# Re-written topic of the month JULY - BLEEDING AND PAIN IN EARLY PREGNANCY



## emilycaitlin (Mar 7, 2006)

BLEEDING IN EARLY PREGNANCY

1:4 women will experience bleeding in the first trimester, 70-80% of these will go on to have full term healthy pregnancies (Bennett & Brown 1993)

no bleeding in pregnancy is considered normal, and advice should always be sought. The first point of call is your GP. He or she may refer you to the hospital for a scan. or they may want to wait and see what the next few days bring. Whatever they decide, how you act will not have any effect on the outcome of the pregnancy, so don't feel that you have to sit with your feet up, if you are just wanting to carry on as normal. Neither action will change what is or isn't going to happen

Bleeding doesn't necessarily mean that it is a miscarriage, but if it is, there is nothing that any doctor can do to stop it happening. A scan will tell you what is happening at that exact moment, but will not change any outcome.

If you have bleeding accompanied with severe abdominal pain, or pain in the tips of your shoulders, contact your dr without delay, as this could be an indication of an ectopic pregnancy.

PAIN IN EARLY PREGNANCY

Pain in early pregnancy does not always mean that there is a problem. Many women feel all the symptoms of AF at the very beginning of their pregnancies. There is often discomfort due to ligaments stretching, some that have never been used before. Backach is another common problem, but again, just your body adjusting to prepare fr the growing uterus. Abdominal pain can also be due to unassociated problems, such as a stomach upset or constipation.

As mentioned earlier, if you experience any severe abdominal pain, or pain in the shoulder tips, seek help immediately, as this could be symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, although, there are often other symptoms of this, or even none at all in some cases.

If you are at all worried about pain or bleeding in pregnancy at any stage, ask your midwife or dr, as it's always best to be checked out and everything be ok, than to leave it and be worried.


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