Spotting During Really Early Pregnancy

I had some spotting and cramping early on in my pregnancy as well, at 6 weeks. I was super paranoid and my Dr (who is also my aunt) sent me for an ultrasound asap. Everything was fine and I got to see the quivering grain of rice that was my son! Having the ultrasound really put my mind at ease. Good luck!

Hi V.-- I spotted for six weeks with both of my pregnancies... for my second child, I even passed a large blood clot and called my doctor telling him I thought I had a miscarriage...I was wrong. I also spotted later in my pregnancy again-- at about 33 weeks. Often times spotting is not a cause for alarm. My kids are 8 and 10 now.

S.

Hi V. -
Yes, it's normal for many - and not only did I spot with my second pregnancy, but my sister in law didn't realize she was expecting until she was nearly 5 months along because she got what she thought was a very light period, and since they weren't 'trying' she didn't think anything of it.

Hang in there - I know the anxiety you must be feeling - but it should stop soon.

B. W.

I honestly think your midwife and doula are being a little irresponsible. The chances are high that everything is ok, but telling you there isn't anything you could do and to refocus your energy is questionable, at best. If you're concerned, you can ask to have your hCG levels and progesterone levels tested. At this point your hCG levels should still be doubling (so you'll need two blood draws) and they can check to make sure your progesterone levels are high enough (if not, a supplement can be a tremendous help). There *are* things they can and should be checking. A "wait it out and we'll find out if it's nothing or a miscarriage" attitude is worrisome. I'd follow up with them and if their attitude is the same, I'd contact your PCP and request the tests...and find a new midwife and doula.

I remember during my first pregnancy I awoke to a nice big brown blood stain on my sheets... i totally freaked and worried like maniac (as any new mom would) until the doctor reassured me that brown is fine.. it's the bright red you have to worry about....

I too had spotting very early on in my first pregnancy. I was 7 weeks along and had brown spotting for at least a week and a half. Sometimes it got very heavy.
I later even had red spotting at 12 weeks for a couple of weeks.
The advice our midwife always gave was to stay off my feet as much as possible.
It freaked me and my husband out a lot, but it was completely normal and the rest of the pregnancy went off without a hitch.
Good luck.

V.,

Your midwife and doula are right --- there is nothing you can do. It will be what it will be.

That being said, I spotted almost through my entire pregnancy and I have a healthy, amazingly wonderful almost 2 year old.

I wish you the best! If you want to e-chat I'd be happy to give you more details about my experience.

My mother and all of my doctors kept saying "brown is good" -- meaning that it was old blood. Of course there were times when the spotting was red as well.... but again my daughter developed perfectly.

Take care,
S.

I experienced the same thing with my pregnacy, until my 4th month (I believe). It was scary but normal. My doctor explained that some women spot/cramp like that through out their pregnacy. I luckily stopped at the 4th month.

I gave birth to a healthy 8lb baby girl this past December.

So, don't worry about it. PS. pantiliners work great!

Hello!

I spotted my first 4 MONTHS! I was always worried. It was off and on but I felt I could never relax about it. My daughter was born and was just fine. My second pregnancy I also spotted not as frequently and not for as long but I still would spot. My second daughter is here and made it just fine. After asking around I found that other women in my family had similar experiences and none resulted in miscarraige. Also, I had read that some women feel some cramping and spot when the egg is attaching?! I was told from my Dr. that the spotting and cramping would get much worse if it was moving in the wrong direction. I know how nerve wracking this can be. Hang in there! Think Positive!

hi V. -
i had significant bleeding thru the first trimester. twice i was convinced i was miscarrying. all turned out well - i had a great, easy pregnancy. my dr said not to worry unless a) it's gushing down your legs (sorry for the graphic language) and b) there are clots. easier said than done. i later learned my bleeding was most likely from embryo transitioning from a direct attachment to the uterus to the developing umbilical cord. good luck! D.

I spotted brown with my son, who is almost 3. the brown is just dried blood, and could be from an exam you might have had or from having any sex. I bled a little red with my son as well as the brown, and that was from a minor bubble of blood under the uterus and he is fine today. unless you are bleeding red, I would try not to worry. Easier said then done, believe me, but do try and stay calm, worrying isn't good for the baby. I'll say a prayer for you!

