Does anyone have any experience of pregnancy and fibroids?

[Applemuncher]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping there's someone who can give me some advice (and also, I'm going to have a but of a rant).

I had a referral to Gynae about 2.5 years ago for painful periods etc. and had loads of tests/scans etc (looking for PCOS) and they all came back clear. I was told that I could possibly have endometriosis but I would need an op to find that out, was also told that it wasn't without its risks so I decided to just leave it there.

After my appointment, hubby and I decided to try for a family, if it was endo then we would need a bit of a head start and I was 33 at the time. Two years later and there was still nothing, got to the point of asking to be referred to gynae again and got my date through for the consultant. Literally on the same day, I find out that I'm finally pregnant - overjoyed!!! I went to the doctors and got my appointment for my scan, which was today and I'm 11 weeks pregnant!!

When the sonographer was looking at the scan she said I had a large fibroid in my womb (13cms diameter!!!) and said it wasn't a problem but we would need to measure it at my next scan (November) and keep checking its size and location, if it looks like it's going to get in the way of the birth then it will be a C-section for me!

Maternity couldn't find my notes for gynae from my last visit but I know there was no mention of fibroids then, which can mean only one of two things:

1. They didn't scan my womb when I was there 2.5 years ago, in which case I would feel really angry.

1. They did scan my womb 2.5 years ago but there was nothing there at that time, which means it's grown 13cms in 2 years - that's some growth.

I know this is a long one but I wanted to state all the facts, what does everyone else think? Can anyone offer any advice?

Any help much appreciated.

Hi Applemuncher

Can't offer much advice but I have had fibroids removed in the past and have one in my current pregnancy. Will watch other responses myself!

First fibroid I had was about your size but discovered in my mid twenties and removed by surgery. That meant a c-section for me to deliver my DS and DD.

I've had small fibroids growing since the last was removed and one is now about 6x6cm so no way near as large as your's. I am also 11 weeks today.
I have been told it's nothing to worry about for the pregnancy or baby. I've had a large bleed in the last week and thought I miscarried but a scan a few days ago showed not - I did ask if the fibroid could in any way cause this but they were certain not.

The thing that shocks me about your post is like you say - how could they miss a fibroid like that so recently!? Also a fibroid of that size certainly explains heavy periods.

My consultant told me the original fibroid I had was probably growing for about 10 years to get to that size! Maybe they grow faster but I'm not under the impression they do, although I am told they are very much linked to hormones. Have you ever been on the combined pill? I was told not to as the hormones could affect the growth.

To give you an idea I'm 33 now and my current fibroid was detected at the time of my first CS when DS was born 4 years ago - so it's taken 4 years to get 6x6.

All very strange but I'd really not worry about it just make sure you get seen by a Consultant.

All the best x

Thanks whizzymummy!

Does this mean then that if I have surgery to remove the fibroid then I will have to have a C section to deliver any future children I may have???

Congratulations, Applemuncher!

I'm 12wks now, and have at least three fibroids, one of which is about as large as yours. I have my next scan early next week, and I'm curious to see how much they've grown because I've definitely gotten bigger over the past few weeks and I think it's much more likely to be a result of the fibroids getting happy on hormones than the baby having a major growth spurt.

My fibroids were first detected about eight or nine years ago, when they were only 4cm or so. Doctors I've spoken to in the UK never recommend surgery for removing them because they can bleed a lot. But I understand there are cases in which they can be operated on, though not in pregnancy.

I've been lucky in that they've never affected my period (it's always been completely normal and arrives like clockwork right on schedule). I was concerned whether they'd cause problems when TTC, but I got pregnant within seven weeks of trying, so, again, lucky there.

Fibroids can degenerate during pregnancy (outgrown their blood supply) and I've been told that this is incredibly painful. It doesn't happen in all cases but it something to be aware of.

The general consensus from all of the doctors, consultants, midwives, etc I've spoken with is to simply keep an eye on them during pregnancy. One doctor did say they can increase the risk of miscarriage, but they generally agree that there's no evidence that fibroids cause bleeding during pregancy. I personally haven't had any bleeding or spotting myself, and except for some bad abdominal pain in my fifth week (which paracetamol took care of) haven't had any problems so far. One of my fibroids may be near the cervix, which might mean I'll need a c-section. It's too early to tell at this point, though. I'll probably end up having a few more scans than usual to monitor them over the next six months.

