Everything You Never Wanted To Know...

...about my ute.

Since I'm in the midst of the 2ww (7DPO today), I figured this would be a good time to get you all up to speed on a somewhat relevant bit of my history. Plus, I know when I was wondering what was wrong with me it was helpful to hear others stories. Be warned there may be TMI for some.

First the back story:
In December 2007 I was working outside at my job. Woods in Virginia. On an Army base. Just me and 5 guys. It was my time of the month (no biggie, used to that in such situations). This day was different. The bleeding was so heavy I was going through a tampon AND a pad in about 10 minutes. Clots passing that were quarter to palm sized. The guys were asking if I was OK as I was pretty pale (in hindsight, I was probably anemic). Needless to say we did the bare minimum we needed to do that day and then baled. The rest of my period was fine. I figured it was some fluke thing.

Until June 2008. In mid June I started spotting mid-cycle. I was on BCP at the time and figured it was just time to change the type of pill. So we changed the type of pill. Still spotting. Changed pill type again. Still spotting daily, sometimes pretty heavily. In the meantime at each follow-up appointment I'm being screened for everything under the sun that could cause the bleeding. Syndromes. STDs. Cancers. Stuff that really gets the mind racing. Nothing like knowing something is definitely wrong...but not having anyone be able to tell you what that something is.

There was another incident of extremely heavy bleeding in late August 2008. I remember the exact date as it was at my best friends wedding. Awesome Timing. I spent half the event in the ladies room trying to keep up with the bleeding. I got back from my trip to the wedding and got in to see my doctor ASAP. Enough already.

My normal OB/GYN realizes she's in over her head as the issue isn't being resolved and refers me to a specialist. This was in Sept 2008. THREE MONTHS of constant spotting/bleeding later. This specialist, my first male OB/GYN, puts me on a different pill. This pill actually made a difference with the bleeding. Got it down to about 5 days of spotting in the 3 weeks of active pills. Doctor isn't satisfied with the results. Wants it down to 0 days. I get an unexpected uterine tissue sampling done in his office that afternoon. Cervix manually dilated and they scrape out some tissue. No anesthesia. Not Fun. Sample comes back negative for uterine cancer (woo hoo!). Since there are still no answers, its time to go in and take a look around.

The Resolution:
In January 2009 he performed a hysteroscopy and D&C. For those that aren't familiar with what those procedures are, I'll give you a quick description. In a hysteroscopy, they distend the uterus with either a liquid or gas (in my case, saline). They then insert a contraption called a hysteroscope to look inside. In my case he was looking for the source(s) of the bleeding.

(Image Credit: http://tinyurl.com/4fzpoqo)

Once he'd had a look around, and removed the two culprits, he performed a D&C. During a D&C (aka Dilation & Curettage) the cervix is dilated and then the contents of the uterus are removed. Though most commonly associated with miscarriages, D&Cs can also lessen heavy bleeding like I was having.

The Diagnosis:

Submucosal Uterine Fibroids. One of the least common of the types of uterine fibroids, accounting for 5% of all uterine fibroids*. These fibroids grow on the inner side of the uterus and I had two of the classic symptoms: Unusually heavy or prolonged menstrual periods and bleeding between periods.*

(Image Credit: http://tinyurl.com/4gtvw7h)

I want to note that uterine fibroids are very common and rarely cancerous. My doctor said roughly half of the women of childbearing age have them. Most of those women have no idea they are even present. My type was enough of a rarity that I got to be a case study for my doctor (Go Me!). Unfortunately, that meant he needed all the pictures of the inside of my ute (I know, I'm strange in thinking stuff like that is cool...but how often do you get a photo like that???) To my knowledge I have two fibroids in my uterus still. One was left during the D&C as they didn't have the tools to reach it. Its up at the top of my uterus. The other was found via ultrasound during my miscarriage, its on the sidewall. I've only had two minor bouts of spotting since the D&C. Nothing to worry about really. And honestly, just knowing they are there is more than half the battle. The worst part of the whole unexplained bleeding deal was not knowing what was wrong. Finding out was so empowering.

