My Story

I was diagnosed with unicornuate uterus in March of 1996 by my fertility doctor. After undergoing a series of infertility tests a hysterosalpingography was performed and that is when I was told of my anomaly. I underwent laparscopic surgery to remove a left rudimentary horn and fallopian tube. My left ovary was not removed. The surgery although painful, was successful. From all the things that I have read, it seems that surgical removal of the non-communicating horn, helps makes it possible to conceive and to carry a pregnancy.

I became pregnant in March of 1997. I was referred to Dr. David Garry, a perinatologist from Wintrhrop University Hospital in Mineola New York. I had many ultrasounds done to make sure the fetus was growing and striving. I had two urinary tract infections one at 16 weeks and one at 28 weeks which brought on contractions. I was lucky that bed rest and lots and lots of water helped in both situations. But the UTI's did not come from the anomaly. At 34 weeks and at 36 weeks I again started having contractions but taking it easy and drinking more water helped both times. The contractions both times were brought on by uterine irritability which could have been caused by the anomaly. My water broke at 37 weeks but I didn't go into labor. My doctor tried to induce labor but it didn't work. For the next two weeks I went for non-stress tests and ultra sounds to make sure that the baby was doing fine, which she was. At 39 weeks and a few days my water ruptured and I went into labor. After a total of 50 hours, on December 14,1997 at 3:45 a.m. our daughter was born.

Her name is Olivia Ann. She was 7.7lbs, 21.5 inches long, a healthy full term baby, pretty good for a half a uterus. My husband and I call her our little miracle. It was not an easy pregnancy and I don't think I could have made it to term without the support of my wonderful husband and my caring doctor. I wish for all of you with this anomaly a little miracle of your own.

-Barbara

Jennifer's Story

I am 29 years old and have a unicornuate uterus. Ten years ago I decided I wanted my tubes tied because I was no longer able to take the birth control pill. I thought at the time that getting my tubes tied was a good idea because I knew condoms were much less effective at preventing pregnancy than the pill, and I had never used condoms anyway and didn't really want to. My doctor told me that I would have a 75% chance of getting pregnant later on in life after having a reversal. I now regret making the decision that I made.

After the surgery to ligate my tubes, I was told I had only one ovary and one fallopian tube. This lessened my chances of having a successful tubal ligation reversal. They didn't find the unicornuate uterus then.

I got married a couple of years ago and had the tubal ligation reversal in August of 1996. The surgeon who performed that operation told me I had a unicornuate uterus, but didn't make a big deal out of it, all I knew was that my uterus was small. I didn't think about it again until I had a hysterosalpinogram last year. The doctor saw the shape of the uterus and told me that it would not affect fertility, but would increase my chances of early delivery. She didn't really make a big deal out of it either.

Since then I have learned that my condition is very rare and most doctors, even my fertility specialists, know very little about it. The doctor I am working with has worked with thousands of women and has only come across one other case like mine in her entire career! In some of the articles I have read in your site, it seems to suggest that a unicornuate uterus does cause infertility, but it seems to me there really isn't any evidence for this.

No one knows how many women have this condition, so it can't be determined if women with a unicornuate uterus are more likely to have fertility problems than those who don't. I never would have found out that I have this condition if it weren't for my surgeries.

An ob-gyn I saw recently told me I should have an ultrasound performed to see if I have two kidneys. I did, and yes, they are both there. I am glad for that!

Anyway, after a year and a half of trying to get pregnant with one scarred but functional tube and ovary, my husband and I have decided to try IVF. We are in the middle of our first cycle and will be having the egg retrieval and embryo transfer in a couple of weeks.

All of the doctors I have seen have told me that a unicornuate uterus does not affect fertility at all, nor will it increase my chance of miscarriage. Although I don't think they really know that for sure, because so little is known about it, I understand that a unicornuate uterus is simply half of a uterus. One half of my reproductive system simply didn't develop. I don't see any reason why it should interfere with the implantation of an embryo, or with any other part of a healthy pregnancy.

