So, when I had my first miscarriage, back in February, I was told to go to the EPU at Calderdale Royal Hospital for a scan to confirm and to have a look what was what. I started bleeding on the Friday and the earliest time the could get me in was the following Monday, so it wasn't too bad. I continued to bleed over the weekend and so I spent the weekend crying. By the time Monday came, I knew the outcome of the scan. I knew that my baby had died and I will tell her story in another post.
My scan appointment came and sure enough, the sonographer expressed her condolences and confirmed that she could not see a pregnancy, nor hear a heartbeat but that the lining of my uterus was inflamed; suggesting that I had miscarried.
Her next words are words, and the manner if which they were said are ones that I will never forget (and not necessarily in a negative way - she was so lovely). So she expressed her condolences; confirming there was evidence of a miscarriage, then after a pause, she turned to me and said "Can I just ask, did you know you have two uteruses?"
I looked at her, stunned. "Excuse me? Can you repeat the question?" was my response. All I could do was just look at her in disbelief.
She asked me again and I looked at her a bit confused, but also embarrassed, and also part of me wanted to laugh. What on earth was going on! I didn't even know it was a thing and all I could think was "Do I look like I knew I had 2 uteruses?"
Anyway, she explained to me that actually yes, it is a thing, and she showed turned the screen towards me again so I could see. She explained that there is something known a Uterine Didelphys (or Didelphic Uterus, and that there were a few different types.
She told me that she had heard of women having this abnormality before but I was the first one she had seen and would I mind if she did an internal scan to see in more depth and detail. I was absolutely stunned and curious and so of course didn't mind. I know I knew I had lost my baby and I had grieved all weekend, but this news that I had an abnormality in my uterus meaning I essentially had 2 just completely overwhelmed me.
She said that she would inform the Nurse on duty and that it would be her who would go through things in more detail with me and what it would all mean. I was lead back to the waiting room where I waited to be called in for my consultation with the nurse.
I remember, I think my friend Sarah ended up texting Rich to inform him of what the sonographer had found and his mind was blown, as was mine. Poor Rich; not only did he have a partner with an autoimmune disease, but he now also had a partner with an extra body part!
After a little wait, the nurse finally called me in to go through what the sonographer had found. I had so many questions. What on earth is a didephic uterus? Why do I have one? What does that mean for any future pregnancies? etc.
The nurse was so lovely, starting off by acknowledging the loss of my baby and then started answering my questions.
She told me that this is a "rare" condition, but in a sense that that is what the statistics show. She said there will actually be more women who have it, they just; like me, will not know about it because unless they have been for a scan etc, there would be no way of knowing. She that was kind of reassuring.
She explained that it was something that I will have been born with and will have had my whole life and that there are a few different types and different names. I think on of the names for it is Bicornate Uterus.
Anyway, the type that I have she referred to as Didephic Uterus and is where my uterus is shaped a bit like a heart, and has a part going down the middle; splitting it into 2 separate parts. Again, the type that I have is where I have just one cervix, which was a relief to me, as I was shocked to find out that there's types where women can have 2!
The nurse explained that because I have 2 uterus "chambers" - if you like - that I would need to be careful if not on birth control because it is possible for me to get pregnant in both side and have 2 separate pregnancies. She said there have been cases she has read about where women have had a baby, and then a few weeks later had another because the didn't know they were pregnant in the other side. I have no idea how that would not have been picked up on on scans but you know, that's just what she told me.
When I asked her what this would mean for future pregnancies and if this would affect my fertility, she informed me that it looked like I was very fertile and when they looked internally, they did not find anything that was concerning in anyway and that both my uteruses looked very healthy and looked to me functioning as they should. However, she did say that this abnormality does increase my risk of both Premature Labour and birth, and also Miscarriage. She explained that, as with every pregnancy, the risk of miscarriage does decrease after the first trimester, but because of my Didelphic Uterus, I will continue to be at risk of miscarriage throughout my second trimester) which I now know is classed as Late Miscarriage pre 24 weeks. Anything after 24 weeks is classed as Still Birth.
This news was hard to hear, however she did tell me that there are plenty of women with my condition who have gone on to have multiple successful pregnancies. When I told some of my closest friends, they too told me that they knew people personally with the same thing, and again who have gone on to have multiple healthy pregnancies and children. So that does give me hope.
Finally, the nurse explained to me that when I get pregnant again, I will be under a consultant (I was already because I have Rheumatoid Arthritis) and that I will be scanned and checked more regularly; especially in the third trimester. I asked if getting pregnant and carrying a baby to full term would damage my uterus and in turn affect my ability to have more children. She said that it doesn't and that as the baby grows in on of my wombs, the womb expands as normal and the other one just gets squashed, but no damage should be done, however she said that there would be a high possibility of having a C- Section. She said a natural birth is not impossible, but the consultant will probably just make me aware that we may need to be open to a planned C-Section. I had zero problem with that.
The final thing they mentioned to me was that there was a chance that I would probably still bleed throughout my pregnancy because one of my uteruses would still have a period until it gets too small as a pregnancy in the other grows. That is exactly what happened with Summer and because I still experienced bleeding, I had to be scanned every time to make sure she was fine and that I wasn't starting to miscarry.
When I got pregnant with Summer, the scans showed her in the chamber on my right side, and from then on I referred to my uteruses as Righty and Lefty 😂. Sure enough, I did bleed on a cycle and was constantly in the EPU in my first trimester every few weeks. Lefty would have it's monthly! I actually stopped with Lefty's monthlies around 16/17 weeks I reckon.
Summer was absolutely fine, until things changed literally over a few hours when she was 21 weeks and 1 day. We are still waiting for our Post Mortem Results and I am really hoping that if there is a reason, it is not because of my Didelphic Uterus. But I will keep you all posted on that.
Again, I will say that I do believe there is hope, as there are women with the same thing who have their children alive, safe and well.
I hope that one day soon, I am one of those women 🌞💖
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