The First Bleed

3.3.17

“I called my doctor’s office on Monday and they didn’t seem too concerned, so that helped me feel better too.”

It’s said approximately 20-30% of women bleed a little in early pregnancy. Half of those who bleed go on to miscarry. In general, 15-20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, though many happen before women even know they’re pregnant.

I was pregnant. I was bleeding. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make me turn to the stats. To me, blood meant miscarriage – what else could it mean? It didn’t matter that every fourth or fifth pregnant woman was experiencing the same thing. It felt traumatic. Was my body unable to do this? Had I lost the baby we’d just found out about six weeks earlier, the one we’d yet to tell anyone about? And how could this be happening to me? How, after a fun night out at a local hockey game with friends, could I have to come out of the bathroom and utter the words to my husband, “I’m bleeding”?

I bled lightly for four days. I called my doctor’s office – the doctor I’d yet to meet since we were still so early. They didn’t seem concerned, so I tried to believe things were fine. Then we had our first actual appointment and, low and behold, there was a heartbeat.

Our baby’s heart rate was 160 beats per minute. At this gestational age, simply hearing a heartbeat meant we had less than a 5% chance of miscarrying. All that worry over the week leading up to the appointment was for nothing. The doppler’s reassurance, in that moment, was everything I needed.

In just over a week, we’d tell our friends and family and proceed to the second trimester. I’d almost gotten through the first trimester completely unscathed of morning sickness, with only a little bleeding to be upset about. Things were, once again, peachy, and we were so excited to be closer to letting the secret out.

In the stats: 
Gestational Age: 10 weeks, 6 days
Days of blood: 4
Doctor’s Appointments: 1

P.S. Don’t be fooled by the smile on my face in the photo of this post. I’d also gotten a haircut that week, and it’s literally the only picture I took all week. I’m doing my best to use photos from or around the date of the post, so… I guess I’ll tell you that picture is it… and I guess I’ll tell you it was taken in the bathroom at work because I’m classy like that.

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