Spotting in 12th week...quite a wake up call!

First, let me say, there is no longer any need to panic so breathe!

Here is what I have learned, and it isn't all Miss Manners pretty!  First of all, pre-natal vitamins make you constipated, secondly...pregnancy makes you constipated!  With the overflow into your body of pregnancy hormones and God knows what else, apparently there is a consistent side effect of all of the soft tissue in your body relaxing.  This causes a great deal of fun.  One thing few folks understand, the majority of your digestive tract is made up of...guess what....wait for it...soft tissue!

This makes digestion take longer, gas more prevalent, and, oh joy, constipation!

So not to be overly disgusting, but I was on the toilet, pushing like a Vietnamese woman giving birth in a rice paddy to expel something from the other end.  We are talking feet on the toilet seat people...anyway, once I had completed this daunting task, a swipe of the Cottonelle revealed BRIGHT RED BLOOD and I went into sheer YIKES mode.  The books all tell you that brown blood is good, red blood is bad.  Double YIKES.

A quick call to the doctor's office, a call back from the midwife who passed it off as "totally normal" and "happens to everyone", me=not satisfied.

Bleeding during pregnancy, it happens, but it is NOT normal.  Further research revealed to me that straining to have a bowel movement can put additional pressure on your sensitive cervix causing slight rupture and bleeding but it's really ok.  I did want to share this information with others so that they might learn from my panic attack.

All is well now, but going to be keeping an eye on my fiber.