However, it does increase the probability that I will have a premature delivery, because there is less room in my uterus than in a normal one. For this reason, the IVF specialist I am working with has recommended we only transfer one embryo at a time. Usually when undergoing IVF multiple embryos are transferred to increase the chance of success. But in my case, a multiple pregnancy is too risky, so we are going to transfer only one at a time. It doesn't decrease my overall chances, only the chance that I will get pregnant pregnant during one particular cycle. We are fortunate to have IVF covered under our health insurance, so it won't cost us any more to keep trying.

Sincerely,
Jennifer

To read Lisa Weartz's Story.

Please go to the wonderful pages of The Weartz Family Home Page

Inez's Story

I was diagnosed with a uu via a laparoscopy 11 years ago. I have 1 fallopian tube and ovary on the left side. There had been no hint prior to this that I might have any trouble conceiving. I have regular 26 day cycles and no abnormal bleeding. The consultant suggested that I have an X-Ray to confirm if there were any other kidney related issues as this is apparently associated with a uu. The X-Ray confirmed that I also only have 1 kidney on the left side (again no other symptoms). At the time, the consultant told me that there was no reason why I shouldn't conceive and go on to have a healthy pregnancy. When this didn't happen, I had a multitude of tests (blood, chromosome, follicle tracking etc. - you name it I had it!) Nothing abnormal was found.

After 2 years, I did actually become pregnant, but before I even got used to the idea, I had a miscarriage. When this happened again 12 months later, I went to see the consultant again. He told me that early miscarriages are not associated with uu's and that it was just 'bad luck'. When I miscarried for the 3rd time, I didn't believe in that much bad luck. Again, I had a number of tests to establish if there were any problems. Again, nothing was found. In each case, a baby did not develop in the gestational sac - called a blighted ovum. During my 4th and 5th pregnancies I was treated with progesterone and HCG injections. This had no effect. The longest I went between conceptions was 2 years and the shortest 7 months. After this, I decided to forget about the whole thing and just live life to the full. I lost 2 stone in weight and totally changed my diet. I then found out I was pregnant again in August 97. I decided that this was definitely the final attempt! I declined the injections again and carried on as normal, even riding my horse. When I made it past 12 weeks I couldn't believe it! I had a total of 9 scans throughout the pregnancy and had steroid injections from 25 to 35 weeks as my consultant told me that delivering prematurely is associated with a uu. I finally delivered Alexander Christopher at 06:14 on the 10th April 1998 (full term 40 weeks), via an emergency c-section (nothing to do with the uu). He weighed a healthy 7lbs 3 oz.

Inez

Denise's Story.

This is my story about my unicornuate uterus. I was diagnosed in June 1996. We had been married for 6 years and had never used birth control. I was 25. My ob/gyn ran all the usual tests. The hystersalpingogram showed the UU and blocked tube. He performed a lap which showed severe adhesions, missing right ovary tube, and hydrosalpinx of the left tube. He referred me to the RE, telling us that IVF was our only chance. The RE sent me for an IVP which showed I was also missing the right kidney. In July of 1997 the RE did another lap to removed the enlarged tube to give me the best chance of a successful IVF.

We began our first IVF in August of 1997. After I began the stimulation drugs, the daily ultrasounds showed that I did have a right ovary, but it was located where the kidney should be. It worked wonderfully and produced over 30 follicles. With so many follicles, I had to go to retrieval a day early. The left ovary was aspirated the conventional way, but with the right side, they just stuck the need straight through my ribcage. It was extremely painful, and after 3 attempts, they could only get 6 of the eggs. With the 12 from the left ovary, we ended up with only half of the eggs I had produced. Of those 18, only 7 fertilized normally because most were immature.

