CAN YOU HAVE YOUR MENSTRUAL PERIOD WHILE PREGNANT?

Many women report having their period while pregnant but typically this is not the case. The reason why this cannot be is that pregnancy and menstruation cannot take place at the same time, by the very definition of the two. If you were pregnant and you began menstruating you would inevitably lose the pregnancy, or have a miscarriage. While you cannot have your period and continue to be pregnant at the same time you can experience vaginal bleeding and continue to be pregnant. It is often this vaginal bleeding that women believe is their menstrual cycle when it is not.

Early pregnancy bleeding is not at all uncommon and many women report that they do bleed regularly during the early portion of their pregnancies. This is not at all a menstrual cycle though; it is usually referred to as early pregnancy bleeding. This bleeding is usually is due to hormonal changes and is not of the quantities of blood that a woman typically sees when having her normal menstrual period. Early pregnancy bleeding can vary in amounts from slight spotting to vaginal bleeding consistent with a menstrual cycle.

Another reason for bleeding during pregnancy is something called implantation bleeding. This bleeding usually takes place when the embryo is attaching to the wall of the uterus. This type of bleeding is ordinarily seen five days after conception, so it is easy to see why a woman would confuse this bleeding with her menstrual cycle and there may be some difficulty in determining when the last menstrual period was. Implantation bleeding is not all that common and usually is not more than a slight spotting or a pinkish red colored mucus, but occasionally there is more bleeding associated with it.

Getting pregnant while on the pill is often associated with bleeding during pregnancy that can be confused with a menstrual cycle. Many women who are on the pill have several bleeding episodes before they realize that something is not quite right. In cases like this a woman usually cannot accurately tell her doctor when her last real menstrual cycle was and an ultrasound is required to provide the mother and the doctor with an estimated due date.

There are many reasons, as stated above, that a woman can experience vaginal bleeding while pregnant but it is impossible to have a true period and remain pregnant at the same time. The problem is that much of the bleeding that women experience coincides with the same time that they usually see their menstrual cycle each month, so they naturally assume that it is their period. Luckily, the majority of women do not experience this type of bleeding.