Best of luck!
D.

I had a lot of difficulty getting pregnant. I 'spotted' for 23 days early in my pregnancy with my son. He is perfect and healthy and I was in a perpetual state of panic with the bleeding. Mine was more actual bleeding than brown spotting but it did work out fine. Basically I went to work then came home and lay on the couch. I only went up the stairs the last thing before bed and first thing in the morning. I also got an extra ultrasound while I was bleeding to see that nothing seemed to be wrong. That was very emotionally helpful.

Good luck.

I had some brown spotting when I was pregnant with my first. At the time someone told me that spotting sometimes happens at the time you would have gotten your period had you not been pregnant. I don't know for sure if this holds true, but I do know that I have a beautiful 3 1/2 year old daughter....(and a 1 1/2 year old son). I hope this eases your mind a little and I wish you the best.

I had the same thing happen to me around the same time and it turned out fine. Its very scary because it didn't happen with my first pregnancy (now 13 mos. old), and when you go online and try to search it out, some things seem really bad and others turn out fine. I think just to keep positive is your best bet everyone is different. I did go in for an ultrasound just to check it out and they couldn't see anything wrong at the time (not much to see), which put me at ease a little, however I knew what happens will happen and most likely happen for a reason. I am now 28 weeks along and doing fine. My spotting was heavy enough to wear a panty liner and lasted off & on for a couple weeks. It was always brown spotting not red. Hope this helps a little I know it is a scary feeling not knowing what is going on.

I spotted during both of my pregnancies and I have 2 great kids. Try not to worry...I know that is hard to do but everything worked out great for me both times. Hope this helps

Hi, congatulations, on your pregnancy, I have 3 boys and just newly pregnant with my fourth, I spotted brown with 2 of them, and I had healthy children. I have miscarried twice and it was a lot different than brown spotting, it was red and really bad cramping, I would say you have nothing to worry about. Good luck and try not to worry too much, I understand the first 12 weeks can be nerve racking.

I did not spot in my first pregnancy, did in the second. I freaked out too. The thing to remember is that spotting very rarely ends in a problem. No way out of worrying, because in those rare cases where there is a problem it starts with spotting, but the odds are definitely very much in your favor.

I had spotting with my third but it was more red. That one turned out just fine. I was told that 20% of women have spotting in the first trimester. With my fourth I had spotting-brown like you and it later got heavier and red. I misscarried 1/3 of the placenta. I went to the doctor during all this and was put on progesterone (this was an IVF baby) placenta was low and detatching so I spotted my whole pregnancy. Never made it to a "routine" appointment always having problems. Water broke at 25 wks and deliver son at almost 29wks. The problems I had are quite rare so I wouldn't be overly stressed about them. Do keep in contact with your caregivers and listen to your body.

Hi V.,
I had this type of spotting with all three of my children. It was a scary time for me too. My doctor explained that sometimes, around the time when I would have gotten my period, there is just some residual that tends to be released. It is hard to do, but I just focused and put my energy towards visualizing my body in perfect unison with that perfect little fetus in there. It would calm me down and help relieve some of the stress. I hope this helps you.

C. Q.

I too spotted a lot and even bled ( not a lot) on and off for the first few months of my last pregnancy.I was sooooooooo scared, but, like your DR, I was told that if something were happening, there was nothing that could be done....so try not to worry to much about it. They told me that it was normal in some pregnancies, and well.....now I have a healthy, happy 6 month old little girl!! I wish you the best!!

Hello,
I spotted brown for about the first 2 months of my pregnancy....I was told by my dr. that that can happen. My son was born healthy!! Good luck!

I experienced the same thing during my pregnancy. I had quite a bit of bleeding (both brown and red) throughout my first trimester. I was extremely worried but I went on to deliver a beautiful baby girl who is now 11 months old. I want to add that I continued to have occasional spotting (red) throughout my pregnancy. Every time it happened I called my doctor and she usually had me come to her office to check me out. After a while I began to feel silly about calling, but I am glad I continued to do so - at 29 weeks I had more spotting, even though it was a very small amount. They put me on a monitor and it turned out I was having contractions and going into preterm labor. They were able to stop the labor with steriods and several days in the hospital. I ended up on bed rest, but delivered full term at 37 weeks. So my advice is to not be afraid to contact your doctor with any concerns!

