Anyone Had Surgery During Pregnancy? Posted: 04-10-07 12:32pm
Hi. I was just wondering if anyone else
has experienced having to go through
surgery during their pregnancy. I had to
have a large ovarian cyst removed a couple
of weeks ago when I was 22 weeks along. I
had open abdominal surgery with an
incision measuring about 11 inches.
Fortunately the baby came through the
operation fine. I'm just looking for
someone else who has been through
something similar. I don't know how it's
going to affect the delivery even thought
that's still a ways off. I'm feeling
pretty out of shape because I've had to
rest while I heal and meanwhile the baby
is starting to grow quickly and is pushing
on my incision wound a little. I guess I
just wish I had someone who could relate
to my situation. I had all the same
complaints as everyone else before all of
this happened, but now a little heartburn
and backpain are welcomed because they
mean that my baby is still alive and I'm
still pregnant. Even when the baby kicks
me right where my staples were and it
hurts, I just smile and say "that's okay
baby, as long as you're kicking
somewhere!"
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lil_blaze2004
Supporter
Joined: 29 Oct 2004 Posts: 6492 Location: ,
Thanks: 1
Thanked:0
Posted: 04-10-07 13:01pm
Welcome to ehealth.
My cousin's girlfriend had one of her
babies removed as it was dead when she was
5 months along with twins. Needless to say
she only had the one baby after and Meena
is almost 5 now and fine and the mom is
fine too. A right ole' beeyatch, but
fine.
I'm not sure there's anyone here who has
gone through surgery while preggo but
someone may pop up!
good luck!!!!
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aprmar
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 4 Location: United States
Re: Anyone Had Surgery During Pregnancy? Posted: 07-26-07 12:43pm
kaerbear
wrote:
Hi. I was just wondering if
anyone else has experienced having to go
through surgery during their pregnancy. I
had to have a large ovarian cyst removed a
couple of weeks ago when I was 22 weeks
along. I had open abdominal surgery with
an incision measuring about 11 inches.
Fortunately the baby came through the
operation fine. I'm just looking for
someone else who has been through
something similar. I don't know how it's
going to affect the delivery even thought
that's still a ways off. I'm feeling
pretty out of shape because I've had to
rest while I heal and meanwhile the baby
is starting to grow quickly and is pushing
on my incision wound a little. I guess I
just wish I had someone who could relate
to my situation. I had all the same
complaints as everyone else before all of
this happened, but now a little heartburn
and backpain are welcomed because they
mean that my baby is still alive and I'm
still pregnant. Even when the baby kicks
me right where my staples were and it
hurts, I just smile and say "that's okay
baby, as long as you're kicking
somewhere!"
Hi Kearbear ~
I was searching the net for the exact same
answer that you were when you posted this
and I found your post. I haven't actually
gone through the surgery yet. I go in on
Tuesday July 31st. I will be starting my
20th week pregnant and I am just
terrified, but I'm even more terrified
that if I leave this mass in there that it
is something bad. I am supposed to be
having it done with the key hole procedure
"laparoscopy" (not sure of the spelling)
They are telling me that there is a small
risk that I am going to go into premature
labor if the uterus acts up. I'm praying
and have reduced myself to begging God for
a good outcome for me and my baby.
I was wondering how you are doing now?
Any advice you could give me would be
greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in
advance.
April
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monkeygirl22
Supporter
Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 2420 Location: ,
Thanks: 11
Thanked:1
Posted: 07-26-07 12:45pm
She's actually doing well and is overdue
right now but I think she might have gone
into labor today.
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aprmar
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 4 Location: United States
Posted: 07-26-07 13:15pm
monkeygirl22
wrote:
She's actually doing well
and is overdue right now but I think she
might have gone into labor
today.
Well, I am glad to hear that. It kind of
gives me hope now. I wish her all the
best. Thank you for answering.
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kaerbear
Most Diplomatic Poster
Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 1557 Location: ,
Posted: 07-27-07 00:30am
aprmar
wrote:
monkeygirl22
wrote:
She's actually doing well
and is overdue right now but I think she
might have gone into labor
today.
Well, I am glad to hear that. It kind of
gives me hope now. I wish her all the
best. Thank you for
answering.
hey. sorry i had a busy (yet uneventful)
day today. no baby yet unfortunately.
I decided to post it here in case it's
helpful to anyone else in a simliar
situation.
OK, this is a really long story so bear
with me!
I really sympathise with your situation
right now. The unknowns are the scariest
things to deal with. I asked every
question I could come up with and read
everything I could find on my situation
when trying to make a decision. In the end
I just had to trust the doctors and rely
on prayer to get us through. I was so
afraid for my baby when they told me that
there was a risk of premature labour and
that they wouldn't even try to save the
baby at this stage of my pregnancy because
it was too early. My cyst was so massive
it caused me a lot of discomfort and I'm
sure was not easy on the baby either. They
were fairly confident about it not being
cancerous because of the sheer size of it,
but they still wanted to be sure and
remove it intact just in case which is why
we opted for laparotomy.
