Solving the Case of the False Period

As you know, I'm pregnant.

And as you may also know this pregnancy snuck up on me and I didn't realize I was pregnant until I had reached the halfway point. When I took my pregnancy test at home I consulted my period tracker which calculated me to be around 6 weeks along at the time. But I didn't trust that date because I was sure I'd started feeling movement already. So when I saw my family doctor I asked to get booked in for an ultrasound first before seeing the OB.

At the ultrasound the tech informed me that I was right and I was much further along than my last period led me to believe. At her guess, she figured I was around 23 weeks along. Upon that discovery it was a relief to know that I wasn't so out of touch with my own body that I had completely missed my baby's movements. Just enough out of touch to totally miss the fact that I was pregnant for 4 months. 

But this still left me with one thing I didn't understand: Why did I have a period in January???

If you read the post before this one, you'll know that I had a massive period in January. It only lasted 24 hours, but was a very heavy flow. So much so that had I known I was pregnant, I would have thought I'd lost the baby. Knowing what I know now, I think it's a tender mercy that I didn't know I was pregnant at the time otherwise that would have been a very distressing day for me. 

So. What happened? The only theory I could come up with was that maybe I was pregnant with twins and I'd lost one. As I've talked with other ladies about it, that seemed to be the only explanation anyone could come up with. 

Well. It turns out that this little baby is a miracle baby. When I saw the doctor today she had my ultrasound report in hand and on it they made a note that they'd found something called a hypoechoic area on the placenta measuring 8 x 7.7 cm large. My doctor told me that it was a hematoma and it was a result of the bleeding I'd experienced in January. 

Figure 1. Doctor's explanation

So, what she told me is this: the placenta had stared to pull away from my uterine wall (see fig.1) which is why I'd experienced all that bleeding in January. But for some reason, only part of it pulled away and the placenta closed itself up and somehow my baby managed to stay. And when we checked on baby's heartbeat it was good and strong! And I've been feeling lots of movement from her, so as far as we can tell she is perfectly healthy.

The doctor showed me the approximate size of the hematoma which is about the diameter of a lemon, and isn't small either. She guesses the area was much larger when it happened but has since reduced in size. We've scheduled another ultrasound 8 weeks from now to check on that spot again to make sure it's still getting smaller. 

In the meantime I've been told to take things easy, meaning gentle exercises only. So no rugby for me, I guess! Just walking, swimming and prenatal pilates it is!