Hi V.,
I had 10 days of brown spotting when I was 4 - 5 weeks pregnant. I actually thought it was a light period and didn't end up finding out I was pregnant until a couple of weeks later. My doctor did an ultrasound to make sure that everything was okay and found no issues. They said it is fairly common to have spotting early on. I am now 31 weeks pregnant and have not had any additional spotting or any other issues. Good luck!

Hi! I also did that during my second pregnancy at just around the same time. I was told it was implantation bleeding. And I was also told that brown blood is old blood. I, like you was totally FREAKED out but that baby is now a very healthy beautiful 20 year old daughter!!! Just rest and relax. All will be well!!!
S.

well it could be inplantation. sometimes people do have some spotting and slight cramping. it sounds like you are in good hands. stay positive and good luck

hi V.,
I,to experienced light bleeding around the same time I found out I was pregnant,I also experienced that brown stuff but fron what I was told by my midwife was that it was excess junk from my uterus being discharged and 9 mo.later I ended up with a beutiful baby girl...who is now 3...and very smart.try not to worry because stress can reak havic on you and your baby.as long as your not bleeding heavily and do not have any pain(except from your uterus expanding_I dont think there is cause for alarm.if it continues you should go to your obgyn just to make sure.I spotted (blood)for a week then followed that brown gunk which i had for a couple of weeks after that.good luck

Hi V.!

I had light spotting and cramping with both of my children. It tended to be around the time when I would have had my period. I told my mother that, "It never fails that even when I'm PREGNANT I can't escape my period!". LOL

I have known a few other ladies that spotted and cramped, also, and all of them were heavy, like me and had rough cycles before being pregnant. I have a personal theory. They say that estrogen is stored in fat. I think that might be part of the issue, for me at least. I don't know if that's true or not but I feel like it might have been part of the cause.

Listen to your heart. If you believe you and the babe are OK then you are. I would guess that you would *feel* something in your heart otherwise.

Either way keep thinking positively, congrats and best wishes!

S.

Has anyone mentioned that spotting can occur when the egg finally and actually attatches to the uterus?

i had a similar situation, and after an ultrasound they found that it was placenta previa which was just the placenta over my cervical opening as my uterus got bigger my placenta moved up and away and cleared up by my 5th month i now have a perfect 21 month old son!

Hi,
I had the same thing in the beginning of my pregnancy and freaked out until I was 3 months along. I am happy to say that my daughter is now 2 1/2! Try not to worry too much, I know easier said than done. Everything I read, and believe me I read everything, says that spotting early on in pregnancy is normal.
Good luck and don't worry too much.

Hi there... Exactly the same thing that you are describing happened to me when I was 8 weeks pregnant. I went in for an ultrasound and the MD told me everything looked fine. I actually had the same spotting 2 more times during my pregnancy as well. It turned out to be nothing for me... I just delivered a healthy baby girl 3 weeks ago! Maybe going in for an ultrasound would just ease your mind? But what you have described sounds just like what I had, and both baby and me were and are fine! Hope that's helpful!

Hi V.,
I hate to be a negative Nancy but I had the same experience and mine turned out not to be so wonderful..... I know the hearbeat cannot be seen until about week six so you have a few days to go. However, with me, I had the brown spotting and mild cramping. It stopped for a while and then started again. When I went in for my appointment and the doctor could detect no baby in my uterus. I had a tubal pregnancy. So for you seeing a heartbeat will be a really good sign when you can. Good luck to you. I went through 12 pregnancies to have the six amazing children that I have. Your early bleeding could also be the embryo burrowing deeper into the lining of the uterus. Keep your spirits up and best of luck to you.

M.