That cycle failed. In January of 1998, we did an FET which also failed. Both times, I had a decent lining (although not great) and no real explanation for the failures. We will attempt another fresh cycle in Oct/Nov 1998 using IVF/ICSI/AH. If that does not work, we'll use a surrogate and transfer any frozen embryos we get to her in Dec. '99 or Jan of 2000. The surrogate we want is currently pregnant.

We attempted a private adoption in June of '98, but the baby was born prematurely and died shortly after her birth. That tragedy prompted us to try IVF one more time.

In November 1998 we attempted another IVF/ICSI/AH. This time we got 7 good looking embryos and transferred 3. We were thrilled to finally get a positive beta test! I could not believe it. That morning, I went in for the blood draw. I knew the clinic rarely called back before noon, so I did some shopping. When I got home I had a message on both my home and work machines. I shook as I called them back. I called and the nurse, who I knew quite well, put me on hold. A few minutes later, my RE himself picked up the phone. I thought for sure he was going to give me bad new yet again. Then I heard those words -- "congratulations Denise, your test was very positive" I just burst into tears. My beta tripled a few days later and I felt so incredibly happy that this had finally worked. I got OHSS and went to the RE's office a few days before my normal scheduled ultrasound. I did not expect them to perform one then and my husband was not there. I called him at work and asked if he could come over quickly as I did not want him to miss our first u/s of the baby. We waited and waited and he did not show up, so I went ahead. We found not only one little fluttering heartbeat, but two! It was identical twins. I was just elated! The RE put me on bedrest for the OHSS. My husband met me going out. I could not wait to tell him the wonderful news. At the next ultrasound, we still had 2 good heartbeats, but we discovered that the twins were monoamniotic. This is a condition where both babies share the same amniotic sac. It's rare and usually ends it miscarriage of both babies. At the 9 week ultrasound, we saw that the babies had grown, but neither had a heartbeat. That was December 15. The next day my grandmother died. I had to go her funeral still carrying my babies and tell everyone who congratulated us that they had died. It was the absolute worst time of my life. I had a D&C the next week.

A few months later my husband received a promotion and we moved to the other end of the state. He received another promotion exactly one year later that brought us back home. We considered doing an FET, but I was too scared of another failure or loss. I did want to go through that again. Finally in October of 2002 we got the bill for our 4 remaining embryos. I decided I was ready to go ahead and use them. They had been frozen for 4 years and I felt like I needed to use them before I got too old. My husband assumed it would not work and said we'd just try to adopt again. The day before Thanksgiving 2002 we transferred the 3 embryos that survived the thaw. The week before, my husband was offered another promotion 2 states away. He took it assuming I would be joining him in a few weeks. 2 weeks later we actually had another positive beta test. This time, there was one little perfect baby growing in there. I had to call my husband since he had started his new job a few days after the transfer. He came home for each Dr's visit and ultrasound, but I wanted to stay near my trusted doctors. I ended up working for my entire pregnancy and living alone. DH hated missing it, and I hated that he was gone. Finally, on 8/8/03 our daughter was born via scheduled c-section. She was breach and during the surgery, my ob discovered why I had had such an easy pregnancy. My UU was missing the myometrium. That is the muscle layer that would cause cramps and contractions. I could hear him and the other doctors sound very serious while they were sewing my back up and it took nearly 2 hours. He told me he would explain it to me after he was finished. It turns out that they almost had to remove the UU due to severe bleeding. Normally, after birth the uterus contracts to stop the bleeding. Mine does not have that ability. Finally he sewed it up like a rump roast (his words) to get it stopped. I did not care one bit. I had my beautiful perfect little daughter. Paxtyn Faith was born on 8/8/03 weighing 7 lbs 4 oz. We came home from the hospital on our 13th wedding anniversary. We moved and joined my husband when she was 3 weeks old. He received another promotion 1 month before her first birthday, so we have now moved again, but plan to stay here at least 3 years.

Now we plan to travel back to our old clinic and start trying to have at least one more baby.

I want to thank Barbara for setting the site. I have searched for info on UU's for many years and have found almost nothing helpful till now. At least the stories I have read here give me hope that I can get pregnant and carry our baby to term.

