P and I had our first visit to our Ob-Gyn doctor this week in order to confirm everything was OK. Although I'd been told it wasn't necessary to do this until the 12 week stage when you have your first scan, I just couldn't wait.
My Ob-Gyn has a scanner in her office - one of those basic ones where you can see things, but certainly not as high-tech as the one we are booked into in two weeks time - but this did not matter to us.
It's difficult to describe the rush of emotion I felt when I first saw my foetus onscreen. There it was, really there, moving around! When she put the sound on to measure the heartbeat I was surprised by the sudden emotional surge I felt and I even had a little weep. My Ob-Gyn told me that its heart rate at 160 bpm was "perfect" and she also measured the length, assuring me that the size was just right for the due date. Phew!However things took a slightly worrying turn when she pointed out that there was an unusual thickening of the uterus on one side (though at least not close to the foetus). Her initial diagnosis was that she thought it could be a small fibroid growth, the same size as the baby. I had absolutely no idea what this meant and started to panic about it, but she assured me that it wasn't necessarily dangerous, just something to keep an eye on.
As soon as I got home, I was straight online and searching for fibroids on the Internet. My research revealed some interesting facts. Fibroids are non-cancerous cysts that many women suffer from at some point in their lives, pregnant or not. They are harmless, unless they get too large, in which case they will sometimes need to be removed. Nearly one in four of pregnant women develop fibroids in early pregnancy, due to the increase in the Hcg hormone. Many fibroids are too small to even see. It's very difficult (and inadvisable) to remove fibroids during pregnancy because of the increased risk of bleeding. In extreme cases, fibroids can affect the birth itself because they can get in the way of the baby's journey down the birth canal. In these cases, caesarians are usually performed. My doctor was at pains to assure me that at this point that we should just watch and wait to see if we need to be concerned later on.
I have to say that it has really dampened my initial euphoria at seeing the little peanut alive and kicking, but as P pointed out, at least the little one is doing alright and we may be worrying over nothing.
Did you have any health worries in early pregnancy? How did you deal with them?