Here's what I can tell you. Everyone on all of these sites seems to know someone who's mothers aunts brothers sisters cousin had 'periods' while they were pregnant. Here's the truth:
While it is posible to have bleeding or discharge appearing to be blood while pregnant, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a period. A period is the body ridding itself of the endometrial lining of the uterus and the decomposed remains of the corpus ovum, or 'egg'. When this happens during a pregnancy, it is what is known as a miscarriage.
Bleeding and discharge during a pregnancy are almost always different than a cycle. For example, a shockingly large number of women don't have a clue as to the exact expected dates of their period (which is extremely lazy and irresponsible if you are regular and sexually active; get a handle on your reproductive health!) If you are irregular by more than a day or two, this is always an issue, but if you aren't, you should be able to window it dowb to 48 hours under normal circumstances.
The reason I mention this is that if you are paying attention to your bodily health, and have a 'period while pregnant' as most seem to call it, you will notice that the timing seems to be off, usually. A few days early in most cases, or even mid month. Sometimes, for no reason or without warning. There tends to be virtually no endometrial tissue at all when this occurs, for a good reason...the enometrium is not shedding, therefore, almost all of the discharge is blood and blood plasma. In addition, the look, feel, and smell of the fluid is almost always somewhat different. Yes, I realize that's gross, but you HAVE GOT to be more aware about your body than just looking and dismissing something like this as a gross or weird thing and going about your day. That is how we end up with these questions and misconceptions.
Another thing is your period...if if looks like it, feels like it, smells like it, etc., and the timing is right, then it is probably *gasp* your period. You should be more in tune with your body than anyone else, and whereas the menstrual cycle can have a wide range of variations from month to month, you should also have a pretty good idea of what falls in the realm of reasonably normal. If you don't, do yourself a massive favor and research the subject dilligently. It is your responsibility as a woman to know these things. Failing to do so could leave a serious health concern unchecked until it is too late to get help.
Lastly, a lot of women shoot off at the hip on these answers, and it's frustrating to those seeking good advice. Just because it happened to you does NOT make it normal, which also does not make it NORMALLY possible. About 1 in 1000 women will have vaginal bleeding while pregnant identicle to a short cycle once. The odds go up from there.
Unfortunately, some also post this sort of thing simply to scare the asker. Why? A nesting, TTC, or post-partem woman can be one of the most psychotic and unreasonable, irrational creature in existance (stop frowning, you know I'm right, you just don't like it). Also, some people are just mean, petty or cruel, for no good reason.
Here's the bottom line. To the OP, I know this is a long time coming, but chances are you either were not pregnant or had a fertilized egg that was flawed and didn't attach to the uterine wall, which delayed your cycle. This is common, has probably happened to every sexually active woman at least once, and is not medically significant. Do some homework, get a little better handle on you reproductive health, take a monthly mid-month pregnancy test at home, and enjoy the ride. You'll do just fine.
To the second poster, you were trying to offer future guidance and did the right thing, and asked the right questions. Well done.
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Here's what I can tell you. Everyone on all of these sites seems to know someone who's mothers aunts brothers sisters cousin had 'periods' while they were pregnant. Here's the truth:
While it is posible to have bleeding or discharge appearing to be blood while pregnant, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a period. A period is the body ridding itself of the endometrial lining of the uterus and the decomposed remains of the corpus ovum, or 'egg'. When this happens during a pregnancy, it is what is known as a miscarriage.
Bleeding and discharge during a pregnancy are almost always different than a cycle. For example, a shockingly large number of women don't have a clue as to the exact expected dates of their period (which is extremely lazy and irresponsible if you are regular and sexually active; get a handle on your reproductive health!) If you are irregular by more than a day or two, this is always an issue, but if you aren't, you should be able to window it dowb to 48 hours under normal circumstances.
The reason I mention this is that if you are paying attention to your bodily health, and have a 'period while pregnant' as most seem to call it, you will notice that the timing seems to be off, usually. A few days early in most cases, or even mid month. Sometimes, for no reason or without warning. There tends to be virtually no endometrial tissue at all when this occurs, for a good reason...the enometrium is not shedding, therefore, almost all of the discharge is blood and blood plasma. In addition, the look, feel, and smell of the fluid is almost always somewhat different. Yes, I realize that's gross, but you HAVE GOT to be more aware about your body than just looking and dismissing something like this as a gross or weird thing and going about your day. That is how we end up with these questions and misconceptions.
Another thing is your period...if if looks like it, feels like it, smells like it, etc., and the timing is right, then it is probably *gasp* your period. You should be more in tune with your body than anyone else, and whereas the menstrual cycle can have a wide range of variations from month to month, you should also have a pretty good idea of what falls in the realm of reasonably normal. If you don't, do yourself a massive favor and research the subject dilligently. It is your responsibility as a woman to know these things. Failing to do so could leave a serious health concern unchecked until it is too late to get help.
Lastly, a lot of women shoot off at the hip on these answers, and it's frustrating to those seeking good advice. Just because it happened to you does NOT make it normal, which also does not make it NORMALLY possible. About 1 in 1000 women will have vaginal bleeding while pregnant identicle to a short cycle once. The odds go up from there.
Unfortunately, some also post this sort of thing simply to scare the asker. Why? A nesting, TTC, or post-partem woman can be one of the most psychotic and unreasonable, irrational creature in existance (stop frowning, you know I'm right, you just don't like it). Also, some people are just mean, petty or cruel, for no good reason.
Here's the bottom line. To the OP, I know this is a long time coming, but chances are you either were not pregnant or had a fertilized egg that was flawed and didn't attach to the uterine wall, which delayed your cycle. This is common, has probably happened to every sexually active woman at least once, and is not medically significant. Do some homework, get a little better handle on you reproductive health, take a monthly mid-month pregnancy test at home, and enjoy the ride. You'll do just fine.
To the second poster, you were trying to offer future guidance and did the right thing, and asked the right questions. Well done.
March 22, 2011 - 8:13pmThis Comment
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