It's really hard not to worry when you know you have this huge thing inside you, vying for space with your baby, but after all those talks with medical professionals, I've finally reached the point where I'm not worrying about them all the time.

Congrats to you too edeluna!
You are definitely right not to worry and just wait until nearer the time when scans will tell more.

Applemuncher, I had my original fibroid removed due to the size and being in my mid twenties the consultant was of the opinion it would continue to grow at a steady pace and in his opinion degenerate quite soon. As edeluna said that is painful. He also said the location of the fibroid would most likely prevent pregnancy (no idea where it was just took his word for it and knew we wanted kids!).

Anyway so I had a myomectomy to remove it, like a c-section, as it was too big for key hole surgery. As I understand it the reasons for me being recommended a c-section are as much about the location of my scar - which is at the top, not bottom, of my uterus, thus any rupture during labour would be catastrophic, though I was told the chances are very slim and I could try natural delivery with my first delivery. I was too nervous after all that info though.

So summary is I am pretty sure it is all assessed on a case by case basis on if you ever have any removed whether you would require c-sections in the future.

Bye the way to both of you, my experience of by my two DC being born was lovely, the c-section is not the mighty bad card it is cast as and I recovered reasonably quickly from both. If you end up needing one please don't panic, it's not that bad!

applemuncher I am currently nearly 34 weeks pg and have 3 fibroids. I suspected I had them before getting pg, but didn't know for sure. Once they got hormones, they really grew quickly though, so it could be that yours weren't that visible before. My biggest got to 12cm then shrunk a little to about 10cm. As a result, I've always measured HUGE for the number of weeksI was along. As you can imagine, I'm flippin gignormous now, and keep getting sympathy from people who think I must be about to pop in the next couple of days. Apparently I sparked a debate at church between some of the women who couldn't believe that I was due in October(this was back in July) and thought I was going to give birth that month!
I deliberately didn't seek any medical help for my fibroids before getting pg because I thought that some of the treatments may have affected my chances of getting pg. I didn't realise that they can increase your risk of a miscarriage, but one of the consultants said that in her experience there was no greater risk, so I really didn't know what to believe. Other than pain (in my case about 10-12 weeks was hideous) they haven't really given me any trouble this pg. One is undergoing degeneration at the moment and is pretty sore but bearable.
You will be given extra scans to check the position, but as long as it is away from the neck of the womb (so not impeding the birth canal) and not interfering with the placenta, everything is fine. You should be able to give birth naturally if your muscles can contract around the fibroid.
A long post I know, but I wanted to reassure you that fibroids (even whopping ones) aren't necessarily that serious in pg. Congratulations on your pg and hope all goes well.
edeluna good to hear from you again. Good luck with your next scan.

Sorry, forgot to say that my consultant has heard of a new non-invasive method of treating fibroids and will be investigating that for me once I have had my baby. Apparently it doesn't affect your chances of conceiving. This may be worth making enquiries about with your consultant. I'm afraid I don't know who it is that has been carrying out the work, but I can report back whennI do know more.

Applemuncher not sure how much help this will be, but mine grew pretty fast.

When I had dd I had to go back 6 months later, and the fibroid was about 5x5x5cm (this was around Sept 09)

At my 20wk scan this time around it had now reached the size of a full term baby's head! Well, that was 10 weeks ago almost, so lordy knows what it is now. And yet when I had an mmc in Oct 08 it was only teeny tiny.

No-one seems too concerned, and all I'm having is an extra scan at 36 weeks to check it.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your responses - I guess the answer is to just wait and see really and go on the doctors recommendation. I just don't like the idea of something so big taking up the baby's space in the womb (although I guess it stretches!).

I find it really frustrating that I was at gynae just 2 years ago with painful periods and they didn't look for fibroids and it's now taken me 2 years to get pregnant. Still, I guess I'll have the baby then see what can be done about it then.

Shieldbug - could you keep me posted about the non-invasive procedure? Any info helps I guess.

Thanks everyone

Can't really help much in terms of the being pregnant with fibroids part of your post but in terms of the scanning...

If you had an u/s scan (even if looking for PCOS at the time) then they still would have looked for fibroids/any other pathology etc, there is no way that your uterus would not have been scanned if you were having a pelvis scan. So, the fibroid has probably grown significntly since then as a 13 cm fibroid would be hard to miss.... however, smaller fibroids can be very easy to miss in that they may not appear so distinct from the surrounding uterine tissue on u/s until a bit larger.

