When my husband and I decided it was time to have a family, we went to my gyno to order preconception labs. I am a carrier of cystic fibrosis so we knew we needed to get my husband tested. Thankfully my doctor was on board and she ordered more testing than I even thought was necessary. During my exam she mentioned that my cervix looked atypical so she ordered some imaging. I was worried this meant cancer or some growth, but to my surprise, it meant I had an anatomical difference.
I had a “septate uterus”. My uterus was divided into two by a large septum that went all the way through my uterus and ended with two cervices. I felt like such an alien and honestly didn’t feel at “home” in my body for a few weeks. Thankfully my doctor has seen many of these and referred me to a surgeon to have the septum removed.
Via hysteroscopy the surgeon removed the full septum. The septum can prevent implantation, or it can prevent the placenta from attaching properly because the septum does not have blood flow. As a result, miscarriages in early pregnancy are common.
I am so fortunate to have discovered this pre-pregnancy. The uterine septum group I am in has many women with very sad stories, from micropremies being born at 23 weeks to multiple losses without discovery of the septum until much later on. I am forever indebted to my attentive doctor for discovering this early on and preventing me from experiencing loss.
After my septum was resected, we had to wait 2 cycles to try. I was extremely fortunate to conceive on my very first cycle trying. My pregnancy was considered high risk due to my uterine anomaly and I had ultrasounds from 16-28 years every other week. Thankfully I did not develop an incompetent cervix which I learned is common with anomalies like mine.
My babe ended up breech and required a c-section, but I honestly didn’t care and just wanted him out safely. We are now working on trying to conceive baby number 2!
