mrp7

It turned out not to be a hemangioma but FNH. I had a lot of heart palpitations and difficulty breathing so was sent in for a CT scan to rule out a pulmonary embolism and which point the tumor was discovered. It was HUGE though (14 or 15 cm). In a nutshell (and there were a few steps in between), I went to Mt Sinai in NYC and they couldn't rule out cancer (I was 29 weeks pregnant) so I opted for a liver biopsy because I needed to know whether I was going to die or not and make the appropriate decisions (I also have a 4 yo). Because the "tumor" was so vascular, a blood vessel was cut during the biopsy (in the meantime, they confirmed it was NOT cancer that very same day) and I lost a lot of blood, received some blood transfusions, spent 3 days in ICU (with a lot of blood in my belly but me and baby were okay). I then got out of bed and the internal bleeding started again so at 29 weeks with a team of drs (liver surgeons, pediatricians, high risk obstetritions, etc.) I was rushed into surgery where they made a vertical incision from breast bone to belly button and removed my gallbladder, the tumor and the 10% of my liver that the tumor occupied. Baby showed no signs of distress and I woke up pleasantly surprised that I was still pregnant. I was in the hospital another 6 days at which point they were pushing me out the door. I was fairly uncomfortable for about 3-4 weeks although I never took pain meds after 72 hours post op (they made me too nauseous).

My biggest discomfort was back spasms and some right rib cage pain which I was told was really the positioning during surgery. My chiropractor made me feel like new though within a relatively short amount of time. I was more nervous of popping open my incision than anything else.

Fast forward another 10 weeks and I gave birth at 39 weeks to a beautiful, healthy baby girl via planned c-section. By the time I gave birth, I had "nested" for about 3 weeks and just tried not to reach too far for anything or lift anything too heavy but I was shopping, walking and pretty mobile. After I gave birth, I really never thought of it again except to recently inquire follow up and was told I could wait until I was done breastfeeding (which I plan to do for at least a year) to get a follow up scan. My biggest complaints (which I am thankful for are that my stomach grumbles awfully loud after I've eaten after I haven't in a while and feels kind of annoying and I have muscle separation which sometimes happens during pregnancy anyway so will need pt/maybe surgery).

I can tell you that before I had the surgery, the plan was to watch me closely and have a c-section as to not put too much pressure due to labor. They were tossing around delivering early or the 39 weeks. It was extremely stressful with all the unknowns and I was relieved that things happened the way they happened. The likelihood of rupture is not great enough to risk the baby by delivering too early yet the risk is still there. Where do you live? Do you have a gastroenterologist? Are you giving birth at a large hospital? Hemangiomas are not that rare of a finding in pregnancy but when they approach your size, they are a bit more rare. I had a non-contrast MRI done as well at another hospital.

Please feel free to PM me as well. I'm happy to direct you to the right drs and resources as I know how stressed you are and the feeling of desperately searching for answers.