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Home › Articles › Life Circumstances and Challenges During Pregnancy › Managing Placenta Previa

Managing Placenta Previa

Dealing with a Low-lying Placenta

By Cecelia A. Cancellaro

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Holly Faubion of Austin, Texas, was 12 weeks pregnant with her third child when she was diagnosed with placenta previa during a routine ultrasound. The news came as a shock, but Faubion was encouraged to learn that in many cases this condition corrects itself as pregnancy progresses.

"My doctor said no sex and no heavy lifting, but otherwise I could continue on as normal until my next ultrasound, which was scheduled for my 28th week," says Faubion.

 

What is Placenta Previa?
Placenta previa refers to a placenta that covers all or part of a pregnant woman's cervix and can lead to excessive bleeding, which can be dangerous to both mother and baby. "Placenta previa is estimated to occur in approximately one in 250 pregnancies," says Dr. Traci Kurtzer, an OB/GYN with ENH Medical Group in Deerfield, Ill.

 

Very often, however, placentas that cover or lie close to the cervix in the early weeks of pregnancy (also referred to as low-lying placentas) often move upward as the baby and the uterus grow. "A diagnosis of low-lying placenta is found in 5 to 6 percent of all early pregnancy ultrasounds," says Dr. Kurtzer. "Over 90 percent of these resolve by term just by continued growth of the uterus and stretching of the lower uterine segment."

Certain factors are thought to increase the possibility that a woman will develop placenta previa including scarring of the uterine wall, multiple pregnancies (carrying more than one baby at a time) and advanced maternal age.

Unfortunately for Faubion, her 28-week ultrasound showed that the placenta had not moved at all and her doctor ordered strict bed rest for the duration of her pregnancy. "I was terrified," she says. "Not only did I have to worry about the baby being born prematurely, I had to worry about myself too. Additionally, I had two children and a husband at home to take care of. How were we all going to survive this?"


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