Nothing is scarier than seeing blood in the beginning of a pregnancy, whether it's a bit, a lot, fresh red or brown. It is not uncommon, and most of the women go on to have healthy chubby babies with ten fingers and ten toes, and WITH nails.
I had that scare for my first pregnancy. I can't remember which week it started but it was alarming. This kinda thing makes you freeze and not want to move. You just want to lie down and pray hard that you don't feel ANY discharge comin' out of your woowoo, you know, like your period. It is stressful and very worrying.
It went away after a few weeks, almost a month I think. It was just dark brown, like chocolate, and it wasn't much to the extent of soaking up a pad. I remember at one point, at my third month, we went for an emergency check-up at a GP clinic because my gynae's office was closed. For a GP clinic, he had the most hi-tech ultrasound equipment. For the first time, we saw Daniel's scan, CLEARLY (smooth low background noise, high contrast scan) and he was moving his hands to the sides of his head as if to cover his ears. I think he could hear the ultrasound frequency! Also, that was the day we found out that it was a boy. The scan resolution was so good that the doctor could detect two testicles. AT THREE MONTHS! We were impressed. He was honest with us too. He said when there is bleeding of any kind during the first trimester, it is usually diagnosed as threatened miscarriage. Sounds threatening. But as long as the fetus is OK (strong heartbeat), you just gotta hang in there. Crazy times I tell you.
Darren's was ay-okay. NO seeing red. Just the first trimester sickness. You know, the belching, the farting, all those sexy shits.
Fast forward to New Year's Day 2011. The double strip surprise. Then I had an unpleasant surprise the next day. There was a pink discharge, and I knew that was NOT a good sign. So I held my breath. Four hours later that night, there was blood, just like a light period, and I was prepared for the worst.I thought, if I didn't take the test, I would've assumed my period just came late and I wouldn't feel so scared shitless. I imagined I would be cramping soon, but I didn't. Trying to psycho myself that I'm just having a regular period, I went to bed. Maybe it was not meant to be.
The next day, with sweaty palms and supercharged heart rate, I lay on the examination bed as my gynae glided the ulltrasound probe across my lower abdomen to look for a miracle. We didn't see any because it was too early, thus too microscopic to detect. Then, he told me he was going to use the transvaginal ultrasound probe.
TRANS-WHAT?!!!
Yes, the woowoo again. Now this is common in Singapore practice I heard. But I never had it in JB. My previous gynae just told me to come back the next week when the gestational sac is bigger (and to earn more money from every appointments you have). This gynae now, obviously has the hi-tech one. I asked, "Do you really have to?". Yes. It is crucial to locate the site of implantation. Just in case it is ectopic (fertilized egg implanted at the Fallopian tube instead of the uterus, and this can cause major complications). So, very quickly, a sheet of condom was stretched over the probe which is probably as thick as an Ayamas sausage. And then no prize for guessing where it'll go. It wasn't that bad actually. Not painful at all. Just the initial mental discomfort. The little beginning of life was where it is supposed to be. IN my uterus. Good.
Back to the bleeding part. I stopped having the period-like bleeding actually. But nevertheless, it happened. I was given MC for 3 days and on it, written, threatened miscarriage, a familiar term to me. Fine. So the next week, and two weeks forward, and more weeks down the line, I had my follow-ups religiously, and the little life grew as it should be. A sac became a fetal pole with heartbeat, a fetal pole became an embryo, an embryo became a fetus, and just last week, it looked like a fully formed baby, with legs and arms, at 13 weeks. How amazing!
But I still see chocolate. It had stopped for few days but it always came back. And although I've had this experience, it is still worrying, but not as much as if it is the first time. We don't really know the cause, but from Mr. Google, I thought it could be subchorionic hematoma, gathering of blood between the membranes of the placenta and the uterus, or a blood clot in the uterus. That could be the reason why I'm discharging it slowly. And there's nothing you can do about it. All I can do now is minimize walking, carrying Darren and stop gymnastics. And I hope soon, the only chocolate I see is from my Cadbury pack.
I hope this is informative for those who are experiencing bleeding in their first trimester. It is no doubt very frightening but whatever will be, will be. Keeping an open and accepting mind is important. Like Daniel mooning at me that day -_-
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