Is total placenta previa serious nowadays?

  Im diagnosed with total placenta previa at 20 wks. What should be my precautions and what is the farthest I can carry my baby.  Do complications arise even if the baby is premature?
Dear Cynthia B:
Placenta previa (the placenta is positioned over the inside of the opening through the cervix to the birth canal, is a very common ultrasound diagnosis in the middle of pregnancy. In most women, the placenta migrates away from the cervix so that by the end of pregnancy, the placenta previa goes completely away.
Placenta previa patients carry until full term. We recommend early delivery when bleeding (the blood comes from mother, and NOT from the baby) is excessive and continuous. Thus, most babies are born mature.
Premature babies do have more complications with breathing, temperature control, bowel function, infection, sugar control, than do babies born full-term. These problems are neither better nor worse if placenta previa forces the obstetrical care provider to recommend early delivery.
At 20 weeks' gestation, no precautions are needed. If bleeding, spotting, or a brown discharge of old blood is noted, this should be immediately reported to the obstetrical care provider and the circumstances the may have contributed to the bleeding (exercise, intercourse) reported also.
Keywords: Placenta Previa

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