Healthy Babies & Fibroid Tumors

What Are Fibroids And Who Has Them?

Fibroids, benign tumors that grow on the muscle tissue of the uterus, are a common complaint, affecting 25 percent of women over the age of 35. Fibroids are not a condition a woman is born with-in fact, she won’t develop fibroids until she is an adult. As a rule, fibroids are not problematic and many women with small fibroid tumors go through life unaffected.

A recent study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill addressed the issue of fibroids in connection with miscarriage and discovered there was a link between the presence of small fibroid tumors and miscarriage. During that study of 1,600 women, 170 women were diagnosed with fibroid tumors and most of them were unaware of the presence of the tumors-they had never been told they had them.

In today’s world, many women have put off childbearing in favor of developing their career or building a business. As a result, more pregnancies to women over 30 are commonplace, as are more cases of fibroid tumors during pregnancy. Fibroids can cause infertility challenges, miscarriage and other painful situations. However, they need not be the end of hope for a woman who wants to have children.

Fibroids And The Growing Baby

Dr. Bobbie Gostout, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says fibroids do not often cause problems with conception. However, once a woman is pregnant, fibroids can grow very rapidly during the early months especially, and they can cause severe pain which may require the woman to be hospitalized. This does not always happen to all women, but there are sufficient cases of fibroid growth during pregnancy to warrant attention. With today’s modern methods of tracking the growth of both the baby and fibroid tumors, the doctors are better able to manage the situation. Surgery is not performed to remove fibroids during a pregnancy. The symptoms are managed until after the birth when the tumors can be removed by myomectomy.

Is A Caesarean Section Necessary?

Many women with fibroid tumors go through pregnancy and delivery will little problem and most studies show no differences in the risks for premature delivery, fetal growth problems, fetal abnormalities, placental problems, or heavy bleeding after delivery. One commonality in delivery for women with fibroids is caesarean section, sometimes as a result of the fibroid blocking the birth canal. Women can also experience a lot of pain and early contractions which are caused by the fibroids. If the labor begins too prematurely, bed rest and medications will be used to keep things stable until it is a safe time to deliver the baby.

Fibroids are not known to hurt the baby, and with the wonderful methods we have today of prenatal tracking, should any problems develop they can be addressed quickly and effectively without harm to the baby.