Friday, January 12, 2007

First pregnancy and miscarriage

Our story quiet mundanely in the office of a local gynecologist.
"Hmmm...looks like you've got a fibroid (http://www.4woman.gov/faq/fibroids.htm)"
"Ok - is that bad or good?"
"It's about 3cm."
"Once again - bad or good?"
"Well, neither, really. We'll just have to keep an eye on it when you get pregnant. Sometimes these things can grow. If it does, it might outgrow it's blood supply and die and that is really uncomfortable."(note to our dear readers - "really uncomfortable" in doctor speak = "incredibly painful" in normal person speak)

10 weeks after getting a positive pregnancy test, back at the gynecologist office.
"How far along did I say you were?"
"10 weeks"
"Uh....can you come in for an ultrasound tomorrow?"
"Sure...WHY?"
"You feel like you're 16-18 weeks"
"What does THAT mean?!?!?"
"Well, it could be the fibroid has grown. Or, more likely, it could be that you've got multiples."
"Multiples? Like twins?"
"Uh, yeah, it could be twins and a fibroid."(holy crap!!)

The next day, at the ultrasound.
"Whoa! That's one big fibroid!"
"And there's just one baby, right?"
"Yep, just one. But look at the size of that thing! It's like 10 cm!"
"But just one baby?"
"Yeah, yeah, and one giant fibroid. That thing is huge! No wonder the doc thought you had multiples."
"Well, that's ok right? I mean, it's not going to hurt the baby is it?"
"The doc will have to talk to you about that."

My water breaks and we have a miscarriage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscarriage).[My water broke the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I went to the emergency room where they told me the amniotic sac had burst beyond repair. Since the baby was only 17 1/2 weeks along, his lungs were not developed enough to be able to survive outside the womb, so, although he was still alive and healthy at that point, we knew he would not be able to live, no matter what we did. They gave me some drugs to induce labor, set me up with an epidural (it took them 4 sticks to get that in - not nice). My gynecologist left to go to Aruba for her Thanksgiving vacation and I was passed through 4 different doctors. I ended up being in labor for 30 hours. They wouldn't let me have anything except crushed ice the whole time in case I had to go into surgery. When I finally delivered, our baby boy had passed away. We were able to hold him and touch him - I have his footprints. He was 8.5 inches long. I didn't even know him, but I miss him so much my heart hurts. ]

2 weeks later, at my new gynecologist's office (I switched to the doctor who delivered my baby - she was the most wonderful lady I ever met, even though the circumstances were grim).
"You're recovery is amazing - I'm so pleased. As soon as you feel up to it, I'd like to get that fibroid out."
"Out? What do you mean "out"?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure it's what caused your miscarriage so, before you try again, I'd like to do a myomectomy."
"Can you do that with one of those little bitty incisions?"
"No, it's too big. Plus, I want to biopsy it, so we'll need to do this abdominally - it's like a C-section."
"Biopsy?? Why?""Well, it grew awfully quick and I just want to make sure..."

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