Wednesday, January 23, 2013

IF you wanted to know

Caution- THIS POST IS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN MY SURGERY...I am going to share information that is TOO much information . Please do not read if you don't want to know.


So Malachi and I were married in July 2007.... and decided shortly after that we wanted to have children. I started with Ovulation tests, prenatal vitamins, and healthy eating. After months had pasted we moved on to some of the "Old wife's tales" cough syrup, teas, and supplements. After a year went by we went to a fertility specialist, had sperm tested, did hormone checks and started clomid....They wanted to make sure I was ovulating and that everything else was good.

After TONS of tests we had ruled out Male fertility (Malachi's boys were strong, and he had lots of them) and chromosome abnormality, hormone imbalance, ovulation issues, blocked tubes. I tried doing an all organic diet, acupuncture and they did a blood test and ultrasound almost every day....really we couldn't figure out what was going on. In this time period I'd had 4 miscarriages- 2 at 9 weeks and 2 at 6 weeks....

So my doctor did a exploration surgery to look around...he found that I have Endometriosis ( basically every time I shed my uterine lining some of it leaks out to the Inside of my body and creates scar tissue) and a septum in my uterus ( most uterus's cavity's are shaped like an upsidown pear, mine is shapes like a heart or mitten).... After that we did an IUI ( intrauterine insemination- basically they take a long turkey baster and shoot the sperm way up there so they don't have to travel so far) ... this ended up in a ectopic pregnancy ( the egg and sperm met in my tube- if we allowed it to grow there it would rupture the tube and kill me) So we had to do Kemo-therapy to kill the baby..... They told us our Best chance was IFV ($10K invetro fertilization- harvest eggs from me, sperm from Malachi, put them in a petri dish and put the fertilized eggs in my uterus and hope they stick) However since my uterus is an "inhospitable environment" (their words not mine) there is still a HIGH chance of miscarriage.

So we decided not to do IVF, and I started doing research on other options ( I am like a FERTILITY encyclopedia) and found that Many woman have found success with a surgery to remove their septum of open up the uterine cavity...So I went to my fertility doctor and he wasn't so sure...he said the scar tissue would be just as damaging as the septum and that if we did do surgery and I did get pregnant as the baby grows that my incision would become a weak spot and it may burst....But he had a new doctor on his team that was an Endometriosis specialist, so I went to see Her!

So I stated talking to her...she said that surgery MAY been a good idea but she wanted to check a few other things to make sure I was a good candidate before going under the knife! So she started with normal tests, looking though all my records, I had a CT scan of my Uterus and Kidneys, and she put me on hormones, vitamins and pain medication. Then she did 3 different Ultrasounds ( abdominal, vaginal and 3D) to look at the septum and make sure I was a good candidate for this surgery... after a long wait we are finally able to schedule it!!!!
So she will go in the remove the septum at the end of March....then will give me HIGH levels of hormones for 4 months to help my uterus heal. I will also be on high levels of vitamins to be sure that I am in optimum health... She said that After the 4 month waiting time I am most likely to become pregnant the following 6 months.  There WILL be some scar tissue, but hopefully not very much. I will have a weak spot, but it will be the same of someone who has done a C-section, and I will still have a high chance of miscarriage, however this reduces my risk, and overall increases my success rate. My Uterus will never be normal, and this may not work....but it is our best chance of becoming pregnant- Wish us luck!

2 comments:

Mary-Anne said...

GOOD LUCK. We are praying that the outcome is what you hope for!!!

Swift family said...

Good luck! We are praying for you as well.