What is the average growth?

Hi
I've been reading as a guest for the last few weeks until I finally got my date July 9. But I wondered what is the average "growth" of your uterus. My doc noticed the fibroids with my 4th baby and they have been watching them. Just off and on. Then my 5th is 19 months old and they tied my tubes after her. I wasn't really that concerned about the fibroids until about 3 months ago when I started being able to feel my uterus.
So I made a yearly exam and he said Oh yeah you are quite enlarged. Because I have had 5 c-secs my insides are a mess and he had told me with the bad periods and massive bleeding then I was a prime candidate for a hyster as I'm only 29. So I went in for an ultra sound and they said that I was about the size of 14 weeks.

The weirdest thing is that I go to a gym where they weigh and measure you ever month and I have stayed the same for the last 4 months till I went in last week and I had grown 2.5 inches around my abdom. Which explains why my jeans are all fitting tight around there. I was so depressed that I made them remeasure me the next day. I have to go 2 more months before I can have surgery and I don't want to keep getting bigger. Mostly because I a have the lead part in a musical that I have to perform next month. My friend suggested getting a girdle. Yikes.
I know this may seem dumb. I'm just wondering if any of you have found that the growing tapers off and on or whether it really is like you are preg and you just keep getting bigger and bigger. My other friend told me she is going to make me some lounge pants so I can keep GROWING>
Oh well thanks.
Kerri
4 good size fibroids, nothing where it is supposed to be and is that endo or just so much scar tissue they can't tell!!

Kerri,

Welcome to hystersisters, the best site on the web!

I also have a 14 wk. size uterus! Well, the last time I saw the dr. it was. During each of my three pregnancies, the OB dr. told me I had a fibroid/or fibroids, but they never interfered with the pregnancy. My deliveries were all vaginal.

My baby is now 14, so it has been a while. The fibroids thrive on hormones (estrogen, I'm pretty sure), which is why they grow during pregnancy. My six-week postpartum always found they had shrunk.

I felt the same thing, thickening of the waistline, just like pregnancy. When I went for my yearly pap (hadn't been in 3 years, shame on me), I told the gyn that I knew I had fibriods and felt they were growing, as well as causing all kinds of heavy bleeding, clots, cramps, etc. She confirmed an enlarged uterus, and sent me for a sonogram.

In the sonogram, they also found my right ovary was larger than a golf ball (should be the size of an almond). So my referral was mainly for the ovary, but when I told the specialist about my horrible periods and he looked at the size of my uterus, he suggested a hyst. I was more than happy to agree with him.

My first dr. also did some blood work and said that according to my hormone levels, I have not even begun menopause. I'm 48 and had been using that excuse for my mood swings, etc. for years.

To answer your question, everyone is different. I saw the specialist nearly two months after my sonogram and he said the uterus was still 14 week size. Sometimes I'm convinced it's growing, especially just before my period when I can't snap my jeans easily.

I can't imagine yours would grow as fast as a pregnancy. I had to wait 8 weeks for my surgery and didn't have to buy any new clothes to accommodate the fibroids. I only have 15 more days to wait now.

Good luck. Read everything you can at this site, post questions, join chat and before you know it, you'll be a princess.

Nancy

I didn't have fibroids, but I wanted to respond to Nancy's comment about the hormone levels and menopause. When I went in September prior to my surgery and told my doctor about my perimenopausal symptoms and that I hadn't had a period for a couple of months, she did an FSH to see if I was headed towards menopause. She told me the results were normal and I wasn't going into menopause. However, after my hysterectomy a month later, the gyn that did my surgery told me that my left ovary had stopped functioning and my right one was atrophied and I would have gone through menopause any day now. So don't believe that just because your hormone levels are normal you aren't near menopause.

As a side note: I needed my blood test results to go to a new doctor a couple of weeks ago and looked at my "normal" result. The FSH levels vary depending on your cycle, pregnancy, or menopause. My levels were nowhere near the normal cycle or menopause ranges and were clearly in the pregnancy range! I would think that my doctor would have thought that was not exactly normal considering I had my tubes tied many years ago. At least I would have thought she might have considered that there was some problem! Instead, she poo-pooed my complaints of some discomfort in my abdomen and did an ultrasound only at my insistence. Well a large mass was found on my left ovary and the rest is history. I guess it's obvious why I switched doctors!