Suspected urinary infection 9 weeks pregnant

[melissa1215]

Hi all,

I'm 9 weeks pregnant after my second ivf cycle, everything's been going smoothly and today I received a letter saying I need to do another urinary sample because mine was either contaminated or had an infection

Anyone had this before?

I've had zero symptoms, I used to get UTI's a lot as a small child so I'm familiar with symptoms, can this harm my baby or cause a miscarriage?

I'm trying not to get worried but that's not one of my strengths and I'm quite scared

An early untreated uti during pregnancy is not good. You're more susceptible to them as well because your immune system is compromised during pregnancy. You may or may not have symptoms - which is why they test you at every antenatal appointment.

I've had many samples rejected, so it could be as simple as that. No need to be worried, just get it tested and then treated if necessary. The greater risk comes from a longer term untreated infection.

UTIs are very common anyway, even more so in pregnancy due to the increased pressure on the bladder and ureter. If treated promptly they won't cause any issues. The main worry about UTIs is leaving them untreated and the infection spreading to the kidneys, which can make you quite unwell.

Twice during this pregnancy I've had urine samples that came back with leukocytes (which can indicate infection) so had to send another sample off. In one case I did have a UTI (I didn't have any symptoms aside from frequent urination which I put down to pregnancy) which was promptly treated with antibiotics, but in the other case it was cross contamination and the second sample came back clear.

Don't worry. If you do have an infection they'll get back to you quickly and it will be treated. It's only if they're left untreated that issues can arise. I'm now 40 weeks pregnant and my baby is fine.

It could be that the sample was contaminated with vaginal discharge or something. I had to give two samples at my booking in apt this week as the first sample showed I had a raging UTI, which I was surprised about as zero symptoms. Midwife thought it may be contaminated and advised me to wipe well before weeing and to allow the first and last bits of wee to go in the toilet, and the middle of the stream in the sample pot. Second sample an hour after was free from contamination and confirmed no UTI. Also worth noting is for first sample I was quite dehydrated and second I had drunk about 0.75 litres!

I had one diagnosed at my booking appointment, no idea how long I'd had it as I had no symptoms other than smelly wee (which I thought was just pregnancy-related!). A week of amoxicillin soon fixed it as the smelly urine was gone within 36 hours.
Obviously I can't speak for all cases but just thought that might reassure you (I'm 25 weeks now). If it was a bad infection it's likely you'd have had some symptoms by now so take that as a good sign too, just get the new sample in asap so you can set your mind at rest.

Please try not to to worry. As previous posters have said UTIs are very common in pregnancy. I had two in my first trimester which were sorted with antibiotics. I had no symptoms other than needing to wee a lot and I had a high fever with one of them.

Congratulations on your pregnancy!