#WCW: Bravo Star Talks Fibroids and C-Sections

If the name Kenya Moore, star of Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta, is becoming familiar to you, that's because she's been our Woman Crush Wednesday a few times already: she's been incredible about sharing her difficulties in becoming and staying pregnant due to her fibroids. Well now, once again, she's earning a #WCW spot of honor as she publicly addresses another potential fibroid obstacle: delivering your baby while you still have uterine fibroids. 

Back in October, pregnant Moore was hospitalized. Shortly afterwards, she reveled that she'd need to deliver her daughter, Brooklyn, early because she had preeclampsia, a condition that causes pregnant women to develop extremely high blood pressure. While that diagnosis was challenging enough, Moore revealed is now revealing that her delivery was also difficult.

In a new interview with People magazine, Moore explained that she had to have a three-hour emergency cesarean section and, because she had uterine fibroids, she couldn't get away with a discreet incision: instead, doctors had to create both horizontal and vertical incisions

“They couldn’t get the baby out,” she shared. “There were all these complications and they knew if they cut into a fibroid, I could potentially bleed out and die. So they ended up cutting me vertically, too, to just get the baby out and make sure I survived the surgery. They were so scared they were going to lose me.”

Even worse? Moore revealed that her epidural ran out at one point, so she needed to go under general anesthesia to avoid excruciating pain. “When it was all over, my doctor said, ‘This was one for the books,’” Moore said. Thankfully, despite being delivered six weeks ahead of schedule, Brooklyn is healthy, and Moore has recovered enough to tell her story.

Pregnancy and Delivery with Fibroids

Unfortunately, pregnancy and delivery complications are not uncommon in women with fibroids.

These benign, muscular growths develop in and on your uterus, causing many potential side effects (including pain, heavy periods, vaginal bleeding when you’re not on your period, painful sex, and problems conceiving or carrying a child to term.)

While some women experience completely typical pregnancies, women with fibroids are more likely to need a C-section, to have a breech baby , to have non-progressive labor, to have their placentas break away from the wall of the uterus before delivery (placental abruption), or to deliver their babies prematurely.

The location of a fibroid also plays a major factor. Women with fibroids that block their cervix will almost always have to deliver babies via c-section--their fibroids block the fetus' only other exit strategy. And, as Moore demonstrates so vividly, fibroids can make c-sections a little more complicated.

C-Sections with Fibroids

Fibroids often get bigger while you're pregnant, and large fibroids can make it difficult for doctors to enter the uterus to deliver your baby. Also, because fibroids have a significant blood supply that feeds them, cutting a fibroid during surgery can make a women lose even more blood, which can become a life-threatening condition during delivery.

Fortunately, if you're aware of your fibroids--and the potential complications they may cause during delivery--you should still be able to deliver a healthy baby, just like Kenya Moore. The important thing is to discuss your options, and potential outcomes, with your physicians so you can come up with the safest possible delivery plan for you and your child.