Subchorionic hematoma

[dorisghester]

Hi all! I’m 6 weeks tomorrow with an IVF baby. While I’m usually a pretty active person, I’ve been pretty stagnant during stims and the beginning of this pregnancy due to being soooo mf tired.
I was having a lot of guilt though so I finally got my ass up and did a couple light workouts three days ago and a 20 min session of very light yoga the next day.
Yesterday, I randomly got the intense aching I get in my abdomen and legs when my period is about to start and a couple hours later I went to the bathroom and bled a decent amount. I went in for a scan this morning and I have a large subchorionic hematoma. Dr says everything still looks great, not to worry, and told me exercise didn’t cause it. But I’m SO worried that I’m anxious with every move now.

Do any of y’all have experience with this? It’s hard for me to believe that this happening right after the first time I decide to get back into exercising had no correlation :/ What do y’all think? Need reassurance.

TLDR: could exercise have caused my subchorionic hematoma? Have you had one/what was your experience?

 

[stevekolt]

@dorisghester It’s unlikely your exercise caused it, they are quite common in IVF pregnancies.

There’s quite a few Facebook SCH support groups if you want more information/to chat with other people. Lots of doctors recommend pelvic rest and there’s also lots of doctors who believe nothing can be done for SCHs. I personally went on pelvic rest, minimised my moving around and took alpha lipoic acid, which has been shown to improve the rate of SCH healing. The contradictory advice from different doctors is frustrating so I erred on the side of absolute caution. Mine was very large when it was discovered at 13 weeks and it finally improved by 20 weeks. I was on pelvic rest until 28 weeks.

 

[dorisghester]

@stevekolt Yes the differing advice is very frustrating! My dr gave me absolutely no restrictions or information really so it’s been all Dr Google for me and that’s not super helpful lol
Thanks for the info and your experience! It helps a lot. I’ll definitely look into that alpha lipoic acid

 

[bublink]

@stevekolt Hey, would you be willing to share how long you stayed on ALA? I also started taking it at the first sign of SCH (6w) and although a recent scan at 12.5w showed it resolved, I’m reluctant to stop it.

 

[stevekolt]

@bublink I’m still on it at 37 weeks! I started at 13 when I got diagnosed. I didn’t want to stop taking it either and I figured it wasn’t doing any harm. It’s good your SCH has resolved by 12 weeks but honestly if you want to keep on it, then do so. It made me feel like at least I was doing something to prevent it from possibly getting bigger again

 

[bublink]

@stevekolt Thank you so much for sharing! This is really reassuring—it does seem safe, and I would like to stay on it for peace of mind.

 

[stevekolt]

@bublink You’re welcome! Hopefully it stays gone for you! The SCH really affected my enjoyment of the pregnancy so hopefully you’ll be able to relax and enjoy your 2nd trimester more than I did

 

[thanhhang1990]

@dorisghester I had one, bled out around 7-8 weeks and it was scary. Showed up on US, 22 weeks now and it’s all cleared up. They’re very common according to my dr. Let yourself rest for a while then try exercise again in a few weeks.

 

[clarice76112]

@dorisghester I had one at 7 weeks. It was so scary! The Healthful Woman podcast has an episode called “First Trimester Bleeding and Subchorionic Hematomas” that really put my mind at ease. Sorry you’re going through that.

 

[dorisghester]

@clarice76112 Oo thanks for the recommendation, I’ll definitely check it out

 

[leny]

@dorisghester I went into my obgyn for bleeding at week 5 to find one as well. Pretty scary, but thankful to hear they are very common and often resolve on their own. Before I had mine I was doing HIIT classes and weights. My doctor had me switch to just walking, lifting no more than 10lbs, and recommended yoga. She also said exercise or anything I was doing couldn’t have caused it. I was very frustrated because for someone who loves to run like me, doing a yoga class is painful! But I stuck to their orders and by my next appointment at week 9, it was gone so I got to resume regular activities.

Not sure if your doctor has prescribed you progesterone, but once my doctor saw my hematoma, she prescribed me it through my first trimester. Worth asking!

 

[dorisghester]

@leny That’s super reassuring, glad everything worked out for you! I’m already on daily progesterone because of the IVF so hopefully I’m set with that

 

[leny]

@dorisghester Oh glad to hear you’re already on progesterone. Hoping you have a smooth experience as well! One other thing I forgot to mention is that I had a small amount of brown blood spotting at around week 7 that I just assumed was a miscarriage, but the doctor said it ended up being my hematoma passing. Just sharing that in case you see spotting soon and assume the worst like me!

 

[dorisghester]

@leny Yeah I haven’t stopped spotting brown since the bleeding, I’ve just been trying to be optimistic u til my next scan so your comment helps a lot for sure!

 

[bublink]

@dorisghester Echoing that these are common in IVF pregnancies. I had one in my current IVF pregnancy around the same time as you, and bled heavily after exercising/lifting groceries. I am slowly getting back to exercising (easy rock climbing) at 13-14 weeks after a recent scan showed it resolved.

They say not a lot can be done but I did alpha lipoic acid, rested and then easy walks once bleeding stopped, and tried to get more vitamin C, vitamin K, and zinc in my diet for wound healing.

r/infertilitybabies has a good FAQ on SCH in their wiki:

https://www.reddit.com/r/InfertilityBabies/comments/u11o04/faq_subchorionic_hematoma_sch

 

[dorisghester]

@bublink Thanks so much! Hearing all of these experiences make me feel so much better

 

[thepantheistexplorer]

@dorisghester FWIW, my first pregnancy ended with a MASSIVE (I mean way bigger than gestational sac) sch at 6w, after 3 days of intense fieldwork (lifting, walking, lack of sleep). So this time, when I was diagnosed with one on ultrasound at 7w, I decided to go on full rest mode.