Hello! And welcome back to The Fife Life! In this video I want to share my experience of having a subchorionic hematoma in my current pregnancy.
I will first share my personal journey of how I found out, to what I did to help or increase my chances of having the hematoma resolved, and what I would advise other moms
that are currently experiencing a subchorionic hematoma that I wish I would have realized or learned when I first diagnosed with a subchorionic hematoma sooner.
By way of introduction- I’m Jessica and on this channel we talk about motherhood, lifestyle, and videography so if you like what you see, don’t forget to like this video and hit the red subscribe button to follow along with our channel.
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Just for clarity- a subchorionic hematoma is when blood accumulates between the uterine lining and the chorion
which is the outer fetal membrane next to the uterus or under the placenta itself.
It is estimated that 1 percent of all pregnancies have subchorionic hematomas. Sometimes bleeding is associated with that and sometimes it’s not.
But it’s usually by ultrasound that you find out you are diagnosed with one.
So I had three bleeding episodes. The first episode from the subchorionic hematoma when I was 9 week pregnant.
The second was just days after the first episode and the third one was 2 months later when I was 17 weeks pregnant.
Every time I bled, it only would last for about 24 hours- each episode I felt like the bleeding was worse and I would experience more cramping with passing larger clots each time.
So if you are experiencing this, there is hope for you.
I felt very fortunate and relieved to find out at my 20 week ultrasound that the subchorionic hematoma was no longer visible on the ultrasound
therefore the hematoma was considered to have been absorbed by my body and no longer a potential risk to myself or baby.
So just a heads up- everything I am going to talk about leads up to a good positive ending so far. I am currently 25 week pregnant. I can't keep track anymore. So 25 weeks!
If you are watching this and are panicking from your own current experience- I TOTALLY understand a glimpse of how emotionally exhausting going through all the highs and lows that
a pregnancy with a subchorionic hematoma can bring.
When I first found out about my subchorionic hematoma, I watched other mom’s YouTube channel of them talking about their experience, which honestly gave me a lot of hope.
So that is my purpose for today’s video—to give you hope!!!
For me, I felt like I was some ticking time bomb- where if I moved a certain way or did too much in the day I felt like it was going to effect my baby
so I can relate how you just want to protect your baby to the best of your ability.
just know that MOST subchorionic hematomas resolve before the baby is born.
The probability of you having a healthy baby is higher than losing your baby due to a subchorionic hematoma…..so just don’t lose hope.
Okay so with that being said——let’s rewind a little bit—-and I’ll share some more details about my experience and then go into everything I learned through the process.
There might be a little TMI in here—so just a heads up- but I just want to be as candid and honest with my experience to help anyone else going through something similar.
Going back to when I was 9 weeks pregnant we came home from church on Sunday and I all of a sudden I felt like I had wet my pants.
I then noticed that I had blood on my dress and instantly began to panic. The first signs of a potential miscarriage is bleeding so that popped into my mind was that thinking I was
Having a miscarriage.
I put a pad on, laid down and the bleeding continued. It became heavier and I actually bled clots
So if you are doing that, it is okay!
I was feeling uncomfortable, but it wasn’t painful cramping like you hear what happens with a miscarriage.
So I just remember I just kept praying and praying...begging God, please please please...I would do anything to keep this baby inside of me just over and over again.
So I called my OB office- I’m grateful that my OB was willing to answer my questions especially with it being a Sunday
and she told me if I wasn’t severely cramping, it was a high chance that I had a subchorionic hematoma. Which I had never heard of before up until that point.
Thankfully, the bleeding stopped the next morning. When I called the office I wish I could have just had an ultrasound ordered for me but my doctor suggested that I get bloodwork done to see if my
hcg levels were rising as they should be—or dropping, which was a sign of a potential miscarriage.
I got blood work done Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The numbers from the first day to the second day significantly dropped. Like astronomically dropped.
I couldn’t get in touch with my doctor to confirm, but with numbers that far off...I thought there was no possible way this wasn’t a miscarriage.
So on Wednesday night when we thought we were miscarrying, I just remember crying in Jared's lap just feeling all the emotions.
And we looked at the numbers again and decided to call the lab
To verify the hcg results—We asked the bloodwork to be retested, due to having such a drastic difference between the two results
and surprisingly but thankfully, the blood test was inaccurate the first time.
It put us on a roller coaster of emotions, but I was just grateful that the retested hcg numbers were in the normal range.
During this week, I was still having terrible morning sickness—-where before the bleeding— I was just feeling pretty miserable with throwing up soo much
ut the week I thought I was miscarrying, I just remember feeling so grateful to be throwing up still
because that gave me hope that I was still pregnant and that I was still carrying our little baby.
With the bloodwork now reporting as normal, I had an ultrasound the next week
Today is October 21, 2019. We are about to walk in to get an ultrasound of our baby. We’ve had quite the roller coaster. And I feel kind of nervous.
Jess has had some bleeding and there was a scare that maybe we were having a miscarrying but it turned out that the lab results were- there was a mistake done.
So all the hcg levels have been fine but today will be an official ultrasound. So it is exciting but also kind of unnerving with the circumstances.
Our emotions have been so up and down- up and down. So my pregnancy symptoms are still very crazy nauseous and getting sick.
And there could be a lot of reasons why someone might bleed during pregnancy.
The one you worry about is miscarriage but there could be lots reasons. So we are hopeful and things look good that it is one of those other reasons.
and the ultrasound tech found a subchorionic hematoma.
