Pregnancy Symptoms & Complaints: Spotting

What you may be experiencing:

About 20 percent of women experience some vaginal spotting or bleeding during the first trimester of pregnancy. It is not necessarily cause for alarm; for example, light bleeding around a week to 10 days after conception can be brought on by the implantation of the egg in the lining of the uterus. However, because bleeding is the most common warning sign of impending miscarriage, any sign of spotting or bleeding should be reported to your healthcare provider immediately.

What helps:

Once you've notified your practitioner, you may be told to relax and stay off your feet. Take this advice to heart, and remember--roughly half of the women who experience bleeding in early pregnancy go on to carry their baby to full term. Your doctor may also send you for an ultrasound exam.

Second and Third Trimester

What you may be experiencing:

If you have a little light spotting during the second or third trimester, the blood is most likely coming from your cervix, due to the increased blood supply that makes it somewhat swollen and tender. You may notice spotting after intercourse, or straining on the toilet. The cervix may be inflamed or abraded. However, if spotting lasts longer than a day or progresses to become steady bleeding, call your healthcare provider immediately. Bleeding later in the second half of pregnancy can be an indication of problems with the placenta, premature labor, or an incompetent cervix.

What helps:

There isn't much you can do. If you find you are spotting each time you have intercourse, you may want to have sex a bit less vigorously. If your bleeding is more serious, your practitioner will examine you and probably do an ultrasound exam to find out what is going on in your uterus.