It was Saturday morning, and as usual, I went to the bathroom to unload my bladder. I noticed a little discoloration and when I looked at the toilet paper, it was red. Good thing I'm not so much into panicking so I changed clothes, went back and lay down, got my phone and asked Tom to call. I then asked the Finance Controller here to refer to me anyone who can go with us to a hospital so I can be checked.
It was a good thing also that I'm currently in another location, employees here are easier to deal with and will give you support as much as you need especially in "emergency" cases. The property lent us their van for our disposal and the company nurse Theresa accompanied us until everything was done.
First we went to Davao Medical School Foundation where I was initially checked by Dr Amelia Vega. I underwent I.E. and she said I was indeed pregnant and yes there was blood inside that has slowly seeped out. She diagnosed it as "threatened abortion" and recommended I get scanned as soon as possible. Dr Vega said I can have my ultrasound in Ricardo Limso Medical Center, and she will wait in her clinic there to interpret the results and tell me what to do next. She also gave me a presciption for Dydrogesterone (Duphaston) and Folic Acid. She prescribed dydrogesterone because the spotting/bleeding may have just been caused by implantation bleeding and taking duphaston will help restore luteal function, thereby decreasing the possibility of an abortion/miscarriage, and folic acid as vitamins.
So my first ultrasound scan was not at all enjoyable. The sonologist was such a pain-in-the-backside, she's so used to seeing cases that may be near-death that she matter-of-factly tells all her patients that they're almost dying or if they're pregnant, that they are NOT pregnant and that they just have a huge cyst that requires medical attention. Oh I hated her. Dr R (I edited her name so I won't be in trouble). She's the sonologist from hell. As I listened to her I expected the worst.
First she kept on asking me if I had regular periods. Even if you kept on telling her yes, she still will insist that no, you may not be regular. Here's a translation of all the other things she said:
"Oh look, here's the gestational sac, but there's no baby. Maybe it didn't push through. Are you sure you're pregnant? When did you check? How did you check? Did you just buy those things from a drugstore? Are you sure you peed everything before this scan? You go and pee again, because if you already peed everything and this is not your bladder, then this is a cyst. A very big one. Yeah, this is a cyst."
So I went out and forced myself to pee because the sonologist from hell is now telling me I have a humongous cyst inside my thing. Hmm. So I went back.
"You peed already? Are you sure? Let's see again. Yeah, it's a cyst alright. Look, it's so big. Really big. have I seen your left ovary yet? Ok. Wait. Hmm. Yep, it's a cyst."
Damn her, I never heard of the gestational sac again because she kept on repeating I have a cyst. And inside my mind, isn't that cyst supposed to be normal for pregnant people? Because from what I've read it's called the corpus luteum. So I was told to wait a few more minutes outside the sonogram area for my printed ultrasound results.
Again, she's a snologist from hell. Because her report just reads:
Transvaginal scan shows a normal size anteverted (means normal) uterus with no myometrial lesions. There is a beginning gestational sac-like structure seen at the upper endometrial pole (12.4mm) by mean sac diameter, approximately less than 4 weeks AOG (age of gestation). No yolk sac nor embryonic pole is seen yet.
The right ovary is normal in size and echotexture.
A thick (0.4cm) walled cystic structure is seen anterolateral to the uterine corpus measuring 8.9 x 8.7 x 6.9 cm which could be a corpus luteum cyst vs a benign pathologic cyst.
There is no free fluid in the cul de sac.
Final Impression: * anteverted uterus *early intrauterine pregnancy approx 4 weeks AOG *no yolk sac *no embryonic pole yet *no subchorionic hemorrhage *cervix is long and closed *normal right ovary *cystic left ovary as described**Cul-de-sac, aside from being any "blind pouch or cavity that is closed at one end," is used specifically to refer to the rectouterine pouch (the pouch of Douglas), an extension of the peritoneal cavity between the rectum and back wall of the uterus. (source)**
See? everything almost sounds far better than how she talked to me while poking a stick with a camera inside me.
So we went back to Dr Vega, I told her how I hated the sonologist because she really sounded like I was dying. Anyway she said that I should take a rest, no strenuous activities, no contact, take my vitamins and the meds and that I should observe myself for a week until I get back to Cebu. And once I'm in Cebu, I should immediately contact an ob-gyn and ask for another ultrasound scan to check on the pregnancy. Since the implications of another bleeding episode would mean that the pregnancy has terminated itself, meaning I miscarried. She also said that if we consider everything to be just normal, my ovulation may have just been delayed, so the embryo's development is likewise delayed compared to our counting of how old it should already be. Otherwise, what may have happened is that the embryo did not continue to develop, only the sac was able to position itself, but no further development occurred and the body may later expel it and is therefore a miscarriage.
Below are photos of the scans:
Right ovary
Another shot of the right ovary
Left Ovary
Left ovary again.
the gestational sac
Another look at the gestational sac.
So there they are, and that's the story. To all concerned, just pray for the baby and it's proper development. Stop gossiping about bleeding and that I was rushed to the hospital or that I was in a serious condition, because you can ask anyone I'm with that day, I wasn't at all in a SERIOUS condition. I didn't bleed to death; I didn't miscarry and it's not even confirmed yet so stop commenting that it's "sayang" because instead of us being comforted, it's already getting annoying. We'll tell you whenever whatever is confirmed so just pray. But let me take note here that we really appreciate the comments, messages and calls confirming or trying to confirm the details and telling us the they are praying for us and for the pregnancy. Forgive me for being a b*tch about it, but it's myself and a pregnancy we're dealing with so for heaven's sake people, be optimistic humans.
