Is It Possible to Carry a Baby for 12 Months With Fibroids
Navigating My Pregnancy With Fibroids
The condition didn't crusade any complications with my first pregnancy. It landed me in the hospital with my second.
At five months pregnant with my second child, I clutched my cramping tummy, trying in vain to prop myself into a comfy position in the passenger seat of the car. My married man was at the cycle, speeding toward the nearest infirmary while besides timing my contractions. To distract united states from our rising panic we chatted as if information technology was a normal bulldoze, merely I told him to stop making me laugh — it hurt too much.
Initially perplexed, the emergency room doctors prepared me for a potentially premature birth, a possibility that never fully sunk in. But later on 3 days of ultrasounds and a slew of other tests, they ruled out early commitment and settled on a diagnosis that would explain my throbbing abdomen and early contractions: a fibroid that had grown so big information technology had become starved and was dying.
A degenerating coarse, as information technology'due south called, happens when a uterine fibroid — a beneficial tumor that develops from the muscle tissue of the uterus — outgrows its claret supply. The irritation and inflammation effectually the area of cell death can cause the uterine walls to contract, a dr. later told me. My degenerating coarse was sparking regular contractions and a sharp pain radiating from my left side.
I was sent abode with a recommendation to take an over-the-counter pain reliever, if necessary, and an assurance that the pain would somewhen subside. My doctors said I should proceed to have a normal pregnancy.
Unfortunately, that isn't what happened.
Black women similar me are ii to iii times more probable to exist diagnosed with fibroids than white women are, though no i is certain why. I had fibroids during my first pregnancy, but they didn't crusade whatever symptoms. I would even depict the pregnancy as easy. But when three tumors revealed themselves on an early on ultrasound the second time around, my OB-GYN told me that she'd monitor them, merely that they shouldn't cause whatever problems. Though 1 of my fibroids was considered large, the size of a coarse isn't necessarily an indicator of future complications. And for many women, fibroids cause no symptoms at all.
My fibroids must have missed the memo.
When a healthy fibroid is non getting enough blood flow it "stops growing and shrinks," and tin become very painful, said Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. This can happen when a patient isn't pregnant, she added, just the increased hormones of pregnancy can trigger a coarse to pause down.
When I came abode from the infirmary, the intense hurting from my degenerated fibroid lessened, merely never fully went abroad. The recommended over-the-counter hurting relievers had no effect. If I walked more a few blocks, I would pay with more than pain. And every bit the baby grew, so did the force per unit area on my other two fibroids. Bed rest and heating pads became part of my daily routine.
Where was this "normal pregnancy" I'd been promised?
Since I'd been told I wouldn't be experiencing whatever further pain, I repeatedly asked my obstetrician what could be causing it. Her pat responses offered little comfort: Fibroids don't usually hurt, she'd say, and what I felt was likely the discomfort of pregnancy. I began feeling like a bothersome patient drastic to have my hurting taken seriously. I'd been pregnant before, this felt different. If the fibroids weren't responsible, similar my doc suggested, I needed to notice out what was.
I turned to late night scrolling, trolling the spider web for answers, but struggling to find descriptions that matched my ain experience.
One month after my trip to the emergency room, and one day after my OB-GYN told me again to "effort Tylenol," I was back in the hospital with debilitating pain — a different fibroid was the culprit, but the sensation was only as searing. With this second infirmary stay, I felt oddly validated, but my trust in my doctors was rapidly waning.
I began to question whether my obstetrician, who was otherwise supportive, had plenty experience with a status that may be less common in her pool of patients. I decided I would demand to steer my intendance myself.
A relative who happens to be a specialist in high-risk obstetrics suggested I seek out a doctor like her, who might have more than experience treating patients with pregnancy complications. My own dr. agreed and recommended one.
The specialist explained what was going on inside my uterus and described the discomfort that can accompany fibroids during pregnancy. He said that I'd likely be in pain from my fibroids, degenerating or not, up until I gave nascency.
I felt a weight lift from my shoulders equally he spoke. Though I was beingness told more than pain was to come, someone had finally corroborated my experience. The disconnect between my pain and what I was told to expect had been chipping away at my mental health without my even realizing it.
I contacted Dr. Hutcherson, who said I'd done the right thing past conducting my ain research and pushing for meliorate care. "But a normal pregnancy is stressful. And Black women may not always exist listened to," she said. "Whoever is taking care of you should honor your experience and make certain yous accept a healthy baby."
Now that I had confirmation that my fibroids were, in fact, causing the pain, I wasn't as concerned about some other, undiagnosed issue. Fibroids are unlikely to cause pregnancy loss, Dr. Hutcherson said, and in my case the baby was still healthy and growing. I was prescribed medication to better handle my pain at home and to hopefully avoid speeding through the streets to the hospital with worries of preterm labor for nevertheless a third time.
My doctors said that later on nativity, my fibroids would likely compress. And for most women postpartum, the pain disappears. I remained skeptical merely hoped they were correct.
A few months later, my healthy babe male child arrived, though not without another complexity. After birth, the uterus normally contracts to help dislodge the placenta. Fibroids can interfere with that procedure, leaving the uterus unable to expel the placenta. When I gave birth, my placenta stuck in place and had to exist manually removed, a status that can put new mothers at higher chance for life-threatening claret loss — which I was lucky to avoid.
Now domicile from the hospital, I'm grateful to exist on the other side, just mentally and physically exhausted from the experience. I managed to endure a pregnancy and nativity that were far from "normal." And after enduring all those bumps in the road, I feel fix to focus on my new petty gamble.
Tiffanie Graham is the photograph editor for the Well section, roofing wellness, family unit and mental health with visual first coverage. Previously, she was the photo editor on the Parenting section.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/well/family/pregnancy-fibroids.html
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