High-Risk Pregnancy

XP: How is your doctor managing your vasa previa?

Ladies, I was diagnosed last week with vasa previa (not placenta previa), and I have an appointment with a peri on Thursday. My OB is deferring to him on the decision for when to hospitalize me. Apparently, they debated for awhile about immediate hospitalization until c-section vs. waiting a couple more weeks.

For other vasa previa ladies, how are your docs managing your condition? Will you be hospitalized? If so, when? Have they told you how far they will let you go before c-section? What is their rationale? My docs don't believe in letting vasa previa patients go beyond 34 weeks. My girlfriend had it too, and her OB didn't require any hospitalization, and she had her daughter via c-section at 37 weeks. Thanks!

P.S. I will obviously follow my doctors' orders, but I'm curious about what you're experiencing and the rationale.
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Re: XP: How is your doctor managing your vasa previa?

  • Hi...I lurk here to answer questions about VP since I know when I was diagnosed there was no one here to answer mine.  I know in the past month several other girls have posted on here.  The answer to your question, my doctors were very conservative and recommended hospital bedrest immediately after my diagnosis at 27 weeks.  I was admitted at 27.5 weeks and had my C at 34 weeks.  Typically they wouldn't let you go any further along than that, I could have gone as long as one more week I think, since I wasn't having any labor symptoms. I had 2 rounds of steroid shots prior to her arrival and she was healthy and had a short NICU stay.  I am shocked that your friend's OB did not require hospitalization, please don't go by that.  This is a very serious diagnosis and if you start to bleed out your child has only minutes to live.  My doctor told me that if I had gone into labor, my daughter would never have made it...If you have other questions, let me know and I will try to answer them.
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  • imagewannabemomma:
    Hi...I lurk here to answer questions about VP since I know when I was diagnosed there was no one here to answer mine.  I know in the past month several other girls have posted on here.  The answer to your question, my doctors were very conservative and recommended hospital bedrest immediately after my diagnosis at 27 weeks.  I was admitted at 27.5 weeks and had my C at 34 weeks.  Typically they wouldn't let you go any further along than that, I could have gone as long as one more week I think, since I wasn't having any labor symptoms. I had 2 rounds of steroid shots prior to her arrival and she was healthy and had a short NICU stay.  I am shocked that your friend's OB did not require hospitalization, please don't go by that.  This is a very serious diagnosis and if you start to bleed out your child has only minutes to live.  My doctor told me that if I had gone into labor, my daughter would never have made it...If you have other questions, let me know and I will try to answer them.

    I totally agree regarding no hospitalization. She's very lucky that everything turned out okay for her and her daughter, but it could have gone very wrong. My doctor would say that she was playing Russian roullette. I have an appointment with a peri on Thursday, and he will dictate when I will have to be hospitalized. The hospitalization isn't an option, but it's just a question of when. My OB told me to go to the appointment with the peri with my bags packed just in case. Right now I can't help but feel like I'm a ticking time bomb because I know that if I were to start bleeding, it would likely be game over if I'm not in the hospital when it happens. That scares the bejeesus out of me, and I can't tell you how nervous I am every time I go to the bathroom to wipe.

    It sounds like your doctor had a similar approach to mine. How was your cervix at the time of your hospitalization? Was that a factor in deciding to do immediate hospitalization? Mine is 4.25cm and closed, so I'm hoping that will buy me a couple of weeks before I have to be hospitalized. But again, I will do whatever my doctors tell me to do because this condition is so serious and because I will do whatever it takes to protect her.

    Thanks!

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  • imagewannabemomma:
    Hi...I lurk here to answer questions about VP since I know when I was diagnosed there was no one here to answer mine.  I know in the past month several other girls have posted on here.  The answer to your question, my doctors were very conservative and recommended hospital bedrest immediately after my diagnosis at 27 weeks.  I was admitted at 27.5 weeks and had my C at 34 weeks.  Typically they wouldn't let you go any further along than that, I could have gone as long as one more week I think, since I wasn't having any labor symptoms. I had 2 rounds of steroid shots prior to her arrival and she was healthy and had a short NICU stay.  I am shocked that your friend's OB did not require hospitalization, please don't go by that.  This is a very serious diagnosis and if you start to bleed out your child has only minutes to live.  My doctor told me that if I had gone into labor, my daughter would never have made it...If you have other questions, let me know and I will try to answer them.

    Oh... and in addition to my question abour the status of your cervix at hospitalization, were you having any form of contractions at the time of hospitalization that were a factor in the decision to send you in so early? Thanks!

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  • Hello!

    I was diagnosed around 20 weeks with vasa previa, and I'm currently on restricted activity, and having additional ultrasounds at Maternal Fetal Medicine every 3 weeks. My OB/MFM plan to admit me at 34 weeks (possibly earlier, if the ultrasounds indicate a problem, or if I have any bleeding), and give me a c-section at 36 weeks (again, if everything looks good until then).  After doing a lot of research on vasa previa, I can't believe your friend wasn't admitted!

     Good luck! 

  • I was shocked at how quickly my doctor wanted me to be admitted.  My appointment was on Christmas Eve and I had to beg to stay home for the holiday. My cervix was long and closed and I was having absolutely no complications or signs of labor. She was growing well, but I do know that she was head down and very low, and since it was my first child, they were worried that I could go into labor early (with no history to base it on). He said, and I know he was right, that even if I did bedrest at home I would still get up and do things - and I needed to be in the hospital if I started to bleed, so I wasn't taking any chances.  This hospital was 45  minutes from my home, and only seeing husb 3 times a week was hard, but worth every minute in the end. They had me on a monitor for an hour in the morning and at night and I was having some contractions that I didn't even feel! Being on bedrest made it even harder to recover from the c section too (I know this now that I had a C with my recent child). Good luck and take care and feel free to keep asking questions if you want/need!
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  • Lisa, I have no advice on this but did have to do 25 days of hospital bedrest and currently are at home on bedrest with only bathroom privileges for preterm labor with advanced cervical dilation. This board is amazing. It has helped me keep my sanity. If you ever need to chat, just PM me. Thinking of you and your little one.
  • Thank you, ladies! This is very helpful. I had an appointment with my regular OB yesterday, and she hooked me up to the fetal monitor which showed that I am still having absolutely no contractions. I asked for her best guess about whether she thought I'd be hospitalized at tomorrow's peri appointment (because she had previously stated that while in conference her and the peri were on the fence about immediate hospitalization), and she really doesn't think I'll be hospitalized quite yet.

    imageFamily hopes:
    Lisa, I have no advice on this but did have to do 25 days of hospital bedrest and currently are at home on bedrest with only bathroom privileges for preterm labor with advanced cervical dilation. This board is amazing. It has helped me keep my sanity. If you ever need to chat, just PM me. Thinking of you and your little one.

    Hey lady! How are you feeling? Nice to see you on here, although I'd prefer if neither of us had to be considered "high risk". Ah, well.... such is life!

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  • I'm doing ok.  Just so happy to still be pregnant.  Our preterm labor started at 25 weeks and 6 days.  High risk is a scary thing but it is so nice to have such great support.  Keep us posted on the appointment today. 
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