I want to draw attention to a complication I dealt with in my current pregnancy as I struggled to find any other moms dealing with it online (except one thread on this site from 2008).
This is my 2nd pregnancy, though my 1st was uneventful. My uterus is retroverted, though I am not sure if it was in my first pregnancy as nobody ever mentioned it.
About 11 weeks into this pregnancy I would have some difficult peeing when I would get up to pee at night. I chalked this up to being too tired. Also, I was having increasing issues with feeling like I was fully emptying my bladder when I went pee.
My family and I recently traveled 2 provinces away to visit family. I was noticing constipation and so I began to take an extremely mild laxative that is allowed in pregnancy (docusate sodium). It wasn't making a huge difference but helped a bit.
One day I was noticing I felt like I had to pee but couldn't. I went back and tried several times but again, nothing. Eventually I stayed in the bathroom for over an hour and was quite stressed at this point. I came out and told my family I was heading to the emergency room at the hospital (it was a holiday and clinics were closed). I was beginning to get dizzy but I made it there.
They drained 750 mL from my bladder with a catheter. There were no signs of bladder infection and my blood work was normal. I was told to just drive home (16 hours) as soon as i could to see my obstetrician and get further testing. They put in a Foley catheter for during my travels.
Due to highway flooding etc it took 26 hours to get home. This was a hell drive with my husband and 7 year old son but they were kind troopers. Upon returning to our city I was dropped off at our ER to have my catheter removed. Unfortunately they did no further testing and said my obstetrician would deal with it when he saw me that week.
During this time I learned about an incarcerated and impacted uterus and knew that could be a possibility. This is where it is wedged in the wrong place in your pelvic and essentially stuck.
I had an ultrasound and they said it doesn't appear incarcerated and that my bladder was voiding normally. I wasn't going to see my OB until the next morning so he would explain things fully. Anyway as luck would have it I woke up at midnight with the same issue: had to pee but couldn't go. I drove myself to ER and my bladder nearly ruptured. The department was so busy and they struggled to get me in. Eventually I was given another catheter (again about 700 mL drained) and the Dr explained that with a retroverted uterus plus constipation (yes still a problem) things were fighting for space and pressing on my urethra blocking it. He gave me a laxative prescription and I left after being there all night.
When I saw my OB in the morning he decided to leave the catheter in while I cleared out my bowels and prescribed me a different laxative. When he saw me 3 days later he removed the catheter and attempted to move my uterus up through my rectum (yup anally). He said that he was able to move it but wasn't sure it would stay there. He gave me paper work to bypass ER and go straight to Maternity if this happened again. On the paper work it read "possible incarcerated uterus."
4 days later, I woke up at midnight with the same issue. I went to ER and showed them the paper work and went to maternity and had a much better experience. The nurses and residents (this is a university hospital)said they had read about these issues but had never encountered them. Essentially it is very rare.
The OB on shift decided to just deal with the problem instead of doing the catheter. I was put under general anesthetic and brought into the OR. I don;t remember anything but apparently she went in (vaginally this time) and physically moved my uterus forward and placed it so it was sitting above the bone. It turns out my uterus was impacted. It was stuck but I don't think fully incarcerated. An hour later I was back to normal and allowed to leave the department and go home.
So far I have been normal but won't see my OB for 3 weeks as he is very busy. This procedure took a lot of pressure off my lower abdomen and constipation has lessened and I have had no issues peeing. Hoping the rest of the pregnancy is normal. I wanted to tell my long winded story in case anyone else has this problem they know they are not alone and may guide them with questions to ask their GP or OB.