vaginapagina | pregnant and abnormal pap smear

background: I am almost 20 weeks pregnant and I had a pap smear that came back abnormal about a week ago. I'm 22 years old. I originally posted this in the "pregnant" community and some nice person referred me over here.

X-posted from pregnant.

I had my colposcopy today. Unfortunately, it wasn't "nothing" like I had been hoping. My pap results came back positive for HPV and I guess I have "Low grade squamous intraepithelial lesions". The doctor said on a scale of 1-4, with 4 being cancer, my pap results were a 2. So he did the colposcopy and had to take about four biopsies. I won't get the results of the biopsy back for 10 days! I will have gone crazy by then.

Anyway, this is all really scary and shocking to me. The doctor asked if I had any questions, but my mind was kind of blank so I couldn't think of anything. But now I'm full of questions. Firstly, how bad is this diagnosis? And how likely is it that this could turn into cancer? Does HPV ever go away, or will I have it forever? Is it dangerous for the pregnancy at all? Will I die from this some day? Will I be able to have a normal sex life in the future? And lastly, could I have gotten this years ago and it's just now showing up on the pap? Or is it more likely I got it from my last sex partner?

I'm scared, and embarrassed because I've never had an STI before...blegh. And I know little to nothing about HPV.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!