Finding out you have fibroids during pregnancy can be overwhelming and bring a flood of mixed emotions. Fibroids are benign growths that develop within the uterus and commonly occur in women of reproductive age. However, discovering them during pregnancy may raise questions about your health, delivery, and the impact on your baby’s development.
Keep reading to explore the experience of finding out about fibroids during pregnancy firsthand and insights into managing this condition to ensure a healthy pregnancy and delivery.
Before pregnancy, I never had any major health issues – especially nothing with my reproductive organs. Even with nothing alarming going on with my body, once I became pregnant, I got super hypersensitive about anything concerning my health. The one thing I never expected to hear was that I had a fibroid, at my first prenatal appointment. I was already so nervous that I was going to get to my appointment and the doctor was going to say it wasn’t a heartbeat or that it was an ectopic pregnancy, HELLO ANXIETY!!!
Us moms know – When the nurse is doing our scan, they are not allowed to discuss anything medical and can only give you general information. While I was getting my first ultrasound, which was a vaginal scan, the nurse was very positive and did not give me any sign that something was abnormal. Of course she confirmed the pregnancy and just talked me through the things she was checking for. Once done, she let me know the doctor would be in to discuss everything. My doctor came in and let me know that baby looked healthy and on track but she then asked “Did you know about the fibroid you have on the left of your uterus?” I was shocked and immediately upset that my gynecologist did not catch this. By the way, it was two different doctors.
At the time of my scan the fibroid was about 3CM and my doctor let me know that it may grow and it may not – it just depends on the person. Because of the fibroid and my low lying placenta I then became a high risk pregnancy. Because I was high risk I had to have ultrasounds every 1-2 weeks.
When you have a fibroid during pregnancy it can cause a few issues with the body. The main scare my doctor would remind me of was heavy bleeding. Depending on the location of the Fibroid and the size, along with your growing fetus it can cause you to bleed out without any notice. If you happen to bleed out and know that you have a fibroid, immediately going to the hospital is not needed. If you notice you are bleeding through one pad within an hour – yes, it is time to call your doctor and see if they want you to come in or to go straight to ER. Thankfully, I never had an episode of bleeding out .The next thing I was warned of was the pain. A fibroid, while not pregnant, can cause you pain. So, imagine the pain you will feel while you have a growing baby in you that is constantly moving and curling up in little balls to get comfortable.
Fortunately, I did not feel much pain from the fibroid until I was about 7 1/2 months which was due to the location of my fibroid. It was located on the left of my uterus but it was extremely low. Since it was so low it was actually blocking my cervix so, when my son started to move head down is when the pressure and pain started getting worse. Also, for some odd reason, he loved to curl up in a ball right next to the fibroid and it was the worse pain ever. It felt like the left side of my stomach was going to literally explode.
Also, keep in mind that the fibroid was 3CM when I had my first scan but by the time I was around 4-5 months the fibroid grew to 7CM. It stayed at 7CM for the remainder of my pregnancy – which was awesome because if it would have been any bigger, I would’ve been scheduled for a c-section. My doctor explained to me that the Fibroid more than likely was not seen because it was super small before pregnancy. Once pregnant I had extra blood flow which was flowing down to my pelvic area feeding the fibroid. Once I gave birth to my son, around 3 months post-partum, they checked the fibroid and it was back down to 3CM.
Having a fibroid is not a “death sentence” when pregnant. Every pregnancy is different and thankfully I was fortunate enough to not experience any side affects of the Fibroid. If you happen to have this hiccup during your pregnancy – Do as much research as you can on the topic and ask as many questions as you can think of.
WTF MOM 