Denise

Becky's Story:

I was diagnosed with my UU with HSG, and confirmed with MRI in the spring of 98. I was 39 years old at the time. I have a left UU with both ovaries, and tubes and a very small rudimentary horn that contains no endometrial tissue. I also have two normal kidneys. This diagnosis was made while looking for a reason for my left sided pelvic pain.

I will back up a few years now to my childbearing days. I remember during my first gynecological exam the doctor remarked that my uterus was small, but that was about it. I got married in 1981, at age 22, and conceived for the first time in 1983. I had no trouble conceiving, and I carried almost to term, delivering at approx. 37weeks. My son was 6lbs 7oz, and healthy. The reason for the early delivery, was that my water broke, so they induced labor. When my son was approximately 18 months we decided to try to have another baby. This time things did not go so smoothly. After about a year of trying I consulted a gynecologist who specialized in infertility. He did all the usual tests including HSG, lap, hysteroscopy, and hormone studies. Everything seemed normal, except for my HSG. The HSG report said that I had a possible bicornuate type uterus, which my doctor dismissed, stating that I couldn't possibly have that since I had carried one child almost to term(I guess he was wrong). He said that my right tube was blocked and had a bulge in it, other than that there was nothing wrong(the bulge turned out to be my rudimentary horn) He gave me a diagnosis of "Unexplained secondary infertility." I did try a couple months of clomid, but did not feel right about it. I figured if there was no reason for me to be infertile, then why was I taking fertility drugs? Anyway I stopped that treatment and just took a break from it for awhile. After a few months I decided to try the next line of fertility drugs, I think it was pergonal at the time. While waiting to get my period to schedule the treatments for that cycle, I found out that I was pregnant. This pregnancy was uneventful, and actually went post term to 42 weeks. My daughter was a healthy 8lbs, 2oz. After this we decided not to use any birth control because we wanted more children, and figured that if it happened sooner than expected that would be OK. As it happened, I never got pregnant again. I thought about going to a fertility doctor, but the first time was such a bad experience, that I just decided to let nature decide about this one. After 8 yrs of trying, I decided that I was getting to the point where I wanted to be done with the monthly upheaval of wondering if I was pregnant or not, so we took steps so that I would be sure we would not conceive.

About three years ago, I began having increasingly painful periods. And was concerned because all the pain was on my left side. I had had cramps before, but this was different, and getting worse. It would start about a week before my period, and then peak during the first couple days of menstruation. After several changes in doctors I ended up seeing an RE. After all the testing showed no reason for my pain, the doctor agreed to do a laparoscopy. I had this procedure in December of 98. I also had a tubal ligation at the time. After the surgery he told me that I had a small cyst on my left tube, and an adhesion, but other than that everything looked fine. Then he said that he was not sure but he thought that my uterus appeared enlarged. He said it would be normal for a woman with a normal uterus after having children, but that he thought mine should be smaller because it is a UU. He thinks that what I have is adenomyosis(where the endometrial tissue grows inward in the muscle wall of the uterus) The only way to diagnose it is with a hysterectomy, and that might be where I am headed. I don't know if my UU has anything to do with this problem.

I hope that my positive pregnancy experience gives some of you hope. If you would like to email me please feel free to do so at Becky

Gina

I successfully got pregnant, after three miscarriages, in November of 1996. I had a pretty normal pregnancy with slight spotting here and there through out the first trimester and plenty of "Braxton Hicks" contractions during the third trimester. I mentioned the contractions to my doctor and told him that only half of my uterus was getting hard. He reassured me that the baby was in a comfortable place and that there was nothing to be concerned about. By 33 weeks of pregnancy, I had been experiencing a very strange discharge that seemed to be very thick and very different from the norm. I was again told that this was all normal. Then, at 34.5 weeks, I was rudely awakened by a huge gush of liquid that poured out of me. I called doc and went to the labor and delivery room right away. Indeed my water had broken and the baby was being born prematurely and in a breech position.

