week 27
Initially, I was embarrassed about this situation I'm in. But it really is something that is very common among pregnant women. About 20-50% of pregnant women would experience hemorrhoids during pregnancy.
It started last Saturday. We were attending a friend's wedding and were on the way back home, when i felt something as I plonked myself into the car. I told hubby, 'hmm...i think i have that errr...ummm...condition. I can't remember what's its called, but i highly suspect it'. Hubby of course didn't know what i was talking about. I fished for my phone and googled it, and exclaimed- HEMORRHOIDS!
I quickly forgot about it though. I fell asleep exhausted as soon as I reached home. But it did bother me the next morning, and I quickly asked hubby to send me to the doctor. It was confirmed. I had 2 prolapsed hemorrhoids and 1 internal one. Doctor sent me home to rest in bed, with suppositories and cream to help the pain.
And boy, did it hurt! I spent the next 3 days grimacing at my every move. Most of them just shifting from lying on my right to my left, as i laid in bed fighting back the tears, wishing that the 70 odd days that stood between me and my EDD would come as quickly as possible.
Then the bleeding began. It first started out as very light streaks of blood. Nothing that worried me very much. And then on Thursday, it really started to bleed. I was soaking pads up so quickly!
We rushed back to my GP who proclaimed that this was beyond her and that I had to see a specialist immediately. She made an appointment for me at Mount Alvernia with a Dr Cosmas Chen (i was in no mood to even be amused by his name), and we hurried over to see him. She said that he would probably do a rubber band ligation procedure on the hemorrhoids, which would stop the bleeding.
BUT, Dr Cosmas told me that my hemorrhoids were way too big for that! And if I weren't pregnant, he'd be wheeling me into surgery right that moment. Now anyone else would be freaked out by now, but this Dr was smart enough to calm me down the moment i walked through the doors, and told me that he would take care of me and that everything was going to be fine. So i didn't panic and was generally calm.
He managed to stop the bleeding, shoved the hemorrhoids back where they belonged for awhile, and told me that the best way to manage this was through an aggressive course of oral medication which he assured me was safe for the babies. And that I had to keep pushing my hemorrhoids back to where they belong at least 3 times a day and proceeded to scold and nag me about having a diet high in fibre.
The worst case scenario, is that I start bleeding again. I can't stop it, and he can't stop it. Then he'd be forced to operate on me on local anesthesia...NOT General Anesthesia! YIKES!
It's been about 4 days now, I haven't had much problems, and only slight discomfort. but i have to take care of this until the babies are born... so I've been watching my diet, eating lots of fruits, cos I wouldn't want to have to be awake when Dr Cosmas prods around down there....
sigh.....
9 weeks to go.....Labels: twin pregnancy