It was frustrating because the ultrasound tech couldn’t ever tell me the size of the hematoma- I had to wait a few days up until over a week to even hear the updates
but I was told to keep coming back for ultrasound monitoring at least every other week (and one time just one week later) because I was considered to be having a high risk pregnancy.
Every week the hematoma would grow—with one time it measured slightly smaller- and then the next ultrasound it drastically grew to the largest it was measured at
which was 6.71 by 5.24 by 7.10cm. This size measured to be 132 ml—-which from what I have researched the average hematoma is about 20ml.
So 132ml! My hematoma was LARGE. VERY LARGE.
I had a nurse practitioner mention how this was the largest hematoma she has ever seen- and the longest she has seen someone carry one
because mine didn’t show it was absorbed until my 20 week ultrasound. So that information she shared made me panic so if this is you still have hope.
I felt like I was abnormal so I had a higher chance of miscarrying which I may have, but again no matter the circumstance or diagnosis, there is ALWAYS hope for a happy, positive outcome.
Again, I’m 25 weeks now and again the subchorionic hematoma wasn’t present on my last ultrasound
but I did notice that I had some dull pain on my left side- which was where my hematoma was located for a few weeks on and off before I was cleared.
I did do some research and many other moms experiencing this had the same thing and they thought they were healing pains
so I’m not exactly sure if that was what I was experiencing- but just a heads up if that is the same boat you are in right now.
Going on to the second part of this video- what I wish I would have known.
There is no clear answer or information- like a one size fits all. Everyone has a very unique experience- different factors, like the location of the hematoma and the size of it does
give you different probabilities for your outcome.
While most women have just one hematoma, sometimes others have more than one. I’ve heard anecdotal stories of someone’s hematoma being cleared but then a
few weeks later they will go back for another ultrasound and the same one is back or another hematoma appearing that wasn’t seen earlier
some moms will bleed for their whole pregnancy, others for a few weeks, others won’t bleed at all, some like me only have a few episodes of bleeding that only last 24 hours
there are so many different factors that will play a role in your probability
But also every medical provider has a different method in what they think will help you have the most positive outcome.
Some providers will recommend pelvic rest- some recommend bedrest. Some providers will refer you to a high risk OB
Some will recommend progesterone or other medical interventions to help increase your uterine lining.
For me, I heard a lot of good things from taking extra ALA.
it’s a dietary supplement that a few studies have shown may help absorb subchorionic hematomas. ALA is found in plant foods- like kale, spinach, soybeans.
And then some seed oils like flaxseed or canola oil—-and in some seeds- like chia, flax, and hemp seeds.
The studies of it are so low, but a lot of them recommended 200mg ALA 3 times a day and then some studies were saying to take 600mg three times a day.
I was a little concerned with taking that high of a supplement because it wasn’t throughly studied and the side effects weren’t known during pregnancy
and I also read that because it is a chelating agent, it bonds with mercury which could remove mercy from your body but if the dosage is too high it could pick up some of the mercury
and then it would end up in the bloodstream.
After reading that, instead of taking the supplement,
I decided to increase my dietary intake and drank a fruit smoothie every night with lots of fruit and spinach in it as well as chia, flax, and hemp seeds.
I’ll link everything I used in the description box below if you are interested to go check that out.
I still took my prenatal vitamin every day as well as adding in an extra vitamin c supplement, which may help the amniotic sac from premature rupture of membranes-
And then extra an extra magnesium vitamin, which may help prevent early contractions which could be a side effect from a subchorionic hematoma.
I also drank A LOT of orange juice and pomegranate juice- which I read also may help subchorionic hematomas heal.
So I drank like 3 cups a day
Obviously, so many different factors could have played into how my hematoma resolved
but in my opinion, it definitely didn’t hurt adding in these dietary ALAs and vitamins because they are known to be healthy, and so I would recommend considering doing the same.
I also was on pelvic rest and no vigorous exercise or lifting heavy objects above 25 pounds
which included my 2 year old. We learned how to work around this- If she wanted me to hold her, I would get down on her level and have her sit on my lap.
We taught her how to climb up in the car to get in the carseat for me to buckle her in—and she learned how to walk a lot holding my hand when we were out and about places.
It definitely took some time but it definitely helped
Alright- I think I will wrap up this video so it won’t be too long but again, if you are currently experiencing a subchorionic hematoma, don’t lose hope.
I can not stress that enough. One instagram friend who reassured me when I was in the roller coaster stage fearing for the future- she reminded me of the serenity prayer.
It reads: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
This prayer brought me hope and I pray it does the same for you. I think that we can acknowledge the things that we can personally do
like go to your doctor and ultrasound appointments, get second opinions, do your research and do what you feel is best for you and for your baby
and then just leave it in God’s hands and no matter the outcome you can pray for strength, and comfort, and peace to endure this experience
but also enjoy the miracle that you have growing inside of you and how it is such a beautiful miracle to be pregnant. Experiencing a subchorionic hematoma helped me to appreciate
pregnancy more. In my opinion I don’t have very easy pregnancies with just the sickness, fatigue, and weight gain. But this experience taught me how life is so fragile
but we can appreciate and be grateful for the gift that it is to carry a baby.
and just having that spirit of gratitude can help replace that constant fear that I very well remember.
So, mommas who are watching this. I hope you find your peace and your feel extra strength during this time.
I’m rooting for you and wish you the very best for you and your baby! Thank you so much for watching and for listening to my story. I hope you come back for more videos- like this one
I hope to do more just talking videos with you and share my thoughts about pregnancy and motherhood
so thank you again for watching and we’ll see you in the next video!