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A Look at Leukorrhea

Vaginal Discharge During Pregnancy

By Teri Brown

Of all the things that women worry about or expect during pregnancy, vaginal discharge, or leukorrhea, may not be one of them. Yet excessive vaginal discharge is quite common and quite a shock to women who have never heard of it.

Heather Cook from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was concerned that the heavy discharge was the beginning of premature labor.

"I had some abdominal and lower back pain one day in my third trimester and went in to see if I was in early labor," Cook says. "My midwife met me at the hospital and tested me to see if the fluid was actually amniotic fluid (there's a swab they can take to test it) and it wasn't. That answered that for me. It was just an annoyance, nothing else."

Leslie* from Santa Clarita, Calif., was another woman surprised by the advent of leukorrhea. The first appearance of the heavy discharge led her to the emergency room.

"This was my first pregnancy, so I panicked over every little twinge I felt, every unexpected thing that happened," Leslie says. "When I had my first dose of heavy discharge, I called my mom. She said that had never happened to her, so my husband and I went to the emergency room. After a long wait, an ultrasound and an exam, the ER doctor told me everything was fine. But he never adequately explained what was happening to me."

When Foster went to her regular doctor, he told her that it wasn't anything to worry about. "It made me wonder why no one, not my doctor, not all the pregnancy books out there, warned me that it could happen!" Leslie says. "There are so many realities of pregnancy that are just too gross to divulge, I guess."

"Almost every pregnant woman will experience leukorrhea to some degree," Dr. Peakes says. "Some pregnant women will have profuse vaginal discharge, which can even require a daily pantyliner, while others will just notice a little excess discharge when they wipe themselves after urination."

Want to see more?

• Check out our Article Library.
• Too Much Information? Getting Back to Basics in the First Trimester
• Out of the Woods: Getting Back to Basics in the Second Trimester
• Accentuate the Positive: Getting Back to Basics in the Third Trimester
• Talk about it!