot to yours at the same time. At one point the doctors thought I would miscarry as clot was so large but I didn't. They told me first-trimester bleeding often stops at 12 weeks (my red bleeding did stop then though had brown/old bleeding couple of times afterwards). Cervix premature stats are based on my length of cervix. Good luck everyone and keep on hoping.

Justine - as rest is an issue for me (I can't really although I do try - got a 7 mth old baby) did you rest or did yours seem to clear up on its own. I am worried I am doing harm by still getting on with my life even though I have sort of imposed house rest on myself with the odd trip to the supermarket. My hospital obs a__sured me that rest does not do any good and I am not doing any harm. I'm confused! Thanks, Kathryn x

Kathryn - My hospital doctors told me all the medical research shows bedrest makes no difference and whatever is going to happen will happen whatever you do. I live in London (England). I did put myself on bedrest for a week (8 to 9) and in that week my clot doubled in size from 1 inches to 2 inches and that's when I nearly lost the baby. My doctor then told me to stop bedrest as it was only worsening things and I needed to bleed otherwise the clot would crush the baby - I was 9 weeks, the clot was 2 inches and the poor baby had a CRL of 22mm. Once I stopped bedrest my clot started to decrease (though many people say bedrest helped them). My clot was also away from the baby apart from at 9 weeks when the clot was all round the baby and wasn't subchorionic - it was on the left with the baby on the right mostly. I did however lie in bed all day when I was bleeding red. I also stopped shopping altogether and my poor husband has been doing all of it. S_x is also banned normally. Also I avoid bending and if I do have to bend only bend at the legs. A website I found useful was www.allexperts.com which has a pregnancy expert called Lawrence Jay Rappaport who has given many excellent answers on hematomas.This is a link to ask questions http://www.allexperts.com/getExpert.asp?Category=1007 . This is a link to the question archive on hematoma - http://experts.about.com/sitesearch.htm?terms=hematoma - many questions have been asked already so its worth looking through them first. Hope it works out for you.

You need to take the dashes - out to make the links work - this site seems to add them.

Justine - thanks will try to get to that site. You have really put mt mind at rest with regards to rest, I'm not going to go silly but at least I know I'm not actually harming my baby. I think mine is in a bad position (some people think this makes a difference, others don't) Mine starts high in uterus (fundus) then goes either side of the sac I guess thus threatening to take baby with it. Baby is thank gawd bigger than hematoma but they have also said they aren't going to scan me anymore not even when I bleed as I've had enough scans (5 in total) and baby has always been okay. Bit tight me thinks but the bleeding does always stop I guess. I am also in England (Ess_x) and it amazes me the difference in opinion on rest between our country and the US - have you noticed that? Also they seem to get more scans to keep an eye on it in US whereas (maybe it's just my hospital) I don't and have to hope it's getting smaller til I go for 23 wk scan at end of Aug. Take care and keep me posted. Kathryn x 15+1

I want to thank you all for this excellent ma__sage board! I'm reading it in Finland/Scandinavia and it seems to be the only place on the internet where I can find information about this condition. I was diagnosed with a hematoma at weeks 5+4 when I bled for the first time clear red blood. In retrospect the bleeding was moderate, it stopped completely after only 20 minutes, I was home at the time and hit the bed and stayed there for the rest of the day. The same happend at 6+0 and 6+3. The u/s showed that the hematoma was situated around the baby which sounded alarming. After a check-up u/s the hematoma had become smaller and I thought everything was ok. The real shock came last friday at weeks 8+3, when I started to bleed enormous amounts of blood for 3 hours and pa__sed 4 large clots. I was certain it was a miscarriage. I couldn't believe it when the u/s showed that the baby was still alive! Bad news was that the hematoma had become larger than ever. Doctors have hardy given me any information about this problem, they haven't even recommended bed rest which I think is strange. Now and then I get a pain in the area of the uterus, it feels like someone was stabbing me. Do you have this also? I have cramps too, I had them especially often a few days before the huge bleeding began. This is a really scary condition! This is my first pregnancy and a result of IVF/frozen embryo transfer. I'm still on aestrogen and progesteron and am wondering what happens when I have to stop taking them. By the way, before I first strated to bleed I took baby-disperin (heparin like) but tossed it away afterwards. Are you suspecting any medication to cause the bleeding? And do you know why this seems to be common in IVF and if hormonal medication has something to do with it? I'm also wondering if endometriosis can play a role in this condition too, I have it, do you? I'm so happy there are so many positive stories here. Lets all survive this thig! The best of luck to you all!

Kathyrn - I've had 9 scans so far and would have done more if I'd asked for them and been bleeding red or brown. My hospital was great and their only rule was scans should be at least 1 week apart. I also did IVF-ICSI so went to 2 hospitals in London - 4 scans at one then 5 at the other. I practically lived in the hospitals for about 6 months! If you're ever really worried you can also make a hospital see you/do a scan if you go to A&E - its a govt. target that everyone must been seen in 4 hours now. 9am in the morning is the best time to go, evenings/weekends are very busy. I would always get scanned for red bleeding with pain and or clots or very heavy red bleeding. I've also noticed the US/UK advice differs on many things - all the American seem to be told to take prenatal vitamins and I've always been told just to take folic acid and get a healthy diet. The US seems to ban more foods too e.g. sandwiches with deli meat. My husband is French though and very little is banned there and they eat loads of soft cheese. It's very strange. Take care.

