It’s taken me some time to sit down and write this after I watched a program on Discovery Fit and Health over the weekend. Mostly because I was so angry while watching it, I wanted to throw my tv out the window. Plus, I’ve been trying to figure out who or what I’m most upset at.
It’s not a channel I usually watch. My guess is my daughter got a hold of the channel changer and randomly put it on there. Regardless, I happened to catch the program “Strange Pregnancies”. This time, they featured a woman with Uterus Didelphys. Obviously I was intrigued.
Like many women out there, this woman, sadly, experienced a miscarriage. She rushed to the hospital, only to find there was nothing they could do. But, she did find out she had two uteri! Her doctors then explained to her that this was the reason for her miscarriage.
What?!?! This was the first point I started yelling at the television. Here was a young woman, devastated after losing her child, finding out something that is quite shocking, and she now believes she can never have children. All of this happened after one visit to the ER??
Every uterine anomaly is different. Two people with Uterus Didelphys will have slightly different variations. So, it’s plausible that someone’s uterine lining is too thin, and that there could be problems, they could micarry. But finding something like that takes time. My problem is with the blanket statement of “women with Uterus Didelphys can’t ever have children”.
Many women out there desperately want to have a child. The thought of never being able to carry a baby tears into your soul. I remember after my first two miscarriages how awful I felt. I felt like less of a woman. My body couldn’t do what women are genetically made to do… carry a child. Having severe endometriosis, I know what it’s like to be told “you may not be able to get pregnant on your own.” So, I get angry when women are told information that just isn’t true.
I wish someone could have told this woman, who was in tears explaining her condition, that there are many, many women out there with Uterus Didelphys who have been able to carry and have healthy children. Sure, we have a riskier pregnancy, and we have to be watched because no one can be sure how your uterus will react… but it’s not impossible!! Far from it!
I remember, when I first moved to Denver I went to a specialist at University of Colorado Hospital… just to get my foot in the door there. He told me that of all the uterine anomalies, having Uterus Didelphys was the most extreme… but the best anomaly to have if you wanted to have kids. I was never told that I could never have children. I was, however, told that because of my anomaly when it was time to start trying to have children, that I had a different time frame before seeking help. Most women have to wait through a full year of trying before a fertility specialist will see them. I only had to wait 6 months.
I ended up seeing a fertility specialist. It was taking us a while to get pregnant, and in the process I had 2 miscarriages. But those miscarriages had nothing to do with my two uteri. I had a lot of other things going on.
The woman in the show went on to have twins! One baby in each uterus… which is VERY rare!! And she carried “miraculously” to 33 weeks. Her doctors were shocked and thrilled.
In the end, I wish this woman had been better informed. And I REALLY hope “Discovery Fitness and Health” stops playing this story. I’ve already posted a message on their facebook page. As it is, it continues to misinform women who may be newly diagnosed with Uterus Didelphys. Women who don’t need to sit there, feeling scared and hopeless.
Nowcasting Life 