Hello, Nicole here, again. This is a little personal post, some of you may or may not know that I have an extremely complex reproductive system. I was born with one kidney, one ovary, one fallopian tube and half a uterus, the actual name for it is a unicornate uterus. (like a unicorn ate "my" uterus, well i think thats how it is spelt.)
Basically us conceiving Lucas was very lucky and we're so grateful to have him.
When I was sixteen I had an MRI scan and it showed up i only had the one kidney. I have a kidney on the right side the size of two, it’s so big that it isn’t covered by my ribcage properly. There is a suspected chance i have polycystic kidney disease, as i used to have 6 cysts on my kidney but now i have 1, they think it was a misdiagnosis and there was never 6 cysts. This made me extremely worried about Lucas’ health and his chances of having the condition and the chances of having one kidney, As it shows he has 2 and the no cysts can be seen at present and they didn't test him for it after birth, and they wont unless he shows signs of having the condition.
Back in July 2013, I had CT scan to check my kidney function and it showed up on the scan results, that I got back in august that it looked as if I was missing a ovary, fallopian tube and half of my uterus. They were not sure 100% and I was being put forward for gynaecologists for further investigation and told our chances of conceiving were very slim, it wasn’t a never, but wasn’t going to be easy really.
In October 2013, I found out we were expecting and was extremely shocked and happy. At 5 weeks, i had some bad stomach cramps and was taken straight to A&E and then moved over to the princess Anne as they thought i could be having an eptopic pregnancy; we were terrified and thought it was all over.
I was seen by the early pregnancy and had a scan and told there was a yolk sac in the uterus and they would look into doing a 4D internal scan to check the shape of my uterus, within 10 minutes of this they made the decision to find out there and then and it showed up a banana shaped uterus, one fallopian tube and one ovary. They told me the chances of miscarriage were higher, the chances of late miscarriage were a possibility and the chance if I made it that I could have a planned c-section, but as the uterus stretches they couldn’t predict how it would go. I was happy my embryo had planted itself in the right place but was it going to stay there? was I going to have a baby? what if I can never carry a baby? It was scary and they didn’t seem to give a lot of clear answers.
I was monitored by the early pregnancy unit every 2 weeks until i reached 11 weeks and was discharged as everything was progressing well.
I had the 12 week scan and everything was well, and then we payed for a 4d gender scan at 16 weeks and she said she couldn’t tell I had half a uterus and that he looked brilliant then and at the 20 week scan everything also showed well. Things were progressing so well.
Being told that they were not sure how well my uterus would cope and were unsure if i'd even make it past 12 weeks was stressful, emotional and we were full of worry. It was a stressful first 24 weeks too, knowing that if I went into labour, i'd lose my baby. After 24 weeks past I got less concerned as I knew if he was born now his survival rate was good. The further I got into the pregnancy the better I felt about him being healthy. From 20 weeks we had 4 weekly scans to check his growth.
My chances of premature birth were still high, as a unicornate uterus is like carrying twins or triplets but with only one baby. He had half the space of a normal uterus, but there was still a possibility I could make it full term; ladies can go full term with twins and ladies also carrying 13lb babies can go full term. I just had to carry one baby and pray my uterus is like my kidney, the size of a normal uterus just a odd shape. I thought he would come at 34weeks, the most common week for twins to be born, I was wrong.
There was also the chance of a c-section because he couldn't turn around because of the less room to do so, but obviously they couldn't rule out a natural birth as we couldn't tell how the uterus was stretching and if he could have turned. It was just a case of checking his growth and if his growth slowed down then they will need to either induce or schedule a c-section in either emergency or in a week or so. It all depended how much his growth slowed down, if it slows down at all.
My waters broke naturally on a Tuesday, during the early hours of the morning and i was rushed in and taken to theatre by 9:30am.
I made it to 36weeks and 4 days! I had a very healthy 6lbs 5oz baby boy, who didn't need NICU, even though the baby doctors were on standby just incase he couldn't breathe on his own. He was born via C-section and kicked butt from the moment he was conceived.
