Im sending this to you, because when i went through it i had very little resources on the web to draw on, and at the time i found it quite emotionally taxing and hard, and felt quite alone… When i was 26 weeks pregnant i had some upper right quadrant abdominal pain, and i thought nothing of it! Round ligament pain perhaps? I didnt do anything, however about 24 hours later i was in agony, vomiting and writhing on my bathroom floor! My husband called the hospital and we went to A and E, where i was diagnosed with appendicitus, which occurs in roughly 0.1% of all pregnancies, and is the most common cause of surgery in pregnant women. The next morning i underwent an emergency surgery to remove the appendix, however due to the pregnancy i had to remain awake, during what is major stomach surgery - it involves an 8 inch incision, and then removing your large and small intestine in order to find the inflammed appendix, which could rupture at any time! I was awake the whole time, and baby was kicking all the way through! There is a high risk of preterm labour also, so after the operation i spent 10 days in ICU being monitored. During this time, i remained on an an epidural for pain relief (however in terms of pain medication i was given less than an average appendix removal op!) Also i had terrible pain because of excess air within my stomach after the operation… but was able to have my stitches removed about a week after the operation, and was back on my feet (although slowly!) by 2 weeks! The biggest ongoing problem is the stretching of the scar tissue as my pregnancy continued to progress. It was initially very neat and tidy (i was lucky enough to have no infection) but has become quite lumpy and raised as i’ve got bigger … however i hope it will return to normal after the birth! I just wanted to post my story as proof that everything can go ok in an appendix removal during pregnancy! Im currently 36 weeks and baby looks fine! Thanks!
January 12th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Thank you for your post! Your belly is gorgeous!! and that scar looks really cool actually! Its almost too perfect to be real.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I think it’s excellent that you posted this story. I honestly didn’t know that an appendicitus was common during pregnancies. You look terrific and the scar isn’t so bad.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
OMG that has got to be the sweetest looking scar! Especially on the beautiful belly! How cool..lol!
January 12th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
wow! how scary! i’m proud of you for being so brave & enduring your surgery while conscious. i can imagine how nervous you must have been. i’m weird, i like your scar. i have one too, from a surgery on my spine 10 years before my pregnancy & i had no idea how the tissue would react to stretching. i have some stretch marks, but that was to be expected. yours looks great & you’ll always have an exciting story to tell. congratulations on the baby & on a successful surgery.
January 12th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Your scar is AWESOME. Coolest pregnant belly ever.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Thank you so much! What a wonderful and thoughtful service to us to post your story. Your positivity is a blessing! I am sure you were quite stressed and afraid but it is all ok now! How frightening indeed to undergo that kind of surgery, even asleep! Let alone awake! I am so glad mother and baby are OK! Good luck with your delivery and enjoy motherhood for the blessing it truly is!!!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I think you look great & your scar is awesome! LOVE it!
January 13th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I have to agree with most of the posters here. In terms of scars, you totally won the lottery. That one is awesome! I would be totally pleased to have a scar like that, way cooler than most people’s body modifications.
January 17th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
That is a cool scar! If I had one like that, I wouldn’t mind showing it off! You look amazing and I hope the rest your pregnancy goes well.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I agree that scar is perfect! and your baby bump is one of the most perfect ones I seen..
January 19th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Oh and that happened to my best friend she was the first in our hospital to get it done..
February 20th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Happened to me when I was 20 weeks but mine ruptured and I got put under and had three little scars that are going away now slowly. I have a healthy one year old now and she is perfect nothing wrong. The pain I had that night it ruptured and the pain after the surgery was worse then my contractions and my c-section though.Sounds like you had it a lot worse then me probably cause you were further along. Good luck little ones really are a blessing.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I’m actually not a mother and don’t plan on being one anytime soon, but I LOVE this site, and I just wamted to tell you that your scar looks WICKED cool. Like, it looks like something I would consider getting tattooed on me. Wear it proudly!
March 19th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
thanks for your posting this info. my wife is 15 weeks pregnant with her first baby. we just returned from the E.R. she has been experiancing pain in her lower ab. the E.R. doc. did the usual test and labs and expressed his concern that it could be an appendix issue, he wants us back in the E.R. in the morning to do the labs again to see if her whit cell count is higher then we will go from there i guess. uor biggest concern is he said he didnt want to do a cat scan right away bc of the radiation the put out. is there other options for diagniosis.
August 1st, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I find that scar very very sexy!
October 14th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Just curious as to why the scar is on the left side? I had appendicitis while preg too and have to get it removed in a few weeks and it’s on the right side
November 25th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Hi,
I’m so glad that yours worked out.
My wife was 30 weeks along and started to feel sever pain. We took her in several times and they kept blowing us off.
Her apendics burst and we lost the baby and almost her. She is still not out of the woods but she is much better then a couple of days ago.
If your having any kind of pain pleas ehave it checked out and don’t let them blow you off. Good luck
March 11th, 2010 at 6:44 am
Sorry to take so long to get back to all the lovely comments! I hope to send an update on how the scar is now pretty soon. After I lose the baby weight!
Katie - the scar is on the right side because I took a photo using my built in camera on my mac, and the photos always come out back to front! In real life its on my right side too.
Additionally, If anyone wishes to contact me directly about this story, please feel free to email me at Fionakida@yahoo.com
May 31st, 2010 at 8:00 am
I had the same thing happen to me at 35 weeks pregnant! My scar however is horizontal instead of vertical. Had major abdominal pain - went into hospital, and it took them 24 hours to decide that it was appendicitus. Because I was so far along, and all my internal organs were squished up, even with ultrasounds etc, they couldn’t be sure. They performed the operation with me under general anesthesia, and subsequently I had very little pain meds (Tylenol!), but me and my baby daughter made it. She was born 4 weeks later at 39 weeks.