Thanks Justine for the info Now I am freaking out b/c I just went potty and got some brownish beige dischargie stuff on the TP--the doc says brown is good and I have sort of been praying that some brown stuff comes out so this stubborn little bugger came come out-but now I am freaking out I was also on baby aspirin and stopped taking it once this happened---I don't think that contributes--and the wierd thing is that is supposed to stop clotting and my bleed clotted right away I am not sure if IVF means more than one baby gets put in there--but I know with my situation--I took fert. shots to boost my eggs up---I am 38 and that was the only thing they could not test for so we tried that---but it turns out I had another sac forming in there and that caused the bleed. anyway--for all of you UKers--we went there for part of our honeymoon and we are in love with London---I rememeber growing up ---and to this day---it was my parent's favorite city--and I never understood it--snotty kid att_tude I a__sume--but now that we went there and were old enough to really appreciate it--WE LOVE IT--what an incredible city--and now it holds a very special place in our hearts Back to freaking out!!!! I will keep you posted--not sure if I should call the doc--it was just a little bit and I am not too concerned--I am actually sort of happy b/c maybe this means it is leaking out--am I being too gross--I am sorry Dana

Dana - you aren't being gross at all Let me try to put your mind at rest, brown blood is very, very good. My last big bleed was a big but brown bleed and I was happy with that so much so that I didn't go to hospital. I also get crampy feelings that could be the hematoma's blood irritating the uterus but could also be normal cramps we do experience in pregnancy. With myself and Justine, neither of our doctor's have put us on any kind of rest and on doing more of my own research I feel that rest does not really make any difference. If you are happeier getting on with your life then do so safe in the knowledge that you aren't doing more harm. I really can't be on any kind of bed rest and have to also lift my 7 month old daughter frequently throughout the day - I have no choice as she can't even crawl yet. Please try not to worry and I wouldn't worry about the brown blood - only if it goes very heavy, accompanied by a lot of pain (not just cramping) and is bright red. Mind you, nearly every one of my bleeds have been bright red and my baby is still okay! Kathryn x 15+1

Dana - There's almost always no reason to worry about brown discharge if you have a clot. Mention it to your doctor (its not urgent unless it turns red and heavy) but its very likely to be part of the clot coming away, which is good. Johanna - I did IVF-ICSI but didn't have endometrosis or any fertility problems (my husband was subfertile) so don't know if the two are linked. I know many people bleed and have clots after IVF (more than normal) but the IVF doctors told me they didn't know why. I had many eggs - 22 from 33 follicles and my guess is all the drugs confused my body. I kept producing more follicles even after I was pregnant and had many cysts on my ovaries from the treatment (I had none before). Hope things work out for you.

Dana- Not grossed out here!! I, like Justine and Kathryn, was also told that brown blood was good. I have been spotting since 8 weeks with brown blood. I did have a scare at 15 weeks with a huge amount of bright red blood plus clots but u/s said baby was fine. Sometimes I have brown stuff that looks like snot or mucus too. I am now 18+3 weeks and my spotting is slowing down to seeing a show only every other time I use the bathroom, sometimes less than that. I also have a busy family life and was put on bedrest, but have chosen to "take it easy" and continue to be mom. My husband was doing a great job but I felt like my other kids were starting to resent my crabbiness from being down. I ,too, am impatient and restless when I can't get stuff done. I want this baby to bring joy into our home and the more info I can get helps me not freak and if mom's not freaking then the kids won't think I have lost it completely. As far as the differences between US/UK I think that the UK is a lot more up to date on pregnancies that have complications. Here is the US I have to push and push to get answers and even then every answer seems to be very vauge. You seem to be the forerunners on much of the precentages and outcomes. My doctors, who can't tell me much, just make me worry! I was thrilled when I found this site. Won't it be great to be at the end and share our babies names and weights and birthdays and look back and know we were carried!! Thanks to you all!!!!

I think the US is just more into DRAMA--and that is why our docs just freak us out--I can say that as I am a USAer--I swear--I have another pg friend who had something come up on her 16 week u/s and the doc freaked out--made her get an amnio--had her thinking her baby was dying etc...--and when I called my sister in law who is an u/s tech and looked on the internet--it only showed a 1% chance of anything bad happening from what showed on her u/s--DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA--give us a break!!! anyway---I have had nothing else "come out" but feel a little scared b/c I feel a backache and a wierdness in my lower tummy--like I do when I get periodo--very mild--but there--I am hoping this is just the clot doing its thing and that I don't have another bleed in there for those of you have pa__sed this stuff--what did it feel like

Dana - Remember that you are pregnant and bound to get cramps and 'niggles' if I remember rightly from my last pregnancy, until well into 20+ wks. Also, I constantly feel crampy especially if I do a bit more than usual - go shopping or a bit more housework although I try not to but I am one that is having to listen to the 'rest does no good' brigade. also if we have blood or whatever in our uterus then it is going to be a bit irritated. I was told by my doc that unless the pain is really, really bad (we'd know) then it's normal. Good vibes to all of us and stay in touch - I love reading the new messages on here. Kathryn x 15+2

Thanks Kathryn---I guess get nervous b/c it feels like I am getting my period--and maybe that means more bleeding in there--I am just hoping that if there were new bleeding going on---the blood coming out would be red--I got the doc in about 30 minutes--and am nervous as heck--I just hate this whole process!!!!!! How are you guys doing?????