PREGNANCY-BIRTH Messages for July, 2000: Re: morphine use and appendix taken out during pregnancy

Re: morphine use and appendix taken out during pregnancy

From: Tonja

anonymous@obgyn.net

Tue, 25 Jul 2000 23:44:46 -0500 (CDT)

Basically, no one could pinpoint the infection (which is very common) and the contractions remained diagnosed as “false” throughout the next two days. No one checked for dilatation after admission (to avoid risk of infection), but an US showed my cervix to be long and closed (despite EXTREMELY painful contractions that were in excess of 10 an hour…the contractions I experienced med-free with my son during transition had NOTHING on these!). I was given 2 steroid shots for the baby’s lungs and a ton of intravenous antibiotics during my stay. Literally, as my OB was handing me my discharge papers, my membranes ruptured in bed and I was taken to L&D, at 6 cms, and my daughter was born a few hours later. She weighed 2 lbs./7 ozs, came out with her eyes wide open, pink and turning her head in the direction of every voice in the room…APGAR scores 5 and 9! She was on the vents for 6 days and held her own after that, with just a little CPAP assistance from time to time (no oxygen!). She stayed in the NICU for 3 ½ weeks and special care for another 6 ½ (10 weeks total) while we waited for her to grow…absolutely healthy, perfect, beautiful, and no problems (eyes, ears, lungs, heart, 100% healthy and not a brain bleed in sight!) whatsoever that resulted from her prematurity. She’s a happy and VERY healthy 13 ½ month now who keeps me running after her most of the day! When the pathology reports on the placenta came back, they showed “traces” of listeria monocytogenes, probably not as much as there would have been had I not been on the heavy antibiotics I was on for 2 ½ days prior, according to my caregivers.

The scary thing about listeria is that it seems to attack the amniotic sac during pregnancy. In a normal, healthy person with a solid immune system, it can have little or no effect at all, but for high-risk people (immune-weakened, pregnant, elderly, etc.), it can be pretty rough. The other odd thing (like you mentioned) is that sometimes symptoms don’t appear for as many as 70 days eating a contaminated food, so diagnosis is tricky. Symptoms to watch for include those that I mentioned above (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, body aches/pains, fatique and a general "sick" feelings like you'd get with the flu). Most likely, they are a result of the flu, but it's a good idea to get it checked out if the symptoms last longer than a week, in my opinion.

As far as where I picked it up, your guess is as good as mine. I don’t eat lunchmeat or hot dogs as a general life rule and I stayed completely away from soft cheeses during pregnancy, but with this pregnancy, I practically lived on SALAD (couldn’t get enough of it…go figure!), which can also be a very high risk food if the lettuces aren’t washed thoroughly (I ate out a lot during that 3-month period in which I was most likely infected, and although I never ate at a salad bar, it could have been lettuce from a restaurant…I’m obsessive about washing fruits/veggies at home!).

I do want to point out that it doesn’t seem like a good idea to live your pregnancy in fear of this infection…yes, it is a scary prospect, but out of ALL of the women I’ve known, or even heard of personally who have been pregnant, not one has ever gotten listeria during pregnancy. Be cautious of what you eat, of course, and avoid the significantly high-risk foods (hot dogs, deli meat, soft cheeses like brie, camembert and ricotta unless served piping hot, sushi, public salad bars, coleslaws of which you're not aware of the origin, oysters, unpasteurized milk, etc.), but don’t spend your days worrying about it. It’s fairly uncommon and I just happened to eat the wrong thing at the wrong time.

And yes, this was a pretty um…challenging?…pregnancy, but all turned out well for me and for our daughter and through the chaos and heartbreak of it all, I ended up learning quite a bit about life, love and myself. :-)

Hope that answers some of your questions (and sorry about the epic length!)!

-- Tonja

At Tue, 25 Jul 2000, Hali wrote: > >Tonja: > >I am curious to hear more about your experience with listeria. How did >you contract it? When did you find out? I presume the baby was okay >since you mentioned it being born at 27.5 weeks. I have been a little >(probably overly) paranoid since I ate some blue cheese dressing two >nights ago. I have read that it can take up to 70 days before you could >actually have symptoms! That is too much. I wondered what your advice >is since you have been through it. It sounds like you had a tough >pregnancy by the way. > >Thanks in advance. > >-- >Hali >At Tue, 25 Jul 2000, Tonja wrote: >> >>I had my gallbladder out at 14 weeks with my daughter and I was given >>morphine immediately after the surgery for pain. According to my OB and >>caregivers, it's safe in moderation as an analgesic during pregnancy >>(it's even used to stop premature contractions in some practices). Most >>certainly, the surgeons who operated on your friend took extreme >>measures before, during and after the surgery to ensure her and her >>baby's safety. The surgeon who did my procedure told me that if >>anything was going to happen to the baby as a direct result of the >>surgery and/or anesthesia (miscarriage, preterm labor, etc.), it would >>most likely have happened in the first 48 hours. Baby did great and >>made it through the surgery just fine and with no signs of distress. >>Incidentally, (so as not to confuse anyone who has read my earlier >>posts!), she was born at 27.5 weeks, but it had nothing to do with the >>surgery 3 month prior...it was a result of a listeria infection that >>caused PROM. >> >>Here's a good link I found during that time that discussed emergency >>surgery during pregnancy that might help: >> >>http://www.anesthesia.org/winterlude/wl95/wl95_6.html >> >>Hope that helps! >> >>-- >>Tonja >> >>At Tue, 25 Jul 2000, Nicole wrote: >>> >>>My friend just had her appendix taken out and she is in the beginning of >>>her 4th month of pregnancy. She was given morphine for the pain and is >>>concerned about how it will affect her baby. SHe is also worried if >>>having her appendix out at this stage will give her more of a chance for >>>miscarriage. >>

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