bleeding - did you Dr want to see you?

[Anonymous]

I have some light brownish bleeding and when I called the oncall dr this morning they said there is nothing you can do and go to the ER if it turns heavy. I go to GW and my question is should I make an appt on Monday with my dr for an U/S to make sure there is still a heartbeat, etc? For those of you who have had bleeding how has your dr handled it? Did they want you to come in? I was surprised that the dr didn't think I needed to come in next week...

I just started going to GW and haven't been impressed so far...my first appt which was the first one they had for the day (8:30 am) ended up lasting 3.5 hrs and when I asked if they were going to do a u/s I was told I wasn't on the schedule but to hang around and they would try to fit me in. An hr later they did one on a old machine as the new one was in use and basically all you could tell was to quote the dr "it is an alive fetus". I was very surprised an u/s wasn't standard care for your first OB appt (I was 9 wks). Then I went in last wk for NT scan and thought I would see my dr too but just saw the person who did the sonogram and she provided absolutely no feedback. I asked right out for the measurement and got that but nothing else was said. Have other people had this expereince with GW? Am I being over sensitive?

[Anonymous]

How many weeks are you? If you are early on in your pregnancy, some brown bleeding likely isn't a big deal and/or there's nothing that can be done to stop or prevent a miscarriage if that is what is happening. Since you've had your NT scan, though, you must be nearing the end of your first trimester, so if you are concerned about the bleeding, definitely take it easy and try to get in and see your doctor this week. Sometimes the "on call" doctor is operating more in an "emergency/urgent care" state of mind.

As for your quality of care, I don't go to GW, but I can say that GU is pretty much the same. My first appointment lasted about 2 hours, they took my detailed medical history, and I got a sonogram on an old machine. We saw the heartbeat, took some measurements and that was pretty much it. I also did not see my ob at the NT scan -- it was solely the sonographer and she provided me with no information. I could see the measurements as they showed up on the screen and so I knew the risks were low, but heard back a few days later after the blood screening results were in that things were fine (from a geneticist, not my ob either).

Sounds like you aren't happy with the large practice -- maybe you should look into a private practice with more individualized attention before you get too far along.

[Anonymous]

I was very frustrated with not being seen at another practice. I had a miscarriage, got pregnant again and was having more bleeding. They "didn't have any appointments" when I called and it took them 4 hours to call back and tell me that. I finally got in a few days later and the doc sat there and talked to me, but didn't do anything. I was a complete mental case.

There is not anything that can be done if it is an impending miscarriage, so they take the wait and see approach. It is medically sound advice, but very difficult when you are the one just waiting around to see if the pregnancy is going to continue.

[Anonymous]

I had some bleeding at around 20 weeks (very light spotting) and when I called Kaiser, they saw me that day. A doctor gave me a little in-office ultrasound to be sure everything was okay. I know the Kaiser process is different than regular practices...I spoke to an advice nurse who immediately scheduled me in. She told me that any spotting outside of the first trimester was worrisome. As a follow up, I'm not 33 weeks and everything has been perfect and wonderful since then!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had some bleeding at around 20 weeks (very light spotting) and when I called Kaiser, they saw me that day. A doctor gave me a little in-office ultrasound to be sure everything was okay. I know the Kaiser process is different than regular practices...I spoke to an advice nurse who immediately scheduled me in. She told me that any spotting outside of the first trimester was worrisome. As a follow up, I'm not 33 weeks and everything has been perfect and wonderful since then!

Meant to say I'm NOW 33 weeks...

[Anonymous]

I'm a patient at GW. I had some very light brown spotting early on (maybe 6 weeks) and I called and they told me that was completely normal. I didn't see my doctor. At about 8 weeks, I had some more signficant bleeding and went to the ER. Everything ended up being fine, but I talked to a GW nurse from the ER who made an appointment for me for a few days later with my regular doc and the nurse also called me back the next day to check on me. In my personal experience, if it's something to be concerned about, GW takes it seriously.

[Anonymous]

I had bleeding at 6 weeks - just as I found out that I was pregnant so did not have a doctor yet. I tried getting an appointment, since I was new patient, one of the practices told me to come at 12 weeks (I took an appointment but never went there), the other gave me an appointment the next week. I went to the ER the same day, and at the ER they did blood work, ultra sound and vaginal exam. All was ok, but recommended htat I keep my appointment next week. Definitely go to the ER if the practice won't give you an appointment.

