Re: Brand new to this ... (mc child ment)

[Guest guest]

hi holly

i'm so very sorry you lost your baby i had 2 mc in the last year

(6/04 at 6 or 7 weeks and 1/05 at 10.5 weeks, both times i had heard

a strong heartbeat ) and i know i was not as far along as you but

i'm still in a lot of emotional pain and the grief comes and goes

even though it's almost been a year since my last loss i

understand how you feel and i'm SO sorry ..... i just hope time

will help us both feel a little better .....

during the first few months after my 2nd mc i was connected to the

net almost every minute of the day too trying to get answers to my

questions - the 'search' intensified after i got the dx of my

problems: septate uterus and blood clotting disorder (homozygous

MTHFR) - after that my internet 'research' plateau'd and now, just

to try to keep whatever sanity i have left (not much), i stick

mostly to this yahoo group and another one related to my MTHFR

condition ... too much information from the net can be bad for me

b/c i tend to freak out with everything negative that's out

there ....

as for the reasons for my losses, the first one was attributed to

a 'bad egg' since i was 37 at the time - there was no autopsy or

study of any kind since it was my 1st mc ... after the 2nd one i got

to be tested and the baby was tested too (boy, chromosomally

normal) - the only things they found out about me were the MTHFR

mutation and my septate uterus -

to dx the SU i first had a HSG (xray with a dye injected into the

uterus) that showed my uterus partially divided in 2 cavities - the

RE (reproductive endocrinologist - 'infertility dr') i was seeing

wanted me to have a MRI but since i had already found this site and

read almost everything about SU in it i pushed to get the

laparoscopy/hysteroscopy instead to get a definitive dx. i had a

lap/hyst last march where he removed 80/90% of the septum and then

in august i had a second surgery: only a hyst with u/s guidance so

that the RE could remove the residual septum (<1cm) and some scar

tissue - i just had a SHG a week ago and everything looks good,

there's no new scar tissue, the septum's gone for good and the

endometrium seems to be normal - all good news but i'm still not

pg anyway ......

just so you know i had been misdiagnosed as having a bicornuate

uterus LONG ago, in my country, argentina - at the time the dr said

it was not going to be a problem for when i wanted kids so i almost

forgot about it ..... in 2001, already living in the US, i had a 33

weeker born by c/s b/c of placental abruption and even the surgeon

who SAW my uterus wrote in the report that i had a BU - 2 more obs i

saw (here, US) after that said the 'BU' was not an issue - they

never thought of sending me for a HSG or anything else .... i had to

loose 2 pg to finally get to see a RE and get the accurate dx .....

if you read other posts here you'll see that several women with

different MAs have been misdiagnosed - also it happens very

frequently that drs would use 'catch-all terms' like 'BU' to refer

to different anomalies: BU or SU - if you can i'd say you should try

to get to see a RE and maybe have the lap/hyst just so you know what

exactly you're dealing with. if possible try to look for a RE that

has experience in MAs - many women here try to get to a big hospital

or a teaching one .....

in my case i must say, it's hard to determine which one of my

problems caused which problem/loss - placental abruption is related

to both SU and my clotting disorder; mc is also a problem that can

be related to either issue and of course i have my age (now 38.5) to

think about too ......

as for the lap/hyst: the lap allows the RE to see the outside of the

uterus - and the hyst allows him/her to see the inside of the organ -

if you are truly BU (the outside of the uterus has a dip hence

the 'heart-shaped' denomination) then surgery is usually not

recommended - if you are SU (the outside of the uterus is normal but

there's a 'wall' of tissue either partial or total inside) then it's

possible that the RE can 'resect' the septum and leave you with a

quasi-normal uterus -

the surgery is performed as an outpatient procedure under general

anesthesia and if you'd like a detailed account of mine at some

point please feel free to email me (gabi151@...) - i was

terrified the 1st time but i had a great experience - the 2nd time

was even easier b/c there was no lap so i recovered in just 1 day -

with the lap you have to recover from a couple of incisions in your

belly and pubic area so that can take a few weeks .... all in all

anyway i think most women here who've had the surgery have

experienced very little complications if any and are happy they had

it .....

some cases are not 'pure' ones and some ladies here refer to those

as 'combos'. for example you could have a BU (cause the uterus has

the characteristic dip on the oustide) but you also have a septum

inside ..... some times if the septum is vascular (has good blood

supply) they can be left in place - my septum was fibrous and non-

vascular so that's why the RE decided to get rid of it - it was not

a proper place for an embryo to implant .....

i know it's much easier said than done but please try not to

despair .... waiting is one of the most difficult things to endure

especially when we are hungry for answers and reasons ...... i just

hope time goes by fast for you and you get to your appt on the 21

and get some explanations and a clear idea of the next steps

i'm sorry i don't have any suggestions or explanations for the pain

you started feeling yesterday - i didn't have pain after my mc but

they happened very early - and i'm not sure if you could already be

ovulating at this time - maybe some of our more knowledgeable

members will contribute with their comments ......

holly: i'm not sure i've been helpful - i just wanted to give you

some information and let you know that you're not alone - again i'm

so sorry that you have to go through this i wish with all my

heart that you get the answers you're looking for and you can have a

normal full term pg soon ......

gabi