Just a little nervous....

I have an appointment with a specialist on Friday to assess a few things with my pregnancy. A few months before Trent and I got married I had "exploratory" surgery, mainly looking for possible endometriosis. Thankfully, I did not and still do not have endometriosis but I do have uterine fibroids. I opted not to have the procedure to have them removed because I didn't want the risk of not being able to have children. I was advised that it could cause problems conceiving and if I did conceive I could have certain complications.

I initially thought I had 2 fibroids but have learned since my first pregnancy in May of 2009 that I have 4 fibroids. During my last ultrasound they found that two of fibroids had grown, one is now the size of a small orange and the other is the size of a lime. The two others still remain the size of grapes. My Doctor is most concerned about the larger of the two and that is why she has referred me to a specialist.

Because of the location of the enlarged fibroid is can mean a few things: increased chance of premature labor, because it will continue to grow as it is continually fed increased amounts of hormones, and an increased risk of having a C-Section. Currently, all the fibroids consist of muscle and blood, they do not contain fluid, which is great news.

The specialist she has referred me to has an extensive background in dealing with pregnancy and fibroids. He is going to review my past ultrasounds and conduct his own for a "new" baseline so both doctors can monitor the growth.

Questions I have been asked so far:

Do they hurt? No, I have not experienced any pain at all with the fibroids. Hopefully that will continue to be the case. I have been very lucky with an uneventful pregnancy so far :)

Can they be removed? They cannot be removed during pregnancy. They can however be removed after birth but it is still not recommended if we would like to have more children in the future. Plus from what I have been told, the procedure is tough and the recovery time is about 8 weeks.

Will the fibroids shrink back? Yes, they will shrink back to pre-pregnancy size once I give birth and my hormones level back out.

I am not near as concerned about the C-Section as I am the premature labor. Please keep me, Trent and Miss Brooklyn in your thoughts and prayers. I have about 18 weeks left and she needs to stay put to at LEAST 36 weeks...which is about 14 more weeks!!

I will post an update once I get all my results after my next appointment!