[Anonymous]

I am at the DCBC midwife practice and throughout the process, I've been told that if I experience bleeding at any point, I should call them. I haven't experienced any, but when I've had other problems (i.e. need to have an emergency dental procedure done and was worried about getting novocaine), I was able to get a midwife on the phone to talk through my concerns. I've also seen a midwife at every appointment and had ample time to ask any questions I have without feeling like I was getting rushed through. If you aren't sure that you're comfortable with the level of communication you have with your OB now, I'd suggest that you take time to think about whether or not the relationship is right for you. Once you get farther along in your pregnancy, you may be more reluctant to change practices and when it comes down to the final day, it seems like it's really important for you to be comfortable with the level/quality of communication you have with your provider.

[Anonymous]

I experienced some bleeding early on in second trimester, brown with small amount of bright red blood, and was told to come in that day to have an evaluation. I had an ultrasound and spoke with the physician who was seeing patient's that day. I ended up having a mild placenta previa but it helped them to tell me what kinds of things to look out for and to avoid. I go to Capital Women's Care in Silver Spring and see Dr. Resta and the rest of the team.

[Anonymous]

I had full on hemoragging to the point where I didn't know I was pregnant for the first 3 months of my pregnancy. Everything turned out fine. Only bringing it up to assure you that every pregnancy is different. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I had a little bit of brown bleeding during my second trimester. Just had a tiny bit only one time and then it disappeared, but I mentioned it to my doctor at my doctor's appointment and the doctor immediately did an ultrasound to make sure that everything was ok with the placenta.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for all the responses. I am 12 wks and it is very light bleeding/has stopped for now. I understand there is nothing that can be done and the wait and see is hard but I guess my concern is I didn't want to wait 4 weeks until my next appt to find out if I had m/c. or something was wrong. I had also read on previous threads that some drs wanted to see their pts when they report bleeding so I wasn't sure if that was what most did or most take the wait and see attitude...I agree a small practice has many advantages but I am a high risk preg so needed a MFM doc which seem much harder to find in a small practice and one that delivers at a hospital with a level 3 NICU.

[Anonymous]

I had very light bleeding at 12 weeks. I just rested that day and the bleeding went away. My doctor explained that light bleeding is common.

A really handy book I use as reference is the "Mayo Clinic Guide to a healthy Pregnancy." It has a week-by-week checklist of what to do if you experience different types of symptoms each week. For example, for light bleeding that stops, it says to wait until your next appointment. Anyway, it's pretty thorough.

[Anonymous]

I'm so sorry you are going through this today! I had a little bleeding at about the same time in my pregnancy and remember how scary it was. My doctor at the time also said it was probably no big deal, told me to call again if it didn't stop, and then reluctantly squeezed me in a week later for a US.

We went to two different practices before settling on GW (MFA), and we are very, very happy there. I wasn't at GW for my first visit or my NT, so I can't say exactly how they would have handled them, but your experiences don't sound that different than mine at my previous doctors. I don't think the technicians can or are allowed to give you much feedback when they are doing the ultrasounds. I've had a pretty easy pregnancy but there have been a few scary moments, including some red blood bleeding at 29 weeks. At each of these moments, the doctors and staff at GW have taken everything very seriously and were fantastic. Obviously everyone is different and GW just might not be a good fit for you, but I really do think you are in good hands.

If you are still seeing bleeding or spotting tomorrow morning, I would just go into the office when they open at 8:00. If it stops, I would still schedule a US for next week to make you feel better.

[Anonymous]

The scenarios described in the first two posts are pretty common in terms of practice. I had pregnancy #1 with a solo practitioner. The u/s at 9 weeks was just to document the pregnancy - that's it. The NT was not done in my OB 's office but by an ultrasonographer at an outside office. And no, I did not get results the day of the test. The NT is based on odds and the blood test results are part of the odds. I received a call from the geneticist a week later. This pregnancy I am with a larger practice (GU) and it's been a pretty similar experience so far. I had an u/s early on just to document the heart beat. The NT was the same scenario.