Pregnancy with Anterior Placenta

The two lines appear! What an exciting and nervous time especially for a first time mom. So much is going on not only inside your body but in your mind. And your life is going to change in just nine short months.

 

 

For the most part, my pregnancy has been easy. I didn't really get morning sickness, I could eat pretty much anything without it bothering me, and I just didn't really notice any changes. Expect for being tired all the time! So when we went in for our first ultrasound it was surreal seeing this tiny peanut floating in this sac.

So fast forward to my 20 week scan. One of my favorite scans because they check the fingers, toes, nose, everything. And your baby actually looks like...well a baby! The only major worry I had was I hadn't felt any movement at this point. Many people told me that first time moms don't feel movement till later because they aren't sure what they are looking for.

When the lady doing the scan asked me if I had felt movement, my heart sank a little bit because I hadn't even flutters, nothing. That is when she told me I had an anterior placenta. Meaning my placenta is in front and not the back. 

The placenta starts to form where ever the baby implanted itself. Most of the time it is towards the back of your uterus and the baby grows towards your stomach. However, with an anterior placenta, the baby implanted towards the front and is growing towards the back of your uterus. This means that your placenta is basically masking almost all of the baby's movement. Because they kick or hit the placenta first and it acts as a pillow.

This also makes it hard sometimes to get clear images of the baby's face. My daughter liked to hide her face in my placenta so we never really got that cool 3D image of her face.
Now an anterior placenta doesn't mean you will never feel your baby move. I did finally feel her move but it isn't like what most people describe, I never saw a foot or elbow on my tummy. Which was a little disappointing.

I have to admit that an upside to an anterior placenta is the baby is super cushioned in there. I always felt like she was extra protected in there because the placenta was there first. Downside, well you won't feel movement as much (you will! But you will need to have patience with it. I had to really focus when I did my kick counting). I also found kick counting to be very stressful because the baby is moving but it could be towards your back so you won't feel is as much. But never feel bad for going in for a scan. I did it a few times and felt so much better hearing her heartbeat and have her movements watched.