I wish I knew more about unicornate uteruses when I was pregnant, so I could have relaxed a little more, but I now know for next time, I don't need to worry so much.
Basically us conceiving Lucas was very lucky and we're so grateful to have him.
When I was sixteen I had an MRI scan and it showed up i only had the one kidney. I have a kidney on the right side the size of two, it’s so big that it isn’t covered by my ribcage properly. There is a suspected chance i have polycystic kidney disease, as i used to have 6 cysts on my kidney but now i have 1, they think it was a misdiagnosis and there was never 6 cysts. This made me extremely worried about Lucas’ health and his chances of having the condition and the chances of having one kidney, As it shows he has 2 and the no cysts can be seen at present and they didn't test him for it after birth, and they wont unless he shows signs of having the condition.
Back in July 2013, I had CT scan to check my kidney function and it showed up on the scan results, that I got back in august that it looked as if I was missing a ovary, fallopian tube and half of my uterus. They were not sure 100% and I was being put forward for gynaecologists for further investigation and told our chances of conceiving were very slim, it wasn’t a never, but wasn’t going to be easy really.
In October 2013, I found out we were expecting and was extremely shocked and happy. At 5 weeks, i had some bad stomach cramps and was taken straight to A&E and then moved over to the princess Anne as they thought i could be having an eptopic pregnancy; we were terrified and thought it was all over.
I was seen by the early pregnancy and had a scan and told there was a yolk sac in the uterus and they would look into doing a 4D internal scan to check the shape of my uterus, within 10 minutes of this they made the decision to find out there and then and it showed up a banana shaped uterus, one fallopian tube and one ovary. They told me the chances of miscarriage were higher, the chances of late miscarriage were a possibility and the chance if I made it that I could have a planned c-section, but as the uterus stretches they couldn’t predict how it would go. I was happy my embryo had planted itself in the right place but was it going to stay there? was I going to have a baby? what if I can never carry a baby? It was scary and they didn’t seem to give a lot of clear answers.
I was monitored by the early pregnancy unit every 2 weeks until i reached 11 weeks and was discharged as everything was progressing well.
I had the 12 week scan and everything was well, and then we payed for a 4d gender scan at 16 weeks and she said she couldn’t tell I had half a uterus and that he looked brilliant then and at the 20 week scan everything also showed well. Things were progressing so well.
Being told that they were not sure how well my uterus would cope and were unsure if i'd even make it past 12 weeks was stressful, emotional and we were full of worry. It was a stressful first 24 weeks too, knowing that if I went into labour, i'd lose my baby. After 24 weeks past I got less concerned as I knew if he was born now his survival rate was good. The further I got into the pregnancy the better I felt about him being healthy. From 20 weeks we had 4 weekly scans to check his growth.
My chances of premature birth were still high, as a unicornate uterus is like carrying twins or triplets but with only one baby. He had half the space of a normal uterus, but there was still a possibility I could make it full term; ladies can go full term with twins and ladies also carrying 13lb babies can go full term. I just had to carry one baby and pray my uterus is like my kidney, the size of a normal uterus just a odd shape. I thought he would come at 34weeks, the most common week for twins to be born, I was wrong.
There was also the chance of a c-section because he couldn't turn around because of the less room to do so, but obviously they couldn't rule out a natural birth as we couldn't tell how the uterus was stretching and if he could have turned. It was just a case of checking his growth and if his growth slowed down then they will need to either induce or schedule a c-section in either emergency or in a week or so. It all depended how much his growth slowed down, if it slows down at all.
My waters broke naturally on a Tuesday, during the early hours of the morning and i was rushed in and taken to theatre by 9:30am.
I made it to 36weeks and 4 days! I had a very healthy 6lbs 5oz baby boy, who didn't need NICU, even though the baby doctors were on standby just incase he couldn't breathe on his own. He was born via C-section and kicked butt from the moment he was conceived.
I wish I knew more about unicornate uteruses when I was pregnant, so I could have relaxed a little more, but I now know for next time, I don't need to worry so much.
