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Blogging a Pregnancy, 7 weeks, 1 day: the scare

by Sarah Gilbert (Subscribe to Sarah Gilbert's posts)
Sep 28th 2004 11:33PM

1Comments

Filed under: Your Pregnancy, Medical Conditions

running the race for the cure- ok, but scaryWhat is it like to have a miscarriage? I'll tell you - the obstetrician I saw to deliver the bad news told me she didn't want me getting pregnant for three months: "because you'll have a lot of anxiety." Umm… yeah. If I didn't get pregnant for three YEARS, I'd have a lot of anxiety. Time most definitely does not heal sources of anxiousness.

So I was afraid, until now, to write about the scare. It was last Sunday, a little before the six week mark. I had decided to run the Race for the Cure locally. I'm in pretty good shape, because I coached track at my local high school this spring, and ran to and from practice most days, in addition to running around from event to event. So the three miles, despite my pregnancy, passed without incident - I finished in a decent time, given that I'd chatted the whole time with my mama running buddy.

Three hours later, after teaching Sunday school, of all things, I started bleeding. It wasn't huge amounts of blood, but about the amount that I got when my miscarriage started. It was bright red (general rule of thumb, according to my doctor: dark red, ok, bright red, not ok). It kept going, for hours. 

I felt sick. I took a long bath and prayed as hard as I could. I moped around. I googled “miscarriage bleeding running,” or something. What I found, I already knew:

Everyone is concerned about the possibility of losing the baby in a miscarriage. If you experience any bleeding, cramping or if you pass any clots be sure to contact your caregiver. Keep in mind though that some women may bleed a little during their pregnancy and still go on to have a healthy baby. Sometimes in a twin pregnancy it is possible to lose one baby and carry the other to term.

Having not been illuminated, I just waited, and waited, and worried, and prayed. By evening I had stopped, and a few days later the nausea started. In all likelihood what I experienced was just my cervix, hormonally tender, being bounced around for almost 30 minutes and getting a little bloody. Everything seems to be fine.

So did the running hurt the baby in any way? According to all the books, studies, doctors and experts I’ve ever read or listened to, exercise in the first trimester has zero effect on whether you miscarry. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be comfortable running again - at least not for the next few weeks. It’s just too scary to have the symptoms.

It probably won’t happen to you, pregnant or pregnant-to-be reading mamas. But if it happens to someone - at least you can rest assured, it happened to me, and the baby is still o.k.



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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM

Niki Alvey said...

I am glad you are ok now.

A similar thing happened when I was pregnant with Jack about 8 weeks. I had gone up to my Mother-in-law's cabin in the woods with my dogs. I had packed the car with things she had stored in my garage. When I got there, I unloaded the car and took the dogs on a long walk.

After the walk I was so upset to find I had started bleeding, bright red blood. I had already had 4 miscarriages at this point and I was sure I was having another one, and that this time I must have caused it.

My MIL and my husband's aunt tried to reassure me and that is was probably nothing. His aunt had also had a scare like this with her third child and went on to have a healthy pregnancy and baby.

The bleeding stopped the next day and I saw the OB/GYN when I got home. I am not sure what happened, but I went on to have Jack and he is perfect!

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