Newest pregnancy update

Basically I went to bed last night feeling fine, but through the night my stomach/ lower abdomen were cramping up something terrible. Intermittent sharp pains mixed with a dull achy throb in my lower back area. The pains are all in my abdomen and I am feeling pressure in my lower abdomen. No excessive discharge or blood or anything like that.

This is accompanied by just an over feeling of being run down and blah and I can't really describe it.

Called the doctor at like 9Am.Got a phone call back from the triage nurse who said, can you be in the office for 1130. So I went in and they did a urine sample as usual, ht, weight, bp all the normal stuff. Put me in a room and had me wait for a doc. Well it wasn't a doc I saw, but a PA. She checked the baby's heartbeat and it was fine, which I figured it would be. Little thing is moving like crazy today. She checked my cervix which was closed, thank god.

She went back through all of my history notes and realized that I had been in once before for cramping. She said that I am having contractions and if they get worse to call back or go to the ER. I have my regularly scheduled appointment tomorrow. She did go ahead and give me my first steroid shot that I would have gotten tomorrow and I will get the second tomorrow. She told me to come home and rest until my appointment tomorrow. Told me from here on out, no heavy lifting at all, no intercourse, no cleaning other than like doing the dishes after dinner. No laundry if I can avoid it. SHEESH.

She said, you are 24 weeks tomorrow all we need you to give us is another 6 weeks and we can do a C-section. So apparently, we might be back to the original plan for me of doing a C-section at 30-32 weeks. Guess we will see how the next couple weeks go with this cramping/contraction stuff.

I have to keep my appointment tomorrow and she said the doc I am seeing tomorrow will consult with Maternal Fetal Medicine and they may wind up putting me on bedrest already. grrrrrrr

You are going through a lot, but doctors orders are important to follow. Take it easy okay. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. Shari

Thank you muchly. I really can not wait until I get to where you are. If they even let me go that far.

I'm surprised they gave you a steroid shot even thought the contractions aren't changing your cervix.  I've had constant contractions thru-out this entire pregnancy and my orders are to just take it easy.  Hmmmm.....
I hope your cramps and contractions ease up.  I know how uncomfortable they can be!  I am unsure what your previous situation is but I hope you make it past 32 weeks!

Good luck!
Sandy

Sandy,

 They had been planning on giving me the steroids from the beginning. I guess this would make more sense with a little more background info. So here is the rest of my story....

Here's my story... I am 30 and this is my third pregnancy. The first two ended in miscarriages. Last September I had a pap smear done and it came back grossly abnormal. The doctors did a colposcopy and that came back perfectly normal. So they decided to do a LEEP. The results were not good so they did a cone biopsy. As a result of the cone biopsy I have been diagnosed with Cervical Cancer. I was set to have an appointment with a surgical gynecological oncologist on June 1st. The Wednesday before I found out I was pregnant. MY appointment with the onco was to discuss my hysterectomy. Instead it turned into discussing my options to try and carry or if I wanted to take a different path.

I decided since this was my last chance to have my own children I would try to carry. It has already been decided that I will not be allowed to carry to term. They are going to have me start taking steroids at week 24.

Doctor appointment 24AUG09!! Good News!!! Today I saw a new oncologist who has been specializing in womens cancer for 25 years. AWESOME doctor. Very thorough in his exam and in his explanation of everything that will happen from here. He did another colposcopy minus the biopsy part and a pap smear. He said he couldn't clearly " SEE" anything with the colpo which is a REALLY good thing. That means the cancer cells have not risen far enough to the surface for them to call it out and out cancer yet. He did say though that there is always a chance that they may have because my abnormal cells were all located ina part of the cervix that he can't see and/or get to doing that or a pap because of the pregnancy. So we wait for the results of the pap to come back and go from there.

As long as it comes back just abnormal without any standout cancer all they are going to do is two more paps before I deliver and then 6 weeks afterward they will do another biopsy and decide course of action from there.

This onco believes he may still be able to save me from a hysterectomy with constant monitoring and check-ups, so I may be able to have more children after this one. That will all depend on how the biopsy after I deliver comes back.

In the meantime, maternal fetal medicine is tracking the length of my cervix and doing bi-weekly pelvic exams and bi-weekly trans-vaginal scans to ensure that if I do have an incompetent cervix they catch it before it gives me any problems.

Ohhh and the oncologist said that barring any major chances in the cancer cells and cervical length I should be able to carry to term and VERY possible have a vaginal birth instead of the early early c-section as they originally told me :-)  As indicated by my original post, we are back to the idea of doing the early C-section.....hence my grrrrrr

 

 

 

Ah HA!  That makes much more sense.  LOL.  I was wondering why on earth they would give you steroids already! 

I hope you can make it past 32 weeks.  Good luck to you!!

Sandy

It sounds like your new oncologist has a pretty positive look on things.  I hope your tests come back better than before. 

I'm 25 weeks and I've been having contractions for three weeks now.  They put me on oral procardia and progesterone injections this week to stop/slow the contractions.  Maybe they can give you something if your contractions continue.  Hopefully you will be able to make it closer to term before you deliver.  Good luck.

I pray that you make it to the 32 week mark safe and sound! Relax and listen to the doctors advice...

Just think of bed rest as a vacation before the little one comes and wears you out!

Howdy All!

So I saw my high risk doc today. Went in and first things first was the ultrasound. The Ultrasound tech was fantastic. Took her time explaining all the measurements and views she was getting. They just got brand new machines so she tried to do a 3D pic for me, but someone was covering her face every time we tried! U/S Tech said if she has me in two weeks she will see if she can get it then! :-) Little bugger was moving through the whole thing... everything except her hand!!!

With all her measurements Alastrina is measuring in the 49th percentile, which she said is a bit small, she is measuring at 24W4days and I am 24w6Days. She said unless she was measuring in less than the 10th percentile they don't worry about it.

So Doc came in and we were discussing everything that happened last week. He was concerned by the reaction of the doctor I saw on Tuesday. He said that I probably should have called him after the response I got, but nothing we can do now. After discussing it, the decision was made to give me a prescription for Procardia to try and stop the contractions. The decision was also made to put me on bed rest for the next 8 weeks. That will take me to 32 just about 33 weeks at which point we will decide if we need to do a c-section of just leave me on bed rest to carry further.

My cervix has compressed a little and that is part of why I am being put on bed rest at this point.

I go back to see them in two weeks and will continue to see him Biweekly while I see the regular OB Biweekly.

And that my friends is how it went!!!