Monday, January 3, 2011

scared shitless


It has been a couple of days and I am still worried about the heart-shaped uterus diagnosis. I am going back and forth between panicking and thinking everything will be just fine. Of course there’s no way to know either way, but that doesn’t keep me from obsessing over it, right?

I actually have done very little googling. All I have read is this Wikipedia page. It scared me to my bones when I read this sentence:

Recurrent pregnancy loss: the reproductive potential of a bicornuate uterus is usually measured by live birth rate (also called fetal survival rate). This rate is estimated around 63% for a bicornuate uterus.[3]

WHAT?

I need advice.

11 comments:

Drevas said...

I don't have much advice here but from what I've heard and read, most women with a biocornuate uterus don't have any complications during pregnancy.

Hang in there... I've been googling the heck out of my new diagnosis too ... it's frustrating!

Denver Laura said...

I have a friend who had one and made it through her pg just fine. Dicusss your concerns with your RE. Don't stop asking your questions until they give you solid answers.

Still A Guest Room said...

I know everyone has a story, but my cousin has a biocornuate uterus and did fine with her pregnancy. She had to have a c-section, but otherwise was great. Thinking of you.

Anonymous said...

I TOTALLY get freaking out over this, but my friend has a bicornuate uterus and is doing just fine in her pregnancy. She had spotting early on, which was scary for her, but ended up being totally normal and she is now 1/2 way through and totally healthy. It's going to be ok!

Lulu said...

THANK you all for the encouragement. The stories really help.

loribeth said...

I have a bicornuate uterus. Unfortunately, mine is not one of the success stories :( (although there are many out there!) -- however, I do have a great resource to share with you: there's a Yahoo group called Mullerian Anomalies, which deals with all sorts of uterine malformations. Try this link:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/MullerianAnomalies/?yguid=171821490

Bionic Baby Mama said...

definitely check out the yahoo group. it's awesome.

i don't have a bicornate uterus, but i do have other anomalies (and have had no problems from them, despite big worries about incompetent cervix). two of my aunts have heart-shaped uteri and have 3 healthy children between them, no miscarriages/stillbirths.

Flmgodog said...

My story is sort of the good news/bad news. I had four lost pregnancies before my daughter. I had an easy birth with her and no c-section. Two more losses since her birth, I am now pregnnt (13w) with pregnancy #8 and they just found the bicoruate uterus on me (even after the RE had done an HSG with no signs). Thankfully this isn't supposed to mean anything for this pregnancy and apparently because I have already had one birth with limited to no assistance I should be fine. It's still scary I know!

Kathy said...

I'm glad people have already referred you to the Yahoo group -- it's a great group of women who have a huge wealth of information to share. As anyone on there can tell you, an HSG isn't a good diagnostic tool to differentiate between various Mullerian anomalies. Depending on the results of this cycle, it would be wise to have a further work-up because what many doctors call BU is in fact a case of a septum in the uterus (SU); SU can be reasonably easily dealt with through minor outpatient surgery which dramatically improves pregnancy outcomes. If indeed you have true BU (and the only way to know that is to have a laparoscopy/hysteroscopy in which both the interior and exterior of the uterus are visualized), then yes that might lead to some potential issues that require more frequent monitoring during pregnancy.

Auntie Sissy said...

Hello Lulu,

My name is Sarah and I have a mixed story. I lost two pregnancies around 8 weeks in 2008 and 2009. Everytime I would get an ultrasound, my first doc would make a comment about how my uterus looked like it could be bicornuate...but never did anything about it. I finally switched doctors who did a saline infused sonohystogram. He saw what appeared to be a uterine septum. I was then referred to a RE surgeon who went through my cervix to investigage. He also did a lap. He found that I had both a bicornuate uterus, AND a septum...which are two different things. The septum is a peice of tissue that when an embryo attaches, there is not enough blood supply to sustain a pregnancy. After surgery, my doc said he was 99 percent sure that is what caused my loss...NOT my bicornuate uterus. After I healed up some, I had an HSG....horrible test...very painful for me, and he concluded that the septum was gone, but my heart shaped uterus was still there but should not be a problem. I am now 36.5 weeks pregnant with a little girl. I have had no losses since my surgery. I wish you luck. I just want to make sure your docs are SURE you do not have a septum as well as a bicornuate uterus. It might take investigative surgery to find out. I also want to add that many times, women who have a septum, can also have an incompetent cervix. For that reason and also for the fact that my cervix looked incompetent, I had a vaginal cerclage placed, which actually was just taken out at 36 weeks.

Good luck dear!

Anonymous said...

Here from LFC.

I have a bicornuate uterus which was only discovered after my first child was delivered as a breech. My next two pregnancies were C-sections due to the second baby lying transverse. My OB/GYN was willing to try letting me deliver the third one as a VBAC but the baby’s head never engaged and he felt I would not go into labour without intervention. All three babies developed well and were born at term. I had a little early spotting in the first pregnancy.

I also suffered from PCOS and endometriosis which has not been an easy journey in terms of weight loss and menstrual pain management. I had no problems at all conceiving either. For which I am eternally grateful as I know very well how lucky I have been.

Learn as much as you can about both diagnoses. While these circumstances can be testing, you have to educate yourself to be your own best advocate. Wishing you the best of luck.