Dear women,
My name is Annemiek, I am from the Netherlands. I am 34 years old and I am 11 weeks pregnant. I hope to find some answers and information, because I cannot find it in my language.
This isn't my first pregancy. In 2012, I had an ectopic pregnancy. At 6 weeks, they had to operate (full surgery, so a large scar) and they removed my left fallopian tube, but my ovary remained there, all strangled by adhesions from my large intestine. The doctor told me that they found a lot of adhesions in the lower left part of my abdomen. There were adhesions between my intestines and my fallopian tube and my blatter and my abdominal wall. They did not remove any of the adhesions.
In 2013, I was pregnant again. The first 12 weeks, I was spotting, on the ultrasound they saw that it was because of a bleeding in my uterus. Then there were no problems untill I was 21 weeks pregnant. I woke up in the morning with painful contractions. We went to the hospital and they sent me home again. They said I was indeed having contractions, but there seemed to be no effect on my cervix, which was not dillating. I had to come back if the pain would get worse. It did and in the evening I was back at the hospital, and this time they kept me there. They ran all kind of tests, because at first they were sure I was not going into labour. I was in so much pain and they only gave me tylenol because other painkillers could harm the baby. At 3 am at night, my cervix had opened 2 cm and they confirmed I was going into labour. A few hours later I delivered. There was no chance for survival for our baby boy
All the tests they ran afterwards were negative, I had been completely healthy, and the baby also, they did not find a cause for the pre term birth.
Last year I was pregnant again, but it ended at 7 weeks (missed abortion, the baby had stopped growing at 5 weeks).
Now I am pregnant again. From the moment I knew I was pregnant, I have a weekly appointment at the hospital with an ultrasound and internal check up. I will get progesterone injections from 16 weeks.
Untill now, the baby is growing as it should, but my body is giving me a lot of problems. And every time I am so worried. The cannot explain it at my hospital, so I hope to find other women who have or have had the same problems.
The first problem is a cyste in my left ovary. It is 5 cm and causes a sharp pain in my left side. But I know what the pain feels like and what causes the pain, so I can live with it. Second, there is free moisture on the lower right side of my abdomen, the area is 20 cm x 6 cm, so quite large. The pain it causes feels more like pressure to me, but the doctors say it can cause more pain. Furthermore, I have been spotting off and on for the last 6 weeks. They did not find a cause for the spotting on the ultrasound. I can live with the spotting, I know it happens to a lot of women.
But then there is the cramping, which worries me a lot, because the pain resembles the contractions of my pre term labour. At 6.5 weeks, 9 weeks and 11 weeks (this weekend) I suddenly started having severe, painful, cramping of my uterus. What happens is more or less the same every time. After a few hours of painful uterine contractions, my intestines also start cramping and I have to run to the bathroom a few times because of more and more watery stool every time I go. Then, everything keeps on cramping for hours and when the uterine cramps are the most painful, I start losing some bright red blood and some blood clots (about one menstrual pad). After that, the pain subsides and the next days I keep on spotting a little bit (brown, so old blood). I went to the hospital the first two times this happened, but they did not have an explanation. The baby was fine.
The first two times, the whole thing started and ended in about 10 hours. And the pain was severe, but, for me, bearable. This weekend it started saturday night at 10 pm, the pain stopped for 3 hours on sunday morning and then it started again. It ended sunday night at 11 pm. So this time, it took about 24 hours. And the pain was unbearable half of the time, especially saturday night. No sleep for me this weekend..
I did not call the hospital, because they have no answers. I will wait for my regular check up on friday.
But the pain and especially the cramping of my uterus really worry me. This weekend, the cramping felt like real contractions and I was afraid I would miscarry. I did not, obviously, but I am afraid that if I keep having these episodes of cramping, at some point in the second trimester, it will trigger something in my body that starts the delivery, just like in 2013. If your uterus keeps on cramping, it can start the delivery.
I hope there are more woman who have experienced these kind of problems and can tell me more about the progress of their pregancies, so I know when or when not to be worried.
Best regards,
Annemiek