QuestionI will give you the facts as I know them. I am not sure how much of this information is relative.
I have PCOS and have been on Metformin since November for infertility. I found out Thursday that I was pregnant. Though I have read online that women should stay on Metformin through their first trimester, my doctors NURSE took me off of it.
Saturday my husband and I had intercourse (no bleeding during this time). I was told this was fine. I had been having mild uterine cramping but was told this was the uterus expanding and making room for the baby.
Monday I started bleeding brown blood with tiny clots...most of this never made it to the pad. The bleeding pretty much stopped by Tuesday AM. I went to a new doctor Tuesday. They did an ultrasound. My baby is low in the uterus, I am about 5 weeks. They can't see anything in the sac...at least not this early, I was told.
I was asked to take an HCG and Progesterone test. I am waiting on the results. The new doctor put me back on the Metformin.
I went home and that's when the bleeding became more apparent. It was definatly noticable when I wiped and on the pad. The brown blood turned red, then pink...there was clotting but no tissue. Today the blood is a watery pink color. The mild cramping has subsided. No clots today.
My mother seems to think the initial bleeding was from vaginal irritation due to sex Saturday. She also thinks the transvaginal ultrasound irritated my insides yesterday.
The doctor told me it's all a waiting game now. I am very worried.
Please tell me your hypothesis on my situation. I know bleeding is not 'normal' but if there is anything that you can tell me...I'm scared and worried. I'm not having much luck finding information online.
AnswerHI Elizabeth,
CONGRATULATIONS! You beat the odds!
Ok, as far as the nurse taking you off of the metformin, I cant help you there... sounds like your doctor has this under control though. You said "the new doctor", did you switch? Or is this an infertility specialist and a regular OB? I would keep discussing this with him/them.
When do the HcG results come back? What you want to see with this is RISING numbers. HcG doubles about every other day. So if your Hcg was, say, 100 today, you'd want to see it be at least around 200 by Thursday. It will continue to double like this and get VERY high (in the hundreds of thousands) as you progress, and then start decreasing, but by that point you will be much farther along and they probably will not keep doing beta's. Usually you get a couple of them done and that is that.
As far as the progesterone: if it is low, that is very easily fixed, there are many forms of progesterone you can take: oral pills, suppositories, and shots. If you do have to do the shots dont panic, they are totally do-able and I had to do them for 12 weeks.
It is normal to just see a sac and nothing else at this early point in the pregnancy. You may hear of a "fetal pole" which looks like a little blob. The baby's gotta start somewhere! Soon you should be able to see and hear a tiny heartbeat, maybe in a couple of weeks.
As far as the cramping and bleeding: it has happened to me with two of my pregnancies and is very scary. Brownish blood is old blood coming out. This could be from anything; reddish bright blood is fresh blood and usually concerns the doctors more. I had a small bleed this time around (with the surrogate pregnancy) that scared me to bits and my doctor put me on a few restrictions (take it easy, no exercising, no sex) for a few weeks and eventually the bleed (he could see it on the ultrasound screen)just absorbed and wherever it went, it just disappeared. We think it was the other twin that implanted but never formed. I had been implanted with two 3 day old embryos.
So yes, the cramping and bleeding are scary, but is not that unusual and is just something to monitor, as annoying as that is. The sex and/or vaginal ultrasound very well could have irritated things.
I could be wrong about this but I am not sure PCOS affects the uterus once you are pregnant; it usually affects the fetility and somehow the sugar levels in your blood? I know there is way more to it than that, though.
All pregnancies are a wait and see thing... even if there are no complications and issues and other factors. you ahve already beaten the odds and come this far; easy for me to say but try to not stress out too much about it. I know it is very worrisome and horrible to just "wait" and see but you have 9 months to wait and see.
Hang in there- keep me posted! have you tried an online chat support group??? babytalkbio.com has a good group going on, and I think fertilethoughts.com is another good one.
Good luck- take care of yourself and the little bean in there! enjoy the ride.
andi
