Hellobee

This post was originally written on January 15, 2008. It refers to the HSG test where the doctor injects a dye into the uterus through the cervix. Then they take an x-ray as the dye flows through and inflates the uterus and  flows through the fallopian tubes to show any blockages or abnormalities. They’d wanted to check it because of my losses and to see if the ectopic had left behind any damage.

Well, holy hell… today’s test hurt so badly. It seemed like it was ok during the procedure, just very uncomfortable. But the pain I felt afterward had me in some tears and a bit of writhing and gnashing of teeth ensued. I feel much better now and am happy it’s done. The doc there at the hospital said my tubes are free-flowing and clear! No blockages or issues there. But (of course there’s a “but”) my uterus is “a bit T-shaped.” He went on to say, “But it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

Well, I hadn’t realized it could be a problem. So, of course I got home and googled it… and didn’t see much by way of good news for the condition. It seems, though, to explain the ectopic pregnancy and miscarriages. Googling other people’s situations doesn’t help because their “T” might be more “T-like” than mine. Or perhaps their uterus looked more like some other letter of the alphabet… or a wingding symbol you get when you hit lots of key combinations together on the computer. I know I shouldn’t panic when I don’t know the details. But that’s why I panic, and I can’t help it. So that’s that. We’ll see what happens!

I later called the RE who ran the tests to see what his perspective was:

Here are some quotes of what he said:

1. “Generally speaking, women with a t-shaped uterus have poor pregnancy outcomes.”
2. “Many women with the t-shape go on to eventually have a healthy viable baby.”
3. “Many miscarriages before 10 weeks aren’t because of the t-shape… the t-shape tends to cause later miscarriages.” (this did not feel good to hear at all!!)
4. “Looking at your x-rays, I would say you have a slight t-shape. It’s there, but not bad. I’ve seen much worse cases. I would guess that you should have a positive outcome at some point. Of all the t-shapes, this one is a better one to have.”

So, I guess it’s not all bad news. It’s possible. The bottom line is: I have to keep trying. And there’s nothing I can do to control the outcome except for trying to relax and not obsess (that’s a knee-slapper).

Above is the picture of my uterus and tubes. The white-ish areas are the dye and as you can see, it shows that I have a T-shaped uterus. CLICK HERE to see what a “normal” uterine cavity is supposed to look like. You’ll notice it should look like an upside down triangle.

Update: March 4, 2009

During my pregnancy with Paige, I asked my OB lots of questions about my T-shaped uterus. Surprisingly, he was pretty unconcerned. During the first few weeks of ultrasounds, the tech was always confused since the T-shape threw her off a little bit. But, when I hit 13 weeks, they couldn’t tell I had a t-shape anymore. They said that it usually stretches to the point of looking like other “normal” ones at that point.

I prodded the doctor with more questions and he said that, in his experience, more women have T-shapes than people know about. Usually it’s not even discovered until the end of the pregnancy if they need a c-section, and they go in and find out that the T-shape was there all along.

Why don’t these women know sooner if at all? Because typically you don’t get ultrasounds until around the 12-13 week mark, and by then it’s stretched out and they can’t tell. He said as they do more ultrasounds earlier, they discover more and more women with this anomaly and it’s not from drug exposure… just a natural flaw in the shape that occurred. My own OB told me he sees it “fairly frequently” and it “typically works out just fine.” So, it shows that the statistics on this condition out there are not accurate at all. Now, I’m sure he’s talking about non-severe T-shapes here. Let me be clear on that. But there is so little information on the internet on this issue at all, and what is there seems so hopeless.

I was so relieved when my doc told me he was unconcerned, sees it pretty regularly and hasn’t had many problems he’s seen because of it. So there is hope for many women with the T-shape for carrying a biological child. In fact, a friend of a friend had a baby just last year, and she only found out she had a T-shape during her C-Section when the baby wasn’t descending into the canal as she should. She’d had no idea about the anomaly. And she’s pregnant and about to give birth to her second child. So, I felt I needed to share the little bits I discovered and learned here in hopes that someone out there might need a boost in terms of a positive outlook. We are all different, but it helps to know that it’s not all bad news all the time for everyone.

Update: January 29, 2010

I delivered my baby girl naturally. I didn’t need a c-section after all! Everything somehow worked out after a lot of worry and assumptions that a surgery would be needed.

Did you discover things about your body that you weren’t aware of once you started trying to conceive?