Hope this helps put your mind at ease. It should be fairly easy to get a copy of your u/s report from when you were scanned back then (your GP may even have one in their records) although it probably won't do anything to help you except put your mind at ease that your uterus was actually scanned.

Good luck with your pregnancy and congratulations!!

Thanks MrsS - It would be good just to give me a point of reference so I would then know that it's grown 13cms in 2 years - I just like to have the facts.

Hi there

I have (had) fibroids in my pregnancies. With my first pg, I had one fibroid of 12 cm, 1 of 8cm and another 5+ of 3-6 cms . As you can imagine, I was enormous ! I had regular scans throughout the pregnancy. I was told early on that my baby may be born early and be small because so much space was taken up by the fibroids and the baby may run out of room. We were all geared up for a teeny premature baby and out popped DD, 1 day before due date, weighing 9lb 12 oz . I had a normal delivery.

I'm not sure about how quickly yours have grown but they do grow rapidly in early pregnancy because of the hormones. It may well be that it was present 2 years ago but not big enough for them to think it was a problem ?? I don't know though ...

Good luck with everything and if you do have any more questions, ask away

Thanks Tillyscoutsmum - that makes me feel much better .

Hello, I was interested to read your experiences of pregnancy and fibroids.

I was due to have a small submusosal fibroid removed via hysteroscopy in October but I've just found out I'm pregnant. We've been ttc for 18mths and I've also got one blocked tube. The submucosal one was measured at 1cm in July so it'll be interesting to see how much it grows. I had lots of symptoms: long, irregular cycles, mid-cycle bleeding, heavy, painful periods.

So relieved and happy yet v nervous about the next few months.

I would recommend a very good specialist who is renowened for treating fibroids. It is Katrina Erskine at Portland Consulting rooms. I think it is worth getting her opinion.

When I had DD 4 years ago fibroids were found at my initial dating scan (had no idea they were there and had suffered no problems wth them). One was around 12cms and the other 10cms or so and remained at about the same size throughout and had a 'normal' vaginal birth. I've had no problems with them since.

I had my 20 week anomaly scan for DC2 this morning and had asked them to check whether the fibroids were still there. One is apparently around 6cms and I have 2 much smaller (around 1/2cms) so whatever I had 4 years ago have definitely shrunk. I'm to have further scans though at 28, 32 and 36 weeks to check progress.

Hello

Last week my pregnancy was confirmed, I was happy for about 2 minutes, and then the doctor dropped the bomb when he said he found large fibroid(s?) inside. Tomorrow is my next appointment with a perinatologist, so I guess I'll know more by then.

I just want to thank you all for sharing your experience of pregnancy with fibroids.
It really helps me quite a bit from being worry all the time.

bumping to ask edeluna how the scan went.

Thanks, Shieldbug. The scan went really well. I'm going to UCLH, and the doctors I've had there are amazing. The radiologist spent about 90 minutes scanning me, first checking the baby in great detail (we were able to count all ten fingers and listen to the blood flow and heartbeat), and then checking the fibroids.

So far, all the fibroids are well away from baby and not inside the uterus -- so that's promising. Plus the risk of chromosomal abnormalities was recalculated from 1:170 for the average woman my age to 1:3700, so that was another huge relief.

I go back for my 20-week scan in early November and the doctor scheduled me for two more after that, at 28 and 32 weeks, so we'll be monitoring the fibroids throughout. I'm definitely showing now (not in my head any longer) and feeling huge!

How are you? I was thinking of you the other day. You're due very soon, aren't you?

Congratulations with your pregnancy. I had a large fibroid. UCH did not think that it was a problem (but then again they also hadn't noticed it on the various scans). My private gyn/obs did think that it was a problem because he was worried that I was at risk of post natal haemorrhage and advised that I should have a managed third stage with drip in case I would start haemorrhaging (so have the drip inserted in second stage of labour, so they could act really quickly if necessary). He wrote a letter to the NHS consultant and as he is a very well known obs the NHS consultant who actually knew him did as advised. All went well, no problems with fibroid during and after labour.

Good luck.

37 weeks today! The consultant hasn't given any specific advice about what should happen in labour, but I suppose someone will inform her when it all kicks off (I hope!). I know as dikkertjedap says that there is a risk of pnh, but don't know if they are planning any specific measures to combat that. I guess I'll find out at the time.
The consultant thinks there's a good chance I could be 2-3 weeks early so could be any day now.......