Scary!

So, apparently I have two little creatures growing inside of me right now. And no, I do not mean that I am carrying twins. When I had my first ultrasound at about 10 weeks, the ultrasound tech noticed that I had an abnormal growth on one of my ovaries. Over a year ago, I took clomid which gave me cysts on my ovaries, as I have mentioned before. We figured it was just another cyst since I have had them before. I was worried about it, because that pain I went through when the first one burst was so intense that I never want to experience anything like that again. She assured me it would not affect the baby if it ruptured, so I was at least comforted by that. Well, the next week I met with my doctor, Dr. Jeff Jacobs, and he immediately went into details about the solid mass that appeared in my ultrasound. He was talking so fast that I sat their completely confused. When words like tumor and cancer started coming out of his mouth, I went from confused to panic-stricken. I think Dr. Jacobs realized that he had completely lost me and slowed down to explain what was going on in terms that I could understand.
Dr. Jacobs explained that the growth on my ovary did not appear to be a normal, fluid filled cyst. He described it as a solid mass, which could mean a number of things. He said that most likely it was a type of cyst that would need to be removed through surgery, but that there was a chance that it could be a tumor, and worst case scenario, cancer. He said the growth was about 8 cm. When I told Dr. Jacobs about the cyst that had rupture just a year earlier, and that the CT scan showed that I had another 5 cm cyst on my left ovary, he was certain this was the same thing, and that it had grown a little over the past year. He told me not to worry about it (which was impossible since he had used the term cancer!) because he wasn't worried about it. He did tell me that since his son had cancer as a young boy, he was extremely cautious about anything out of the ordinary. I felt very comforted in his sincerity and thoroughness. Dr. Jacobs has a specialist come up from Utah once a week, so he said they would look over my ultrasounds together, and that he would set me up with an appointment with this other guy for next month. I was so glad that he seemed to care so much. I never felt like my old doctor did.
As I left the doctor's office, I was a complete wreck. I bawled for about an hour! I just wanted everything to be perfect. I am so glad that my baby is fine and growing and healthy, but I wanted everything to be going well. Fortunately, I was able to put it all out of my mind and forgot about it. That is, until Thursday the 12th when I got a call from Dr. Jacobs. He told me that he had consulted with his specialist friend and that he said I have what is called a Dermoid, sometimes called a dermoid cyst. It is a bizarre tumor that develops before birth. So apparently this thing has been living in me my whole life. I don't know all the details of this thing, but what I do know is not fun. It is benign, with a two percent chance of becoming cancer. It grows very slowly, but is develops more fully during the child bearing years. It is like a pocket of cells that didn't go where they were supposed to. This thing inside of me is a thick, mature skin with hair follicles and sweat glands. It can grow hair, teeth, fat, bones, nails, eyes, thyroid tissue, and lots of other things. My doctor actually seemed relieved when he discovered what it is, but I about lost it. I held it together on the phone, but then got sick over the fact that I have this weird tumor thing growing on my ovary. I called Tyler and he comforted me a little bit, but then I looked up pictures. Not a good idea! When my doctor told me we would just have to keep a close eye on it to make sure it didn't grow hair or teeth, I thought he was joking. I thought that was his humorous way of saying he just wanted to make sure it didn't change or worsen. But he literally meant hair and teeth! So I feel like I have a little alien creature growing inside of me. All I want in there is my little baby! Dr. Jacobs said that the risk that comes with surgery right now is greater than the benefit, so we are going to keep an eye on it, then remove it after the baby comes. I pray every night that it doesn't rupture or worsen in any way. I am grateful to my little baby because I don't think we would have found it any time soon if I hadn't gotten pregnant. I know it sounds dramatic, but I can't help but think that maybe this baby saved my life, because I could have never gotten pregnant and the dermoid could have gone malignant before ever knowing it was there. I am grateful for the caring doctor that I found in Pocatello. I'm still a little scared about this whole situation, but I have faith that I will be okay. I do get to see my baby at every appointment because of it!