Placenta Question?

The os is the opening of the cervix (the part the baby goes thru when being born). The posterior part of the uterus is the backside of it. So, your placenta is in the lower part of the back of the uterus and part of it is covering the cervical opening. As the uterus grows it is common for the placenta to "shift" off of the os creating an unimpeded pathway for the baby to be born. They will want to make sure after you get bigger that the placenta did "shift" like they want it to. If it doesn't move off of the cervical opening by the time you go into labor it will block your baby's pathway for being delivered. If this happens you will probably end up with a c-section. It doesn't sound like you have placenta previa totalis which means that the cervical opening is covered by the much more of the placenta making it less likely to "shift" away from the os. It sounds like it is not centered over your os but instead offset from the center making it more likely that it will "shift" before the end of your pregnancy.

Means your placenta is low lying. Posterior means it is located on the "back" of the uterine wall. Placentas move and shift throughout a pregnancy and ones that are low lying early on can migrate up and not cause problems later in the birth.

Watch out for unusal bleeding. If you have any bleeding then report it to your doctor. With a placenta over the cervix any bleeding can be a bad thing, but not always.

It is normal for the placenta to be low early on in pregnancy. This is called placenta previa. It will most likely move higher later in pregnancy.

If it stays down at the bottom of your uterus, covering the cervical opening, you will need a c-section because it can be life treatening for you and the baby if your body goes into labor and the placenta starts coming out first.

If the placenta moves up, then you will be fine to give birth vaginally, all other things being equal.

I believe they are talking about placenta previa...I had it with my middle child and they didn't know it. It was a horrible, horrible birth and very traumatic for me. It is perfectly normal for the placenta to lie like this, but it is supposed to go in the right direction towards the end of your pregnancy, mine did not. Don't worry about it now because more than likely it will move on its own...if it doesn't though, they may offer a c-section to avert any problems with delivery that I had. Good luck!!

It sounds like they want to keep an eye on your placenta for placenta previa...or low lying placenta. It is nothing to worry about yet and may correct itself. If you start to have any bledding though, call your doctor. You'll be ok. :)

Good job on keeping on top of the details though!!

I was diagnosed around 17 weeks with a low laying placenta. I'm 25 weeks and it corrected itself and moved up (had ultrasound last week). My placenta was just touching the cervix opening. In most cases, it does correct itself during the growth of your uterus. Think of this...place a dot on a balloon, blow it up..the dot moves...same with the placenta/uterus.

Is there an actual QUESTION related to this?