?This Actress Used A Nude Selfie To Reveal Some Scary Info About Her Pregnancy

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According to the Mayo Clinic, placenta previa is a condition that occurs during pregnancy when a baby’s placenta, an organ that delivers oxygen and nutrition to the developing baby, partially or totally covers the woman’s cervix. (In most pregnancies, the placenta attaches to the top or side of the uterus.) Placenta previa can cause severe bleeding for a mom during pregnancy and delivery, and women with the condition may need to have a C-section if placenta previa doesn’t resolve.

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Placenta previa can also cause issues with the baby, women’s health expert Jennifer Wider, M.D., says. “More babies with placenta previa are born prematurely than those without it, the babies are more likely to have low birth weight, and some studies show that they are more likely to have birth defects,” she says.

Heavy vaginal bleeding without pain during the second half of pregnancy is the main sign of placenta previa, says Jessica Shepherd, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology and Director of Minimally Invasive Gynecology at The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. “It is usually diagnosed early in pregnancy by ultrasound, usually in the second trimester,” she says.

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Risk factors include being over 35, having the condition with a previous pregnancy, and a history of smoking. Placenta previa can be life-threatening, so it’s important for women to flag any and all bleeding during their pregnancy.

Luckily, Shepherd says a woman with placenta previa can still have a safe pregnancy if it’s diagnosed early and she’s monitored closely by her doctor. And, Wider points out, if it’s diagnosed before a woman is 20 weeks pregnant, there’s a “very good chance” it will resolve.