Pregnancy with fibroids: ‘I started bleeding at week 5,’ says Indian mum in UAE

Pregnancy with fibroids: ‘I started bleeding at week 5,’ says Indian mum in UAE

Novienne Lacquiere Wadia was looking for a long-term home in Dubai when she moved to the emirate in 2016 – this meant doing research on residential areas, supermarkets and doctors. One of the specialists she wanted to identify was a gynaecologist who could do regular well-being check-ups and when the time came, help her with her pregnancy. And so it happened that the Indian expat found one who did a scan and pointed out something that may grow to become an issue later on: a giant fibroid – a lump made of muscle and fibre. At the time, the doctor told her to wait it out, for the symptoms were mild and easy to navigate. “I let it be as is and then in 2018, I started getting a lot of heavy bleeding, to the extent that even at night I had to change my napkin, which is something you don’t generally have to do. And I was passing a lot of blood clots,” she says. When she visited another doctor – a change of insurance prompted a change in healthcare providers – the doctor explained that the bleeding was due to fibroids and if she wanted to conceive –