Is there anybody out there that can clear this mystery up for me?

Question

About bleeding in pregnancy. I'm mainly talking monthly bleeding, or any bleeding that isn't implantation or miscarriage. I also understand that periods don't happen when your pregnant (duh.)

I just find so much conflicting evidence. There are women out there who bleed every month and think it is their period, yet they end up pregnant. I was the size of a "cantalope" when my mother found out she was pregnant with me. She always told me she got her period for three months before she went to the doc to see why she was "sick" and HEY! she's three months pregnant. Why do the bleeds sometimes happen monthly? Is it a symptom of any illness? Has anyone had personal experience with bleeding like this and ended up pregnant? I don't mean your sister's friend's cousin....Anyhow, if so, how long did you bleed? So many questions, so few answers....

Answer 1

Unfortunately, I experienced spotting throughout my pregnancies. It became annoying because every time it happened I had to have an ultrasound to make sure the baby was ok. I swear I got to see my baby every 4 weeks!  

In the end though, it's always best to check it out.

So to answer your question, yes you can bleed and still be pregnant.

Answer 2

unfortunately this will remain a mystery noone knows for sure why some women still have their period while pregnant but yes it does happen.

Answer 3

Bleeding from the cervix is common in early pregnancy and this can be mistaken for a period.

As you rightly point out, the biology of the whole period experience just doesn't account for the lining of the uterus to be routinely shed out through the cervix month after month, with hormones going up and down (especially progesterone).

For a start, a period happens when the corpus luteum on the ovary "dies" and progesterone levels, which are vital to the success of the pregnancy, drop.    Unless the corpus luteum keeps on pumping out progesterone and the levels stay high, the pregnancy just won't survive.

Second, if the uterine lining is shed, then the growing embryo, buried within the lining, would be lost.  

And lastly, when a pregnancy starts, the cervix becomes engorged and produces a mucus plug to seal off the contents of the uterus from the outside world, protecting the delicate little embryo.  This plug, although it is refreshed, stays put throughout the pregnancy.  So nothing can get in, but just as logically, nothing can get out.

Very, very VERY occasionally, there are women who will have mini "cycles" throughout their pregnancies where the hormone levels do go up and down, and their cervix responds to this by bleeding slightly when hormone levels go down.  But these women are exceedingly rare.

Answer 4

For the first three months, I had full on periods.  No different than any other period except that the third month period only lasted four days instead of my usual seven.  Bright red blood, clots, the whole bit.

I also found out by being sick.  When I was six weeks along, I went in for diarrhea and a killer stomach ache.  I had a pregnancy test before my CT scan which didn't happen naturally.  I had an OB ultrasound instead which showed our little boy.

Every month, I had to go back for another ultrasound to check to ensure that the bleeding wasn't a miscarrage or a placental bleed.  

It wasn't.  Simply one of the 25% or less of women who bleed during their pregnancies.