I've had about 5 different doctors swear up and down that my having fibroids should have no bearing on my ability to get and stay pregnant. Crossing my fingers they are right.

So, there ya have it...everything you never wanted to know about my ute.

Take care,



Reference:

* http://tinyurl.com/4fcr8dp

(To any of the Buds reading. Could one of you tell me the trick to get it to say photo credit where I have the links listed under the images? Thanks!)

It doesn't get much better than this!

Those of you who know me well, might be having the same thought as I am right now.

How on earth is it possible that I am 30 weeks pregnant?!


Well - i may not know how it's possible - but I know that I am. 30 weeks and 1 day pregnant. And yesterday I had the greatest OB appointment of my pregnancy so far. It was the first time I think I left without any doubts or concerns. And I left with a smile on my face.

So - this is how it went....

First - the typical, pee in a cup, blood pressure check and get on the dreaded scale. Except, as much as I dread getting on the scale, there was no reason to be worried. I had only gained 1 pound since my last appointment, making my pregnancy gain for the past 30 weeks only 14 pounds. I'm so proud of myself. Mr DB is proud of me. Dr Loh is proud of me. I'm well on track to gain no more than the 25 pounds I've resigned myself to, even though I originally wanted to stay under 20. It's really hard to be a fat chick with a huge appetite and control your pregnancy weight. But we're doing all of the right things with my diet - and I guess it's helping.

Then I asked a few questions about weird movement that I've been having. One of them feels like a vibration - and I asked her about it. Apparently babies can have the startle reflex in utero. Who knew? Then I mentioned the weird cervix feelings, where it feels like the baby is trying to dig it's way out.

So, she measured my uterus - all is well, and pulls out the doppler. Not long after she pulls out the doppler, she's pulling over the ultrasound machine. Now, she tells me that she just wants to check position, with what I was telling her. But silly nurse that I am knows that she really did it because she couldn't find the heartbeat. She kept getting mine. And i know the difference. I wasn't worried. Smudge had been moving around all day - and I knew the heart was right by my aorta. But it was awesome to get a surprise peek at Smudge, who is too big to even fit on the whole screen anymore! Smudge is transverse, again, surprise. Head on the right, butt on the left and fist in the mouth. And don't forget all the arms and legs hanging down dangling right on my cervix - explaining what i'm feeling.

Then we talked about some other symptoms I've been having - dizziness, cramps, contractions... we talked about my extreme water intake and she wants me to add more electrolytes and even gave me permission to eat a little bit of extra salt. So, i just downed a bottle of Gatorade Natural (thank you Whole Foods). I also got permission to change my PNV to a natural vitamin recommended by a friend, since my prescription PNV is no longer being made.

Oh - and at the end of my appointment, we discussed my ongoing back/hip and leg issues.... and she decided to pull me from work effective as soon as I want to be out. So, even though I'd rather never ever ever go back (ever)... i decided to do the responsible thing and stop working October 8th - exactly 2 months before my due date.

photo credit

I'm SO out of there.

So meanwhile - Smudge is growing strong - and kicking the crap out of me. Tuesday night, we actually were able to watch my belly move for about 15 minutes. We had never seen such exaggerated movement before. It was so much fun to watch. I've been having a lot of contractions, but I still haven't hit her magic number to require monitoring (4-6 in an hour) - so despite contracting all day long, it's never been more than 3 in 60 minutes. Hopefully the electrolytes help.

Work in progress

We've also been working on the nursery almost non-stop. The floor is in, the walls are painted. This week, we're going to put up and paint the wainscoting. It's going to be white. Now I just have to arrange for furniture delivery, which I'm planning for 36 weeks.

So, that's our update for now... 4 shifts left at work. 10 weeks (or so) left of pregnancy. Starting my biweekly OB visits now and hoping to complete my clinical hours for school before the beginning of November. Our childbirth classes with our doula start on saturday, also!! We're really excited.

Smudge is almost here!