Lucky you to have this forum to ask! I spotted during my first pregnancy shortly after I knew I was pregnant. I went to see an OB-GYN. Nothing showed in the ultrasound. She told me I'd had a miscarriage and told me to go across the street to our local hospital to have a D&C done! I REFUSED! Jerk. I think she asked me to have bloodwork done and come back in for another ultrasound. I wasn't available when she wanted me to come in so I saw the other OB. This heartless person said to me during the ultrasound that I only needed to wait a couple of days for my baby to show up on the ultrasound because it was so early in my pregnancy. [He looked like a little lima bean. : )] No apologies. Hopefully he could explain this to his associate so that she doesn't give her above bad advice to someone who would actually follow it! I gave birth to a healthy boy.

I must say that I didn't have any cramping. I don't know what that is about. Best advice would be to visit your OB-GYN/family practioner, what-have-you. Check in on your little person.

A former coworker experienced a gush of blood while she was pregnant. She thought for sure that she'd had a miscarriage but didn't.

I know a number of women who had miscarriages. I don't know what their experiences were though.

Good luck!

Your midwife and doula are right that you should try not to worry because there is nothing you can do. That said, I feel your stress! With my now beautiful, healthy, 15 month old daughter I had brown spotting followed by actual bright red bleeding in the second month. Although it was a small amount of blood I was horrified. I was so scared I would have a miscarriage that I refused to stand up for 24 hours until I went to the doctor. Silly, I know. I went in for an early ultrasound, which confirmed that everything was fine but the baby had had some trouble attaching to the uterine wall and that was what caused the bleeding. That was the last of the issue and everything was fine after that! I have also heard that it is common to have spotting between 5-7 weeks as the baby attaches to the lining of the uterus so that is probably what is happening in your body. Try and think of it as a positive sign that things are going well between your body and your baby! Best of luck and congrats on your pregnancy!

Hi V., I experienced the same thing during my pregnancy with my second child. I was very frightened because I never had spotting with my first child. I went to the doctors and everything turned out fine. I must say, I wasn't convinced everything was fine, so I had requested that more blood work be taken to check my levels. I had blood work taken 3 weeks in a row just to confirm that my levels were rising. That helped ease my worries until I could see my baby during my ultrasound. I wish you the best of luck with this pregnancy, and don't worry...just because you're spotting doesn't mean you've miscarried.

I had spotting during the first few months of pregnancy (with twins) and my mother also spotted during her 3 pregnancies---My twins are fine, and aside from bedrest in the last few weeks, everything was normal.

I had some spotting with my first baby. It just happened once and everything was fine afterwards. My doctor said there is nothing we can do when I called as well. I hope for the best for you :)

I can completely feel your anxiety and worry, I spotted with four pregnancies, two ended in miscarriages and two with two healthy babies. The only way that I found out for sure was with ultrasounds to pickup the heartbeat for three ( I was at the point in each preg. that it would be there) With my son they only needed the fetal doppler to hear that beautiful sound (9wks). Your midwife and doula are right, you are too early to find out for sure so think positive.

D.

V.,
brown is ok, red is bad.. so as long as it's brown, it's old blood shedding - you are fine.. if it gets heavy or red ,call your ob.. good luck!!! and congratulations!

During my first and second preg. I had the same issue. More with my first and it was bright red but more brown with the second. I of course got all freaked out, but turns out everyone and everything was OK. I would suggest trying to relax a bit and rest plenty and also plenty of water. Your doula/midwife are right, there wouldn't be anything you could do to prevent "it" from happening but re-focusing your energy would be good. Good luck.

I did have spotting and cramping in the beginning of my pregnancy with my daughter. I was really scared, so my doctor had me get some blood work done just to check this out, and it turns out that my progesterone level was too low, so for the next six weeks I had to use progestrone suppositorys (not fun but worth it for my little girl). Once I started using those the spotting stopped and everything was fine.

The spotting can be due to implantation bleeding, especially since you are so early in your pregnancy. Brown is usually a good sign (though not in all cases) and it's generally a better sign than if you were spotting bright red. The cramping your experiencing is normal (as I'm sure you already know) and may be worse than when you experienced it from your first baby. One thing my doctor always told me was that things were always more intense the second time around (ie--cramping, ligament pain, etc.).

