Endometriosis & Third Trimester Pregnancy

[Akitalove123]

Good morning amazing people!

I am currently in my third trimester pregnancy, with my 2nd pregnancy.

My first was 5 years ago & back then I didn’t have Endo!

Since then I have had many appointments etc but struggled to get the exact medical help for diagnosing Endo.

When I had my periods I would have excruciating pains with my bowel movement & rectum causing sharp shocking pains, nerve pains internally which caused me to never open my bowel whilst on my period because the pain was horrendous!!

It was so severe once I had to go to hospital, I could barely stand up or move with the nerve shock pains. I had a MRI scan were they confirmed nothing around my ovaries but also stated they couldn’t detect Endo via this.

I was placed on a long waiting list for a colonoscopy which took over a year!

I have since & now pregnant! I have recently heard back for my colonoscopy but can’t have this done whilst being so heavily pregnant.

I really do not know what to do! During pregnancy I haven’t had the usual pains, but as I am getting heavier & in the third trimester I am starting to feel more pressure & sometimes get the nerve twinges associated with my old pains.

I am so scared if I have a vaginal birth the pressure will surely cause those horrific pains again & even worse during labour, is this likely to be the case???

Will this pain cause harm to the baby???

The pains I experienced were much much worse than giving birth in regards to pain threshold so I am increasingly worried having this baby is going to be horrific

[Trinity613]

Oh wow your story is so similar to mine!! I had the exact same symptoms as you after giving birth to my previous child and breastfeeding for 3 years. Got my period back when my baby was 2. Had never has this before and it took me months to realise it could be endo. Each month the pain was worse. I had a transvaginal scan that came back clear. I was then sent for a colonoscopy which was so painful I had to stop the procedure 1/3 way in. Not mentioning the fasting part and the horrendous liquid to drink to flush out your intestines… They didn’t see anything either as it can only be seen if the endo has infiltrated but they could not rule out there was any on the outside of the rectum. I then had an MRI where they saw some thickening between my uterus and rectum. The results where sent to the endo clinic of the whittington (it needs to be seen by an endo specialist otherwise it can be missed). By the time I got my special appointment at the endo clinic, I was 2 months pregnant. I was told to breastfeed for as long as possible to delay return of my period and then get the mirena coil.

Regarding giving birth, I was as petrified as you (even though I had 3 births without pain killers). So i accepted being induced on the condition of getting an epidural at the beginning of the procedure. I ended up having a pain free birth!! The most painful part was removing the cannula from my hand 😂

The bleeding was normal after birth except 3 weeks later I started having some pain back before bowel movement. It wasn’t as intense but it was bad enough for me to scream…. It happened 2-3 times and then disappeared. I guess it was my hormones regulating.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask xx

[Roobs33]

Heya,

I’m in a very similar position to you. Currently in my third trimester and trying to work out the best option for the birth. I have stage 4 endo and my bowel is stuck to my uterus. I am also extremely worried about what the pain would be like having experienced awful pain during periods causing me to feel faint/vomit etc. I also experience pain on other days and get a lot of bowel symptoms. I’m also very worried that something could happen to my bowel during the birth. My surgeon and another senior gynae have both said that a vaginal birth would be fine. I raised my concerns again recently and wasn’t really given any answers. They said if I had a planned c-section that I could have a bowel team on hand in case anything was to happen. Obviously a c-section would cause further scarring which the endo wouldn’t like.

I have a 5 year old and had to be induced which ended up being very long and part of it didn’t even work. I’m so worried that now my condition is a lot worse since then that being induced will be awful.

I’m sorry you’ve had such pain previously and I hope that you are able to get a diagnosis once your baby is here.

Xxxx