What I Wish I Knew When I had BV…

When I was 7 months pregnant and struggling with bacterial vaginosis, one of the things I couldn’t stand was when all my test results came back normal. It’s red, itching, burning, uncomfortable- there is CLEARLY something going on!!!! But because no test showed positive for BV, or yeast, or anything else, my treatment was delayed and delayed and delayed… 

Until my water broke. 

Oops. 

I tried for so long (probably 10 weeks?) to address this.  It felt like I’d tried everything.

• Topical Yeast medication

• Oral yeast medication

• Antibiotic topical BV medication 

• Borax (yikes) 

• Yogurt

• Garlic 

• Apple cider vinegar

          (would NOT recommend those last few)

It wasn’t until AFTER I gave birth (months after… actually) that I had this really powerful realization.  And part of that involved a few eye-opening discoveries I made that helped me to finally understand what was going on.

Here’s what I realized:

No one knows what is going on.

I didn’t have enough information to make an informed decision. My providers could not for the life of them figure out how to treat this… and because I am a compliant human, I just let that happen. 

I thought, well if they aren’t super concerned, it should be fine. 

And then I was sooooo uncomfortable. 

I would just sob… my partner didn’t know how to support me. 

And going to appointment after appointment being told everything was fine was just so demoralizing. 

When I finally went into labor, I remember saying, “This would be very tolerable if I wasn’t so ITCHY!”

Knowing what I know now? I would have just taken a high dose of oral antibiotics RIGHT AWAY. 

Because for me- the risk of my water breaking early (which it did) feels BIGGER than the risk of taking antibiotics… 

But man… I was really scared to take antibiotics when I was pregnant. And I did not have enough education at that point to make a truly informed decision. 

And my providers didn’t have enough information to help me- and it wasn’t their body that was constantly on FIRE… so they could just forget and move on with their lives. 

So that was the first discovery.  I’m going to tell you about another one in my next email.  Hint: it’s about feeding my tiny 5 lb baby. 

The importance of education…

Looking back, I see how vital it is to be well-informed and to advocate for yourself during pregnancy. If I had known more, I could have made different decisions—ones that might have led to a more comfortable and less stressful and AGONIZING pregnancy. That’s one reason I’m so passionate about helping others now. You deserve to have all the information you need to make the best decisions for you and your baby.

Love,
Emily