Pregnancy Journey: My Bladder Is Full But I Can’t Pee!

Just a few days after learning that one of our baby vanished (related story: Vanishing Twin Syndrome is Real), I was rushed to Cardinal Santos because I can’t pee. Actually, I have been experiencing it for the past few days prior to our ER trip. The difference is, I was only experiencing it in the morning. First pee is really hard but after that first one, I’m good all day. That day is different.. I can feel my bladder is full but nothing comes out when I try to pee! It was very frustrating, not painful but frustrating. I endured that feeling for hours because I am not comfortable going to The Medical City Emergency Room. Our last trip there was not really good.. they were not able to make me feel better, in fact they made me feel worse. With my urgency to pee but nothing is coming out, I know I couldn’t deal with the TMC people. When I can’t take it anymore, we decided to take our chance at TMC er but then realized we can try Cardinal Santos since it’s also near our place.

At first I thought there’s a stone blocking my urethra or that I’m passing a kidney stone… but after draining me of 750 m of urine (by catheter), the urinalysis is clear.

So what happened to me?

As it turns out, this is a normal thing during the 13th weeks of pregnancy. The uterus is blocking my urethra or bladder. As the baby grows, the uterus will move away from the bladder and I won’t experience it anymore (HOPEFULLY!)

After a few hours at Cardinal Santos, we were discharged as a very happy and contented client. This is going to be our hospital for now! The look, specially the ER is far from TMC..pero naman, the service is far far far better than TMC!

And after that trip, my bladder is OK! I can now pee at ease.. uhmm not after the first few hours without catheters.. ang sakit pala after ahuhuhu

If you’re pregnant (specially week 12- 15) and afraid of experiencing this, here’s some advice from the web and from my own experience:

• always lie on your left side ( I remember that the day it happened, I slept on my right side the whole night)
• don’t hold your pee, specially at night… if you need to go, get up and pee (I usually hold my pee because I’m sleepy!)
• don’t drink too much water before sleeping so you don’t have to pee and get up that often (I usually drink 2-3 glasses of water before going to bed thinking it will do me good)
• Eat and eat so the baby will grow faster!

It was the most frustrating experience I had during this pregnancy and I don’t want anyone to experience it too! Spread the word if you know someone who’s also on their 1st trimester to prevent it from happening to them.