wtf is a subchorionic hematoma?
because no one tells you that you might actually bleed
Here I was thinking bleeding was nonexistent when you get pregnant… I mean, your period is gone for 9+ months.
Not true. I went from tampons to pads real quick.
There’s so much you don’t know when you get pregnant, and no one really goes into it thinking, oh yeah, xyz could happen to me. You hear about things, sure, but it always feels like something that happens to other people.
When I got pregnant, I remember thinking about my twin sister’s experience with hyperemesis gravidarum 9 years ago. It was excruciating for her. I prayed that wouldn’t be my story. Honestly, I’m so glad I never experienced vomiting during my pregnancy. It’s legit one of my fears… I always think I’m going to choke on my own vomit and be found dead alone. Morbid, but true lol.
Thankfully, it wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean things were smooth either.
Because I ended up dealing with something I had never even heard of before — a subchorionic hematoma. Which, at the time, meant absolutely nothing to me. All I knew was that I was bleeding. A lot of it. smh. And it was scary. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but this is essentially what was happening.
When it first happened, I thought I was miscarrying. I felt awful. I remember taking a shower that night, trying to calm myself down, and calling the nurse on call. She reassured me that since the bleeding had slowed and turned brown, it could be okay. That gave me just enough hope to get through the night until my appointment the next morning.
From what I understand now, a subchorionic hematoma is essentially a pocket of blood that forms between the uterus and the placenta. It’s actually more common than I realized, but no one really talks about it until you’re in it.
Again, how was I supposed to know this was even a thing? And for some women, they don’t even bleed it out, it just disappears. They must be God’s favourites.
At one point, I really felt like the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible, iykyk.
Up until my miscarriage, I bled. Then my first period post loss came three weeks later. Add in a uterine fibroid sitting in my uterine cavity causing even more bleeding… I mean, that’s a post on its own. More on that later.
And when you’re in it, it feels like everything is happening all at once.
There’s the physical side, the bleeding, the discomfort, the constant awareness of your body. But there’s also the emotional side. The fear. The overthinking. The Googling you probably shouldn’t be doing.
But honestly, finding myself in a Reddit black hole reading about other women with similar experiences… it made me feel okay. Almost like I could accept that this was my reality, and that maybe it would pass.
And then there’s the waiting.
Waiting to see if things resolve. Waiting for your next appointment. Waiting for reassurance that everything is okay. Looking back, what surprised me the most wasn’t just the diagnosis itself, but how unprepared I felt for something like that to even be a possibility.
Also… why me? It’s my first pregnancy, couldn’t it just be chill?
No one tells you that pregnancy can look like this, too. Not just the glowing, growing version. But the uncertain, confusing, and honestly overwhelming parts.
These days, I feel like I’m knee-deep in women’s health, trying to understand what the hell is actually going on in our bodies. I’ve been reading Blood by Dr. Jen Gunter, and it’s been one of those books that makes you realize how much we were never taught in the first place.
I’m sharing this because if you’re going through something similar, you’re not alone. And also because I wish I had known that this was something that could happen, not to scare myself, but just to be aware.
Pregnancy is beautiful, yes. But it can also be unpredictable. And both can exist at the same time.
x, holy