Question: When my daughter was born, I went into hospital with heavy bleeding at 35+3 weeks pregnant. Long story short, the consulting gynaecologist who examined me in labour thinks the bleeding (even though it was very heavy) came from the cervix - he said I had a cervical erosion and a polyp on the cervix and as it was dilating they think the bleeding started, but no one seems to be sure - no indication it came from the placenta though. I was 3-4 cm dilated so they broke my waters and she was born at 35+5. She was born healthy, naturally, but had a choking incident (on mucous) in the hospital on day three so it was a hard experience - she is a perfectly healthy 8 month old baby today, but the experience still haunts me. I don't plan on having another child for at least 2.5 years, but the thought of another pregnancy is making my chest tighten and I feel like I have a panic attack just thinking about it. I was born at 30 weeks (but not with bleeding - just spontaneous labour) so I can't help but think it's something that runs in my family and that next baby is going to come even earlier or have a miscarriage. It's got to the point where I'm considering not having more children just because I couldn't face the risk of losing one. I'm in counselling now but hasn't made a difference so far. How can I deal with the fact that no one seems to know what happened? Am I more likely to have a baby born early, perhaps even earlier or miscarry in future pregnancies? I had a pap smear two months ago (6 months after birth) and my cervix still looked raw and had a polyp, but pap smear came back normal (and has been normal for 3 years - had a slightly abnormal one 3.5 years ago, but no problem since). What is wrong with my cervix? Can that much blood even come from the cervix during delivery? Just from reading this, can you speculate on what really happened to me? I can't seem to find any information on what they say happened. Is it likely to affect future pregnancies and births? Is this likely to happen next time? If I came into hospital with bleeding and at first examination I'm not dilated but 8 hours later I'm 3-4 cm without having been given any medicine or anything, does that mean I'm naturally in labour or can you be that much dilated a few weeks before birth? I know a million questions, I'm just so confused and no one has any answers! Thanks so much!

Thank you for your reply. It was very helpful and made me feel much better about everything! I did not have a low-lying placenta and they examined the placenta after delivey and it looked normal. I assume then that bleeding must have most likely come from cervix as mentioned by doctor who examined me? I know when I went into the hospital everyone panicked and it seemed so serious as first thought was placental bleed (before examination), but in retrospect, knowing it was a cervical bleed, I assume it means it wasn't a serious and XXXXXXX condition for neither me nor my baby, and instead I was just in "normal" labour? If I was in spontaneous labour, I assume it was the labour that caused the cervical bleed and not the other way around? If I went into labour at 35 weeks last time, am I more likely to have an even earlier baby next time (extremely pre-term etc) or is it just around 35 weeks that is more likely? My baby was fairly big for 35 weeks - 2760 grams. Is a big baby more likely to come early? What causes the cervical polyps/erosion? Do they ever heal on their own? If I go for removing them, do you recommend doing that as soon as possible (not planning another pregnancy for about 1.5-2 years) or should I wait a bit longer for my cervix to heal as much as it can on its own? I'm still breastfeeding. Thank you so much!