New here and have a double uterus...

Banana_Pancakes09

Hello, I have never posted on this site before (only the knot and nest).  I found out a little over a year ago that I had a double uterus.  I just got married in the fall and we are now thinking about trying to have kids.   Before I started taking the pill I always had extremely painful periods, which I guess was a sign of the double uterus.   Does anybody else have this condition?  From my understanding there is a wall in my uterus almost dividing it in half and which may mean there is not enough room for the baby.   So I have the risk of either miscarriage or having the baby come early.

Since I have this condition I am automatically considered high risk.  From researching on the internet and talking to my doctor it seems I may either have a pregnancy with minimal complications or have a hard time getting pregnant or not be able to carry the baby full term. 

I started crying at the doctro's office yesterday when she was telling me about this.  It is so hard to hear that I will be high risk right away and may not be able to carry a baby full term.  I guess this is a pretty rare abnormality and am wondering if anybody else is going through this?

fisha25

sorry i don't have this so am no help BUT i wanted to say i have seen women an this board that do have it. I think they have already have their babies so i would post on the baby boards to see if you can find one of them for some support.

owenst

Hi.  I have a bicornuate uterus and I am 15 weeks today.  Obviously I have no idea how things will turn out, so I can't help there, but I will tell you about mine so far.  I would have loved to know before I got pregnant about mine!  We got pregnant right after we started trying.  I started at 5 weeks with spotting.  I was diagnosed (incorrectly) with a subchorionic hemmorage.  When I was back for a f/u on that, the tech couldn't tell if the baby was ectopic or not (b/c they were seeing the other side of the uterus, of course we didn't know that then!)  I had to have an MRI the next day, when they could clearly see the septum.  I have now switched to a maternal fetal medicine specialist.  They are monitoring us both very closely, and between weeks 16 and 26 I will have weekly cervical length checks to be sure that my cervix doesn't become incompetent.  If it does, though, they will do a cerclage to keep it closed until the baby comes.  After that they will be monitoring for early labor.  There is a 50% chance the baby will be breech and I will need a c-section.  It just depends on how the baby is turned at about 32 weeks, because after that the baby won't be able to move.  I did have about 2 regular periods and times of spotting before I stopped bleeding, so be prepared for that.

  I was told that as long as everything goes ok with this one, the next time they will check and if the baby is on the same side then everything should be ok b/c we'll know if my uterus stretches ok on that side or not.  For right now, we're just on a learning curve since we don't know how my body will do since this is my first.  I don't know how old you are, but I am 33 and I'm glad I didn't wait any longer.  You'll never know how your body will do until you try, so I wish you the best of luck!  Just be prepared, do lots of praying, and be ready for anything to happen.  Hopefully I can come  back in about 5 months and give you a good report!

JillAly

I have it too.  I had a hystercoscopy to have it removed (they basically just snip it out leaving a tiny piece so it doesn't cut the uterus in half).  That got rid of the miscarriage issue.  The only issue I have now is that little piece can stop the baby from turning around and it would be breech.  But that didn't happen with my first child- he was huge and still was able to turn around (I had a c-section for other reasons).  So I'd look into having it removed and then you won't have any problems.  I had to have it done because insurance required it for IVF but I know other women who have had it done- it wasn't a big surgical prodcedure and Iit was done in a clinic.

As for not having it removed- my mother had it too and she had 4 children.  3 survived.  We were all small in size (5-6 pounds) but all full term and healthy.  The one who didn't survive was in the smaller half of the divided uterus and didn't have enough room to grow but he died during chidlbirth because of the chord around his neck- in those days they didn't do c-sections.  Now that wouldn't have been an issue. 

So you can carry to term - it really depends on how your uterus is divided-  50-50 or 80-20, etc.  It is a common thing and there are ways to deal with it so don't get too upset about it.

Banana_Pancakes09

Thank you so much for sharing your stories.  It does help knowing there are other people who have this.  I was VERY lucky to have it diagnosed before getting pregnant - that was completely luck.  I was having horrible side effects to a birth control pill but the dr thought it might be something wrong with an ovary so they did more testing and that is when they found the double uterus issue.

 Ready2Be - I hope your pregnancy continues to go well.  That is one positive thing knowing if the first pregnancy goes well the second one should turn out good as well, as long as the baby is on the same side.  I hope to hear good news in 5 months!

butterfly082402

Hello,

I have what they call a Bicornuate Uterus which seems what you have as well. Before I got pregnant I went to a Reproductive Endo Specialist to get the ok or to get the surgery where they cut the septum out. I was told by him that I could go ahead and get pregnant and that surgery wasn't needed in my case. They think my uterus just has a thicker lining on top than a septum.  I am 22wks pregnant and have been seeing a Maternal/Fetal Specialist with Level II ultrasounds and am a High Risk patient at my hospital. Hope all goes well with you! All i can say is PRAY for your blessing!

Melanie

owenst

Thanks, Banana!  I hope you are able to conceive easily and don't have to have the surgery.  My Dr. (a MFM specialist) said that it causes a lot of scarring which can also cause problems - that is when she told me about the second pregnancy thing.  I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing!

caseybuchda

I have a double uterus and double cervix. Feel free to private message me with any questions because I may forget to come back to this post after a day or so. I am almost 24 weeks pregnant and so far so good. It was not hard for us to conceive and besides the extra doctor visits every once in a while it been a pretty uneventful pregnancy.

caseybuchda

Also bicornate uterus is a heart shaped uterus, uterus didelphys is 2 uteruses. They aren't the same thing, previous posters made it seem like they were, but I don't believe they are.