It has been quite a minute since I have written on my blog. Mainly because Instagram has become my journal and it is so quick and convenient. However, I decided I wanted to consolidate my thoughts, experiences and reasons why I had a Hysterectomy all in one easy place for those interested. I have gained so many friends and followers through opening up about Porter (my angel son), My premie girls,...their reconstructive facial surgeries and my funky anatomy ;),....So why not share the lowdown on my Hysterectomy. Obviously these are my own thoughts and issues, please talk to a doctor for actual medical advice!
As some of you know, I have a Bicornuate uterus. There are several different types of uterine abnormalities, and for ease here is an educational diagram.
I've had lots of different tests done such as ultrasounds and scans to figure out exactly what my uterus presents as and what its made of.
We discovered after I had Porter that I have a Class IV: Bicornuate uterus. In short it's basically like I have two uteri that are half the size of a normal uterus that combine at the cervix. It is Uterine muscle all the way down, not a tissue septum like a Class V: Septate uterus. I also only have the one Cervix UNLIKE the Class III: Uterus didelphys. Who knew we could be so messed up inside. This abnormality is just one of many interesting things about me. But thats for a different post.
I'm sharing this to give you some context of why most types of Birth Control do not work for me. When I was 16 I started on Oral birth control to help with my Acne. I continued to stayed on it after I got married to prevent Pregnancy.
When Nate and I decided we wanted to start a family, we saw a doctor to see if there would be any complications with my heart shaped uterus. (at the time all I knew was that it was a heart shape but I didn't know anything else about it). My doctor said I could be at a higher risk for miscarriage because if the egg implanted on the septum (what we assumed the middle of my uterus was) there wouldn't be enough blood supply for the fetus to grow. With that information we started trying and with in 2 months, we were pregnant. I couldn't believe it happened so fast... I was nervous to get through the first trimester since I knew I was at high risk of miscarrying. Well as most of you know I made it well past my first trimester, all the way to 31 weeks. At 31 weeks I lost my little baby boy and delivered him Still Born on November 18, 2010. You can imagine all the tests and scans and ultrasounds I had done after to try to find the cause of death. Throughout the months and years of tests we discovered I had in fact a True Bicornuate uterus with uterine muscle all the way down. This type of deformity causes growth restriction because the uterus can not grow sufficiently due to its small size and lack of room from the other uterus. If I had a tissue septum, during pregnancy it could move out of the way and my uterus could better expand as my baby grew.
Other discoveries included, 4 kidneys (I know! I'm a mutant!) My gallbladder on the opposite site of my body and Polyhydraminous (which is 2-3 times the normal about of amniotic fluid in utero while pregnant, which puts even more pressure on the baby, which is not ideal with my uterus.) I'm telling you all of this to illustrate how high risk I was each time I got pregnant. With each pregnancy there was a huge chance I could have another still born due to growth restriction. That is why all my babies were small for their gestation and why my water broke early....My uterus literally could not expand anymore, so my water would break. Like blowing up a balloon until it popped. So the fact that I have two semi healthy girls is pretty much a miracle. To learn more about the issues they faced due to my bicornuate uterus and polyhydraminous go read the posts on my blog related to "Surgery".
Alrighty, now that you know everything you didn't want to know about my uterus, you can see how having 2 living kids is a miracle and dream come true for us. My husband and I didn't want to chance having another still born or child with all the deformities our other children had since it was 100% likely they would suffer from growth restriction. We decided over a year ago we were done having biological children, but in the future we might consider adoption. Although we were done having children I never even considered getting a hysterectomy, until I found out my friend who was my age had gotten one. I was so surprised and intrigued. I had never heard of anyone before the age of 40 voluntarily getting a hysterectomy. For some reason, in the Mormon culture it seemed to have a stigma surrounding it. I am still not sure why it is so hush hush but in true Katie fashion, I'm being as open, honest and real about my experience so others don't have feel ashamed or less of a women/mother/mormon/wife etc. for getting one before the age of 40, 30, 20 or for getting one after you've only had "X" amount of kids. It's YOUR body and YOUR decision. Not societies, or your religions or even your husband/partners decision. You know what is best for you, and you get to ultimately decide what you do to YOUR BODY!
Now, to get back to why I had a hysterectomy instead of something less invasive. Besides the fact that I was done having children, I also had the this not so LITTLE problem of having my period over half of the month EVERY month since having Lula. That was over two years of bleeding almost every other week and never knowing when I would start or stop. Two years of constant changing hormonal levels (which reeked havoc on my body and my marriage) and two years of extremely painful cramping and migraines. I decided enough was enough and went to talk to my doctor about the possibly of a hysterectomy. We went through ALL the other less invasion options. Oral birth control was out, IUD? nope that wouldn't work with my uterine anatomy. Uterine Ablation? Nope, they couldn't guarantee to get both complete sides of my uterus. Getting my tubes tied? Well that would stop pregnancy, but I would still ovulate each month, therefore I would still have a period, so that wouldn't really solve anything. The only other option was to take the sucker out! We agreed that there could be some benefit of removing my ovaries as well. It could help with my migraines, but it would also send me into premature menopause at 30 years old. I wasn't ready to start taking hormonal supplements, and my doctor agreed I was way too young. He also said that removing my ovaries wouldn't necessarily guarantee that my migraines would stop. We agreed on a tentative date for surgery and he sent me off to get a million more scans and ultrasounds done to prepare for my "tricky" hysterectomy. He wanted to be extra prepared before cutting into my mutant abdomen.
Well to make a long story longer, every thing looked normal for Me. I had the hysterectomy and they only found one surprise while operating. Apparently your ovaries are supposed to be in your pelvis.... but because I'm Katie that would be way too normal. My ovaries were up in my abdomen. Yep...they are too cool to be in my pelvic cavity. Honestly I wasn't surprised when my doctor told me. I would have believed if he told me my ovaries were in my feet LOL. It makes sense that they were in my abdomen now, because looking back, I've always had sever stomach pain when I was ovulating but never knew why....well, there is why. So there you go! Now you know why I got a hysterectomy and about 50 percent of the weird things about me! You're Welcome!!!
If you have any other questions, feel free to leave me a comment!!!
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