The Double-Edged Google

An enlarged uterus can be a symptom of a molar pregnancy, in which (and I'm paraphrasing pretty grossly here) a nonviable embryo implants and grows much like a tumor. How do I know this? At our first doctor's appointment, the midwife informed my wife Kate that, although Kate was sure that she was at 6 weeks, the size of her uterus was more inline with the 8th to the 10th week of pregnancy. The midwife didn't sound particularly concerned about this, but she ordered a first trimester ultrasound to check thing out more definitively.

Scientist that she is, Kate hit the Google to find out all the different reasons why her uterus might be enlarged. Molar pregnancy was the scariest: hence, it became the one she latched on to. Not even my best Ahnold impersonation ("It's not a tumor!") could set her mind at ease. For the four days between the doctor's appointment and the ultrasound, it was a virtual certainty that we were having a molar pregnancy.

Fortunately, the ultrasound turned out to be normal: obviously, a tremendous relief. But it sort of drove home to me the potential double-edged sword that Google represents. I think it's great for patients to be able to access information that will help them be more active, informed participants in their care. On the other hand, Kate's not a doctor and neither am I. The fact that molar pregnancies exist does not mean that it's a useful thing for us to be expending our emotional energy on (that energy is stretched pretty thin as it is right now). The midwife hadn't mentioned it.

My concern is that we're gonna go from worrying about one obscure pregnancy complication to the next. Google "pregnancy complications" and you'll come up with almost 2 million hits, and I can't keep up with 10,000 concerns a day!