Abnormal Pap Results During Pregnancy

After having three perfect pregnancies I assumed when I found out I was pregnant for the fourth time that things would go just as smoothly. However, I was wrong. While there is nothing wrong with my pregnancy itself or with the baby, I did find out some devastating news not too long ago.

I had gone in for a normal prenatal checkup, had all the routine things done-Pap smear, weight checked, blood pressure checked etc., and left thinking everything was just great. Two days later, I received a phone call from the nurse practitioner at my doctor's office letting me know that my pap results had come back abnormal and they wanted to schedule an appointment to have a colposcopy done.

A colposcopy is a procedure very similar to the normal Pap smear; however, the doctor will place an acetic acid on your cervix (such as vinegar) to allow any abnormal cells to show up better, usually as a white color. The doctor will then examine your cervix through a microscope called a colposcope that has a bright light attached to it, looking for the areas that are white. Normally, at this point the doctor would take a sample of the cervix so a biopsy could be performed on it for further evaluation. However, in my case, that didn't happen.

During my colposcopy, my doctor did notice white areas on my cervix, but because I am pregnant a biopsy was not performed as there would have been too great a risk of me going into preterm labor or losing the baby completely, so my doctor informed me that a biopsy would be done after the baby is born. Hearing my doctor say that devastated me beyond belief as I am not due to have this baby until August of 2007 and this all happened back in April of 2007, so I then realized that I'd have to go through nearly my entire pregnancy fearing that the abnormal cells on my cervix will turn into cancer within that time frame, which my doctor did tell me was unlikely, but that it could happen.

I asked my doctor what would happen after the biopsy is performed and he said depending on the biopsy results I would either have to undergo a LEEP procedure to remove the abnormal cells from my cervix, or if the abnormal cells are found to indeed be cancerous cells, I will have to undergo a hysterectomy and radiation.

I think what worries me more than anything is that if I hadn't gotten pregnant I may not have found out about the abnormal cells. Everyone everywhere is constantly telling us women to have routine Pap smears done every year, however, my last one before my pregnancy was 2 years ago and if I hadn't gotten pregnant it would have probably ended up being even longer than that before I had another one. So even though, at the moment, things are okay, finding out that there is a possibility of developing cancer in the near future is a scary thing to hear and the fear has definitely been instilled in me. So, I urge all you women to make sure you have annual Pap smears done. They don't just tell us they're important for no reason. Having annual Pap smears done could save our lives, and they will help prevent anyone else having to go through months of worry because they neglected to have annual Pap smears done.