Causes of Vaginal Bleeding and Spotting During Pregnancy

If you find yourself bleeding during pregnancy, you might become alarmed. But pregnancy bleeding does have many causes, and it isn’t always a sign of trouble.

“In the first three months of pregnancy, bleeding is very common,” says Mary Jane Minkin, M.D., a board-certified ob-gyn at Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut. “About a third of all women will experience it. It may mean absolutely nothing. And half of those who bleed will go on to carry perfectly normal pregnancies.”

Still, bleeding during pregnancy can be a sign of a problem, so it’s something you should take seriously.