I don't know what else to tell you but I
can tell you what my surgery was like
because it may help ease your mind a
little. I had gained so much weight (about
45 pounds!!) during my first 4 and a half
months, I'm sure a lot of it had to do
with having this massive cyst. When I went
in to the surgery ward they made me change
and put an IV in my hand. They gave me a
heparin shot to prevent blood clots and
made me drink a fizzy antacid drink. I had
been on fluids the day before and fasting
since midnight the night before.
I had to wait in a pre-op room while
different doctors and nurses came in and
introduced themselves and asked me
questions. The anesthesiologist told me I
would be having an epidural for pain
control and general anesthesia for the
operation. They said the baby would go to
sleep like me but there would be no long
term effects because all of the
nerves/organs etc were already developed.
Then an orderly rolled my bed into the
operating room and he was so cheerful that
I lost my composure and started to cry a
little, it was going too fast. Then they
moved me onto the table and a big nurse
said to hug her while they put in the
epidural. Nothing they did to me hurt at
all. I laid down and they put an oxygen
mask on my face and I was already feeling
loopy from the sedative in the IV. They
said, you'll start to get sleepy now, and
Boom! I was in the post-op room. My throat
was killing me and I couldn't swallow,
they had warned me this would happen
because of the breathing tube. I felt a
little panicked because it felt like I was
choking so I told the nurses and they
swabbed my tongue with water and I felt a
little better. I asked about the baby and
they said the baby was fine. Then I told
them I was feeling a lot of pain around my
belly button so they must have increased
my drugs and I felt better.
Then after about an hour they took me to
my hospital room where my family were
waiting. My partner fed me ice chips to
make my throat feel better. I had a foley
catheter so I didn't need to get up to use
the bathroom. I just slept for the first
while. When they finally took out the
catheter and made me get up to use the
washroom, it hurt a little and I couldn't
pee and I got very nauseous. I threw up a
lot every time I got up, but eventually,
as they decreased the epidural, the nausea
subsided and I was able to urinate on my
own. I had to hold my stomach over the
stiches whenever I coughed or threw up or
got up from lying down. Going number two
was a lot more difficult and I had a lot
of gas pain and bloating which hurt my
stitches. I had no appetite for a long
time, maybe 4 or 5 days, and I hardly ate
anything. I couldn't keep much down for
the first few days anyway. I was only able
to have a bowel movement 5 days after the
surgery! I had staples (33 of them) and
they hurt the most when I moved.
Getting comfortable is hard but once
you're settled it's probably fine. Your
incision would be a LOT smaller than mine,
so you would have a lot less pain and less
recovery time. Altogether, I don't regret
doing it. It sounds a lot worse than it
was in reality. My boyfriend stayed in the
hospital room with me at night and that
helped a lot. I feel wonderful now and I'm
glad it's behind me. The baby is kicking
me hard right now and reminding me why I
did it. There was so much more room in
there for it to move around. In the end
there was no cancer at all but it's over
and done with and now all I have to worry
about is looking forward to my baby! Good
luck with the procedure. I will be
praying for you and your little one and
for the doctors caring for you. Stay
strong and be positive. Being a mother is
the biggest blessing and challenge you'll
ever experience!! God bless!
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kaerbear
Most Diplomatic Poster
Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 1557 Location: ,
Posted: 07-27-07 00:45am
oops, one more thing. mine was a
laparotomy which means open and invasive
surgery. they had to do exploratory to
make sure there was no cancer and there
wasn't. also, my cyst was abnormally
large, so big that i don't like to tell
people. laparoscopy is a lot less
invasive and is used on smaller cysts.
so, just in case anything in my story
scared you, your procedure will probably
not be nearly as bad and your recovery
time will be less. i just wanted to give
you the details because i wished someone
had done so for me before i went in. the
not knowing really was the hardest part.
ok! im done now. i'm so long winded,
lol.
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aprmar
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 4 Location: United States
Posted: 08-06-07 13:54pm
Hey Kaerbear ~
I just wanted to give you an update but
first I wanted to thank you sooo much for
telling me about your experience. It was
really helpful because aside from them
trying the laparoscopy and having to do
the laparotomy everything that you said
they did to you they did to me!
It turned out that they were unable to
remove the mass by way of laparoscopy
because my baby was hiding it and to not
take any chance of harming the uterus,
they went ahead and finished it by way of
a laparotomy. I was in a lot of pain, but
I'm relieved! They told me that the
intial freeze showed no signs of cancer
but that the final pathology test would be
in in 7 -10 days, so we are waiting to
hear on that. I'm being positive about
that though. My baby is fine, they had to
remove the ovary, so I'm a pregnant women
who has/is going through menopause. They
put me on progesterone for one month just
as a precaution to help me maintain the
pregnancy. She doesn't see any reason
that there should be any ramifications
from the surgery now. I was just so HAPPY
when I heard them say that the baby was
fine before they took me out of the
operating room.
I was at an excellent hospital and if it
wasn't so far away during December I would
deliver there because of the atmosphere
and all.
Well, onto you, I know on the 30th, there
wasn't a baby yet. How about now? I
think that that will drive me nuts if it
happens to me. Well, I hope everything is
still going great for you. I need to go
lay down and rest. Let us all know when
you deliver. God Bless!
