My Precious Vs Humongous Ovarian Cyst

I have had 4 pregnancy experiences so far, a miscarriage and 3 amazing Queens. Each pregnancy was totally different from the other. My first (Angel) was a breeze, it was amazing, i was super energetic, restless and what not. You would see me going to fight men at petrol stations during scarcity for not respecting Women ( a pregnant one at that) it worked twice (winks).

My 3rd pregnancy was also a breeze as I vomited just the once. The only issue was that I was in denial for a very very long time. I could not believe it; my morning after pill had failed me. I was shocked from the 2 weeks to 38weeks. Labour jolted me to reality. I really was having a 3rd child. My Charming Husband wanted only one child, after much persuasion and coercion, we decided on 2 and I was content. Especially after the experience I had with my 2nd, but then God reminded me that man proposes and God disposes. My 3rd is super amazing and I am excited about her everyday- some one finally looks like me (Michelle) and finally for once, my water broke itself.

The Birth of Precious- I was excited bout testing positive because for the 2nd time I had planned it well again. I like planning things- hehe. Whilst doing my Masters in the UK, my husband came over for a week and I was ready for another baby, my 1st was already 3yrs old.

I was scheduled for a scan and was congratulated for my pregnancy.

Unfortunately I was told I had an ovarian cyst, it was very tiny at 0.9cm. I was asked to come back in 2 weeks. At this appointment, the scan showed it had grown to 1.02cm, so they gave me appointments every 2 weeks to monitor the growth of my baby and the ovarian cyst. The size increased every time and it started growing way bigger than my baby. The midwife told me with the rate it was growing she is absolutely sure I would need a surgery to get it out by my 2nd trimester. I rejected it and said surgery is not my portion, much less surgery during pregnancy. I was terrified. I had always been the healthiest in the house and no one ever needed surgery.

I went for some more scans and they said the ovarian cyst needs to be removed or else it will burst and it will be very dangerous for myself and for my baby.

I got home and cried. Read Dr. Google, that did not help. It only worsened my fear. The fact that the surgeon said its to large and had grown to 30cm while my baby was a tiny 10cm and had been pushed to a corner by the cyst made me so worried and scared. They could not do keyhole surgery, because the cyst was too big. I would have a vertical bikini cut to get it out. I asked the doctors to give me some weeks to think about it and they agreed.

I took the next flight to Nigeria to come and see my husband, daughter and family incase of incasity LOL (eventuality). I also wanted to see Nigerian doctors and get their view on the condition. It is funny thinking about it now. So I went for my first Nigerian scan on the Mainland, the sonographer told me "Madam, please next time, don’t let your bladder be this full, it is unnecessary", I said okay to the reprimand, waiting for him to talk about the cyst. He showed me my baby's head, back, limbs, heartbeat and said I could go. My husband was so angry and upset, he told the doctor off saying “you are a popular doctor people rush too, only God knows how many pregnant women with cysts you would have told that its their bladder that is full.” The doctor was shocked, sorry and embarrassed, he pleaded with my husband and I to give him another chance. My husband agreed and the doctor checked again. He advised I see another doctor immediately because he had never seen an ovarian cyst that large before.

My husband was pissed off and reminded me that he wanted only one child, which he already had, and he wished he did not listen to me to have a 2nd child. LOL, yimu! (typical huh!)

Next, we went to Mecure, an Indian owned diagnostic center. Whilst on the scanning bed, the Indian sonographer was making all sorts of exclamations like mmmm, aahh, ooh. He then asked me to wait a moment; he asked two other doctors to come in. They all concentrated on the screen, they asked me to go and empty my bladder, which I did. On my return, they still saw the huge cyst and they started speaking their language. At this moment, my husband and I made up our minds to just go back to UK and get the surgery done over there. These exclamations scared us! The Indian doctors finally came to us and told me I had a big ovarian cyst on my right ovary and recommended I go see a gynaecologist ASAP. (It should be noted at this point that the ovarian cyst was on my left and not my right ovary, so the diagnosis was wrong!).

Though we had made a decision, I still decided to go to two Nigerian hospitals to see gynaecologists, the first one did not mince words, he said go back to the UK and get the surgery done, we can’t handle this kind of surgery while you are pregnant, we can’t worry about the baby, you and the cyst at the same time. The 2nd gynaecologist said that I shouldn’t do any surgery that nothing will happen to me. That is exactly what I wanted to hear, but after hearing it, I knew it did not sound right at all.

My medical file was so big it now had about 4 different medical opinions and views.

I said my good byes and went back to UK for the surgery. I cried everyday. I was scared and so attached to the baby. I pitied her, like she was inconvenienced by the whole cyst situation. I told her everyday, she is a precious fighter and we would win the fight together.

My mum and sister arrived a day to the surgery. I was told the surgery would take an hour an a half but it took almost 4 hours, it was way bigger than they expected it to be. They couldn’t remove it as they had planned because it could burst, so they had to drain the liquid in it first. It had 3 litres of semi liquid. They all wondered how my back coped carrying that and a baby.

Lest I forget, I was given an epidural that didn’t work well and it gave me rigour. I shivered and shook vigorously on the bed. I was so cold! They had to give me general anaesthetic since the epidural didn’t work to their satisfaction on me. My midwife said she was so happy it didn’t work because she couldn’t imagine me being awake for almost 4 hours. She said it was not easy at all.

My surgeon was awesome. She repaired the damaged ovary. My baby was strong and had enough space.

Post operation was not so easy for me. I had to inject myself with a blood thinner; I never got to do it myself. I couldn’t inflict pain on myself; a darling friend Collette helped me because my mum and sister could not get themselves to do it either. I had to submit my dissertation. I had constant migraines but I did not want to extend my studies. I prayed, read, wrote, researched, used painkillers and prayed some more. I couldn’t believe it when I found out I got a B in my dissertation. The pain must have gingered me. LOL.

I couldn’t take anything stringer than paracetamol because of the baby; I missed the morphine I was given at the hospital. The pain was horrendous. While the stitch was still trying to heal, my bump was stretching, making it more painful and it took longer to heal. I was rushed to the hospital at 2am at some point because the stitch balls had penetrated my belly and entered my skin. They needed to get it out ASAP.

Well due to the surgery, baby Precious was probably eager to come to the world. I had preterm contractions. I had to be given steroid shots and pills to keep her in till 37 plus weeks. My precious fighter was born healthy at 2.6kg. This is me 3 weeks post surgery. Still putting on a brave face.

I want to say thank God for everything. I was a student and had access to very good, free medical treatment. Thank you to the UK NHS too.

A friend of mine had a similar surgery (but she wasn’t pregnant) in Nigeria but she had to go to the UK to redo it 6 months after. I sincerely pray that God provides enough for Nigeria to get state of the art medical facilities, well-trained medical personnel so that we can improve in all areas.

#baby #labour #mums #pregnancy