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Maternal (Expert Forum)
Brown Spotting in Early Pregnancy
Patient medical question and answer from The Maternal and Child Health Forum. Health topic area and articles about newborn care
Brown Spotting in Early Pregnancy
by Margie__0, Oct 14, 1998 12:00AM
Please help a first time 29 year old pregnant, worried person. Tried for a year and finally took Clomid and got pregnant the first month on it. I am 6 weeks along (4 1/2 from conception) and yesterday noticed a quarter sized brown area. Today it seems to have tapered of but is still noteable when Wiping. No sickness or cramps. Any thought on what it could be. Nurses tell me that there is really nothing to do at this point besides ride it out until week 8 when a sonogram can be taken. I am frantic and confused as to what this means. Not having any "fresh" pink or red blood at all. My mother had normal, very easy pregnancies with no sickenss nor complications. I do usually have this brown spotting two to three days before my true period begins and about a day after when it is ending. Please, any info would be appreciated.
Dear Margie:
Brown stain is "old blood", meaning that the blood has stayed an adequate time in the acid secretions of the vagina to have turned in color from red to brown. Usually this means that the bleeding occurred at a very slow rate and has not continued.
Causes for bleeding in early pregnancy include local irritation in the vagina or on the cervix; increased blood flow to the cervix (this occurs in many body tissues: some women get nosebleeds in early pregnancy and others notice increased gum sensitivity and bleeding when brushing their teeth). As the pregnancy nourishes itself by tapping into your blood system inside the uterus, it can be over-zealous and there is some "spill" (much like when you overfill a pot on the stove and drop in the vegetables).
One in 4 ladies experiences some bleeding (pink, red, brown) in early pregnancy and for one half of them, it has no bad meaning.
Keywords: bleeding, early pregnancy
This information is provided for information purposes only and is not a medical consultation. If you have specific questions, please contact your physician.
