Preg. and bleeding for 4 days straight, time to be concerned?

[NoIdeaWhatsGoingOn]

Im not sure if this should be posted in Second Opinion, or in SLR. SLR seems to be the spot for sexual/reproductive health type questions but I feel this is more of a medical thing than anything so I'll leave it up to the mods to decide the most appropriate place for it.

I am pregnant, my last period ended October 21. The important thing to remember here is that I definitely do not want to continue the pregnancy and the only thing stopping me so far from having an abortion has been that I haven't been able to get enough money up yet. So please, if you give advice, keep that in mind, because preserving the pregnancy is not something that I am hoping for.

I've been under a lot of stress lately. Four days ago, on Tuesday morning I woke up to find that I was bleeding. Not "spotting" which I know is very very common during pregnancy and nothing to worry about, but actual bleeding, almost the amount I'd have during a period. I'm usually very heavy of a flow and this is lighter, but still a constant, moderate flow. It's been going for three whole days and now today is the fourth and its getting heavier. Starting yesterday I had some very mild cramps that come and go and am starting to see small blood clots. Also, it is not dark or brown blood but bright red.

Usually the first advice for a woman would be to go get it checked out immediately to be sure the pregnancy is stable and safe but since I was already going to end the pregnancy I am, although it sounds horribly fucked up, hoping that I am miscarrying, because it would be a lot easier emotionally on me than going through an abortion, which I dread and hate the idea of but the alternative, having a baby, is just completely impossible and not at all something I can do right now at my position in life.

I've been looking online but all the information I can find is the standard "if you find blood, check with your OB immediately just to be safe", etc, because all the information is geared towards women who want to keep their pregnancy. I know that these may be symptoms of miscarriage but I don't know much else. I don't have insurance, don't even have a GP or a doctor that I go to. Obviously I don't have an OB or anything because I'm not getting prenatal care. I called Planned Parenthood to try and just talk to a nurse or someone who could advise me but they wouldn't help. I can't really afford to go in for an appointment since they charge $70 and that takes away from my "fund" that I'm trying to save up to take care of this before I get much farther. It's a shitty situation all around but right now I need to know any information that I can get. Obviously, without being a doctor who is personally examining me you can't tell me what's going on definitively, but I'd like to know any advice I can get. Like I said, this is not super urgent because I'm not concerned about losing the pregnancy, obviously if I was I'd be in the ER immediately just to be on the safe side. But should I just wait this out and see what happens? Does a miscarriage usually take this long, if it's going to happen? Is there anything I should be concerned about or any risk to me myself that I should get immediate attention? I don't have the insurance or money to be going to "just in case to be on the safe side" doctor visits, so I guess what I'm asking is, from the information I've given, does this sound like a serious problem? Does this sound like a probable miscarriage? Might I be getting, in a sense, "lucky" here and my body is sparing me the expense and emotional pain of having to go through with an abortion? What might be going on? Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I kinda like HL ~~~>

 

[Neoprimitive]

A lot can happen, try to find a free clinic and go ASAP. There are a lot of things that can happen, not just the loss of the fetus but any number of infections or other issues steaming form any number of things that could have happened. It can range from just bleeding, all the way up to some thing rather sever, ie sepsis. Point begin see a DR, free clinic if you can not afford the bill or just go to an ER, they have to treat you, and will just bill you, but just get it looked at by a medical professional as this could be or could lead to serious health issues for you. BTW it is rather shitty that Planned Parenthood would not talk to you they know the risks, and it baffles me every time they do this to young women with no options, they can be judgmental as all fuck sorry they gave you the brush off.You may in fact be having a miscarriage but if it is not taken care of it can lead to serious issues especially if the material is not expelled properly from the body. So yeah go to an ER, or failing that an Free clinic to see what is up the sooner the better, this is about your health, so make sure you take care of it before it gets serious.

 

[Maya]

^exactly OP, go to a clinic as soon as possible and get it checked up. This is the only way you can find out what is wrong with your pregnancy and after they treat you, you can go from there. If you don't mind me asking, how far are you from your pregnancy?

 

[Foreigner]

Based on the flow you describe, the clotted tissue, and the duration, it could be a miscarriage. The general miscarriage rate for pregnancies under 13 weeks is about 20%, and it's slightly higher if it's the first time you've ever been pregnant.

The only way to know for sure other than going to a doctor would be to wait until this bleeding stops, and then your normal menstrual cycle resumes. That would involve waiting at least 1 month, but possibly more if the uterine lining has been depleted by all the bleeding. For this reason, it's common to miss a period following a miscarriage, which means you won't know for sure until your January cycle.

In a nutshell, once this bleeding stops, wait a week and then get a pregnancy test. Wait a month to evaluate your cycle again. I think getting to a doctor would be better though than all this guess work, especially if the legal time limit for getting an abortion is nearing.