If you do have an u/s, just be aware that even though you may not see a heartbeat at 6wks, it doesn't mean that the pregnancy isn't viable. I know quite a few women who were told their pregnancies weren't viable from u/s done at 6wks, only to go on a couple of weeks later for a follow up u/s and see it beating away when they were at 8wks.

I hope that everything turns out ok for you! :)

i had the same thing-spotting and cramping in my first trimester. i was also horribly nervous, but everything ended up fine. i have a healthy 18 month daughter.
i did have a few cysts on my overies and a low placenta but that also cleared up just fine.
good luck and try to stay relaxed.

Hi V.,

I had similar symptoms when I was pregnant with my son during the first few weeks, and after a 1 or 2 weeks all that went away.
I was told that this was pretty normal (but I understand your feelings). When it doubt, it is always good to check with your doctor.

B.

With my first son I spotted on and off for about five weeks at the beginning. It was terrifying because I'd miscarried only three months before. My doctors pretty much told me that at that point there was nothing that could be done, but that the brown color (and not bright red) was reassuring because it meant old and not new. Sure enough, my perfect son arrived healthy (albeit six weeks early, but that's another story) and is now a fun little five year old. Good luck and relax, I bet it's fine.

I spotted during my second pregnancy for a few days at 5-6 weeks and then it stopped. The spotting concerned me, too, and I spoke with my obstetrician about it. He assured me that after it stopped, and everything then seemed fine, that there was nothing to worry about. Spotting can be the sign that a miscarriage is going to occur, but if it stops, your uterus heals itself. My son was born fine and is a very handsome, highly intelligent, and wonderful young man about to celebrate his 33rd birthday. Hopefully, you will have the same good fortune. --- H.

Hi V.-
I expiriened the same thing you are describing and was also very upset by it. Mine would come and go...sometimes lasting a few days, but it stopped around 12 weeks or so. I went on to have a very normal pregnancy and a very big health baby boy. two of my sisters were pregnant at the same time and both expirienced spotting too (one was with her 2ed child). They also both went on to have normal pregnancies and healthy babies. Congrats and good luck =)

Hi V.,

I'm 26 weeks pregnant with my second son and I can't tell you what is going on with you but I have been experiencing light spotting off and on throughout my intire pregnancy. First, I ddin't miss my first period...but an ultrasound prooves that I conceived a month prior to my last period. Second, around 13 weeks I expereinced light spotting again, then again around 17 weeks. The last time I had spotting was at 24 weeks, so it wasn't that long ago. I've had 2 ultrasounds and both confirm that my baby is healthy and developing as he should. I hope this eases your mind a little bit to know you're not the only one to go through these scares. :)
Good Luck!

As I understand it, as long as the spotting is brown, you're ok. It was explained to me as residual from your last period that automatically expels itself around the time you would normally have your period.
I understand that only if it's bright red (like a regular period) should you have it checked immediately.
This happened to me early in my pregnancy and everything was just fine.

Brown is good....red is not good. Those words are from a midwife I know.

Hi V., I'm new on the this site, but your concern jumped out at me because although presently I have 3 great children, I have had this happen to me. Twice, I did miscarry, once the result was my beautiful 8 year old daughter.
Your midwife and doula are correct. Usually if the spotting is brown, it's "old blood," perhaps even left over from a period. Since you already have a child, your uterus has "nooks and crannies" left behind from previously stretching and then shrinking. In that case, the spotting could be a result of left over endometrial material (period) in those areas. However, at times this spotting is a symptom of a miscarriage that has already begun, and when it does, it signifies that the pregnancy is already unviable (i.e., there's nothing you can do). If you are over 5 weeks, it is possible to catch a heart beat and yolk sac visually in a sonogram. Or you can just sit tight and be positive. After all of my personal pain with this issue, I have learned that these things are like the weather, we can't judge them, they just are. Surround yourself with positivity. I'm sending happy thoughts your way.

You should not be spotting. The only sensible thing for you to do is to see your gynecologist, if you havnet all ready. If you dont have one,find one-it is not normal for you to be spotting.