PSA re: Subchorionic Hematoma
I thought I was going to have to do a loss post, but instead I'm sharing my high-key traumatic subchorionic hematoma experience from this weekend in case anyone else thinks they could benefit from knowing what it can look like (although maybe a bit of an extreme example). TLDR, in case you'd like to skip the details: it can be A LOT of blood, mine was comparable to the heaviest day of my period with ~4in / 10cm blood clot. My baby is still doing well! Measuring exactly as they should and 144 heart beat, thank goodness.
So basically in the past week I had been having a little bit but increasing tan and brown/dark brown discharge, but I knew that was normal so I tried not to worry about it. No cramping or anything, feeling perfectly normal. Actually my nausea symptoms had been alleviating lately. No sex in the past few days. Well, on Sunday I drove over an hour to visit my parents and as soon as I walked through the front door, I felt a gush of warm liquid coming down my pants. I thought I was peeing myself, but couldn't stop it. If I hadn't been wearing black pants, the blood would've been easily visible by anyone around me. When I checked myself in the bathroom, there was a ton of blood and a ~4 in / 10cm blood clot at the bottom of the toilet. (In my despair, the clot almost looked baby-shaped, but I convinced myself that it couldn't be my baby since there's no way the baby could just dissolve into goo!?). I was fully convinced I was miscarrying because there's no way I could lose so much blood and for the baby to still be ok...
Thankfully my parents live within 5 minutes of an Urgent Care clinic that's in-network with my insurance, so I was able to be seen by a doctor, then referred to a nearby larger Urgent Care clinic nearby that had an ultrasound machine and an ultrasound tech on call. From initial bleeding to ultrasound it was about 2 hours, just enough time for me to be able to reach my husband, let him know I think we're losing the baby, and to please come ASAP. And for me to mentally prepare myself that we wouldn't be having a March baby after all, that there's no way I'd be ready to try again anytime soon, how I'd need minimum a week off of work to grieve our baby, how I should've known something was wrong when my first trimester symptoms started waning...
As soon as the ultrasound tech started, she said "good news, baby is well, they're measuring exactly what they should and heart beat is 144". I just completely lost it. I didn't even consider the possibility of the baby being ok with how much blood I lost... My only ultrasound was a vaginal ultrasound 2.5 weeks prior to Sunday and there was zero mention of a subchorionic hematoma at that time, so this was all just a complete shock.
Yesterday morning I notified my OB's office of what happened, but OB is off until tomorrow so we'll see what she recommends. For now, I'm still passing dark brown discharge and a single very dry 1in / 2cm blood clot, and just generalized tenderness in my belly, but no cramping or active bleeding. And well, now my parents know I'm pregnant I guess which I greatly prefer that this happened with them than with anyone else! And I'm just so so so relieved to have my husband and my parents to support me during such a traumatic event.
Is everyone's subchorionic hematoma experiences as traumatic as mine? Did I just miss the memo on what an absolutely terrifying amount of blood they can produce?? 😅 Thanks for reading if you made it this far!