You can still bleed, even if you're pregnant.
One of the perks of pregnancy – you know, other than no one judging your weird Pringles-dipped-in-hot-sauce cravings – is that your period is basically MIA for months, right?
Technically, yes. You definitely don’t menstruate (a.k.a. shed blood and tissue from your uterus) each month, but that doesn’t mean your bathroom trips will always be blood-free (which can be scary).
So, what if you see something that looks like your period while you’re pregnant? First: Slow your roll. Bleeding a bit during pregnancy is pretty common, but it can be dangerous. Here’s what you need to know about bleeding while pregnant.
Wait, a little bleeding while you’re pregnant is normal?
It definitely can be, says Dr Joanne Stone, director of maternal foetal medicine at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. “Spotting occurs in about 30% of pregnancies in the first trimester,” she says. While you should always check in with your doctor if you notice blood, just to be safe, spotting isn’t usually a reason for concern, she says.
The spotting can happen anytime, but typically after sex, or about three to four weeks into the pregnancy. “Some people have bleeding around the time they would have expected their period, a few weeks in,” Stone says. “This is usually due to implantation and is just a coincidence.”
“Spotting occurs in about 30% of pregnancies in the first trimester.”
But keep in mind, there’s a big difference between spotting (very light bleeding, kind of like when your period is just starting or ending) and a full-on period. That’s because you need the blood your body normally sheds during your period to nourish the embryo or foetus.
Read more: 12 reasons why you’ve got period symptoms but no period
When should I be worried about bleeding while pregnant?
If you know you’re pregnant and you’re bleeding enough to fill a pad, you need to get in touch with your doctor asap, says Nicole Bullock, an obstetric-gynaecologist in Texas. “In the first trimester, up to about 20 weeks, we worry about miscarriage with heavy bleeding,” she says.
But miscarriage isn’t the only explanation: Persistent bleeding can also mean that the placenta has grown low in the cervix. While you can have a completely normal and safe pregnancy with a low-lying placenta (called placenta previa), your doctor will likely ask you to abstain from sex and may recommend bed rest in your third trimester, says Bullock.
Heavy, period-like bleeding later in your pregnancy can be a sign of something more serious like preterm labour or placental abruption (when your placenta tears away from your uterus).
But even then, you’ll be dealing with much more than just bleeding; you’ll also notice extreme pain, says Bullock. In that case, you’ll need to go the hospital where doctors will deliver the baby, she says. Still, placental abruption is extremely rare (especially if you avoid drugs and alcohol, and go to all your prenatal checkups), says Bullock.
Of course, it’s best to play it safe. So if you’ve noticed blood and you’re worried about it – and especially if you experience any pain along with it – give your obstetric-gynaecologist a call. Otherwise, enjoy your short vacation from tampons.
This article was originally published on www.womenshealthmag.com
Image credit: iStock
Whether you're trying to become pregnant or trying your hardest to avoid it, you can usually take your period as a sign that you don't have to think about a baby anytime soon. But, in a new interview with InStyle, Serena Williams says she actually got a period during the early stages of her pregnancy—and she was completely floored to find out that she was actually pregnant.
In the interview, Williams says that she didn’t think it was even possible that she could be pregnant. She hadn’t seen her now-husband Alexis Ohanian “in like four weeks” and “literally had a cycle just before.” Williams says she took the test “just to shut my friend up” and was completely surprised when it was positive. She was even more shocked when her doctor told her she was seven weeks along. Oh, and she was playing in the Australian Open at the time.
Having your period when you're pregnant is pretty darn unlikely.
“I have heard from some women who say they had periods throughout their first trimester,” Jonathan Schaffir, M.D., an ob-gyn at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells SELF. “But in reality, physiologically it’s pretty impossible to have actual periods during pregnancy.”
Just a little refresher: Every month (if you're ovulating), the lining of your uterus thickens and an egg makes its way from one of your ovaries through the fallopian tubes. If it comes in contact with sperm, the sperm can fertilize the egg. If fertilization happens, the egg will continue its journey to the uterus and can implant on that lining. If things continue from there, the fertilized egg becomes an embryo (and, later, a fetus) and the placenta will develop from the uterine lining.
But, if the egg doesn't get fertilized, your body sheds that built-up uterine lining through your vagina, causing a period. And, as you can probably guess, it's kind of an either/or situation—either the egg is fertilized and the process of pregnancy begins, or it isn't and the process of your period begins instead.
That said, there are several situations that can cause period-like bleeding early in pregnancy.
If you get your period at the usual time, it lasts for the usual amount of days, and the amount of blood that you see is pretty typical for you, it’s pretty unlikely that you’re pregnant, G. Thomas Ruiz, M.D., lead ob-gyn at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, tells SELF. But you could have bleeding in early pregnancy that just so happens to coincide with when your period is due, Dr. Schaffir says. In fact, up to 30 percent of pregnant people have some form of bleeding in early pregnancy, according to the American Pregnancy Association.
For instance, you might experience implantation bleeding, which is light spotting or bleeding that can happen when the embryo burrows into your uterine wall, and can also be a cause of bleeding in early pregnancy. But Dr. Ruiz says it’s unlikely this would be mistaken for a normal period because it tends to be much lighter.
Or you might have a cut or tear in your vagina, inflammation of your cervix, or irritation of your cervix from an infection that causes bleeding, Dr. Schaffir says. It can even be caused from sex: “Sometimes women have blood vessels close to the surface of the cervix and, during sex, the friction causes a little bleeding,” he explains. However, again, these usually produce far less blood than a period.
The placenta can also be a cause behind the bleeding if it starts to tear or separate a little. Early in pregnancy, you might see bleeding due to something called a subchorionic hematoma, which is when blood gathers between your placenta and the wall of your uterus, Dr. Schaffir explains. Although the condition can raise your risk for a miscarriage, research suggests that most who have it go on to have a healthy pregnancy.
So what if you really truly thought you got a period while you were pregnant? It's possible that you can actually shed part of your uterine lining after you get pregnant in what's called "decidual bleeding." When you become pregnant, the embryo will implant in one side of your uterine wall, usually at the back, Dr. Ruiz says. But your uterine lining has still built up all over your uterus at that point, and it’s possible for the lining to shed just from the other side of the uterus, he explains. This can look a lot like a period.
In some cases, bleeding during pregnancy can be a sign of a serious issue. So if you're not sure what's causing it, definitely check in with your doctor.
As SELF reported previously, if your bleeding is particularly heavy, comes with abdominal pain, or lasts for more than a few days, that's a sign something more serious may be going on. You might be experiencing an ectopic pregnancy (a condition in which the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus) or a miscarriage.
According to the Mayo Clinic, you should tell your doctor at your next regular appointment if you have any light spotting that goes away within a day. But if you have bleeding that lasts for more than a day, you should contact them within 24 hours. And if you pass any tissue from your vagina, experience moderate to heavy bleeding, or have bleeding along with abdominal pain, chills, or cramping, you should get in touch with them immediately. But, again, many cases of bleeding during early pregnancy aren't serious.
And, on the other hand, if you're not sure if you're pregnant and notice you’re having a period that comes at a weird time, isn't as heavy as usual, doesn’t last as long as usual, and comes with any other pregnancy symptoms, it’s worth taking a test, just in case.
Related:
- 3 Times Bleeding During Pregnancy Could Signal a Problem
- This Is Exactly What Happens During Your Menstrual Cycle
- 8 Subtle Signs You Might Be Pregnant and Not Know It