I was taken in for an emergency c-section because the baby was trying to come down the birth canal knees first. While performing the c-section, my doctor noticed something looked a little strange about my uterus. He told me later that it looked to be tilted or deformed

All went very well with the surgery and my daughter was born weighing 4lbs 2oz and 15.5 inches long. She was very healthy and received an 8 and 9 on her Apgars. She came home with me 4 days later and has had no problems at all.

I was finally diagnosed with a unicornuate uterus in 1998 through an HSG. It revealed half on the left side, two tubes, one ovary properly positioned and the other ovary behind the uterus. The ill placed ovary was still questionable as we did not know if it worked or not. I never had a problem getting pregnant but there may have been a problem carrying. We are still not sure if my preterm labor was due to the uterus or the cervix.

I have since lost another pregnancy at 17weeks, which had nothing to do with the UU and I am currently pregnant again. I am now 18weeks pregnant and I am considered very high risk. I will be placed on steroids beginning my 25th week to help develop the baby's lungs and I am being monitored every other week via ultrasound. My due date is Jan. 12, 2000 but doc believes I should look closer to the middle of December for our new arrival.

I am very confident in this pregnancy and I know I am in the best possible hands. I look forward to posting our birth story in the near future.

Gina

MY name if Pamela Codey, my husband and I started "trying" to have a baby in November of '97--we were so excited when I got pregnant in December. Told our families and at 8 weeks, miscarried. When the OB performed the D&C, he mentioned to my husband, Patrick, that my uterus seemed to be "tilted". He suspected it may be a Unicornuate uterus, but didn't think we needed any tests and told us to try again and see what happened. Well, my cycles were running 6 weeks long and it bothered me that he said --"something might be wrong, but lets see what happens." I felt that we should look into this UU. I changed doctors in July and my new doctor sched me for a transvag u/s-- this showed that I had a very very small uterus, but they couldn't make out the shape. I was then scheduled for an HSG. 3 days before the sched HSG, I took a pregnancy test. They advised me to, just to make sure before the test-- and much to my shock-- it came out positive!! (It was September 21st, ironically, the due date of my first pregnancy.) We were very shocked b/c I had what I thought was my period the week before. They did blood tests to check levels every other day- They doubled as they should. They did internal u/s at 5 weeks and couldn't see anything. Another at 6 weeks-- there was no heartbeat, only a y shaped uterus. The following week was another u/s and with the transvag u/s, they showed us our baby's heartbeat!

I spotted often during my pregnancy-- but all continued to go normally.

When I would be out at the mall or somewhere walking, I would tire and cramp quickly.

At 34 weeks I had an u/s b/c I have a pelvic kidney ( also related to uu) and they wanted to make sure it would allow me to deliver-- or if it were in the way, they would sched a c-section. Well, at this u/s they told me my cervix was very short and they did an internal to find that i was contracting, 2cm and 70%effaced. They gave me a steriod shot for the baby's lungs and put me on bedrest. The next morning I woke up with contractions-- went to the hospital and had progressed to 3 cm. They gave me another steriod shot and stopped labor with tribuline.

Almost everynight I had contractions, but, they would stop -- two weeks later, April 28, 1999...I woke up and called the doctor-- I had contractions-- strong contractions all night-- he told me to come to the office. When I got to the office, he said "You are 7 cm and 90% I'll see you at the hospital." He broke my water around 12:30 in the afternoon and I had the baby at 3:37pm. It was a 6 lb baby girl. Keira ilene. She scored 8 and 9 on her Apgar testss. She was 4 weeks early but doing very well.

I am happy to say that she is now 15 weeks old and her pediatrician said he doesn't think of her as a preemie, b/c she is right where a 15 wk old should be. I love motherhood and want to say that every scare and test was worth my reward. Keep trying and keep the faith!!!!

Have a Nice Day!

Pamela Codey
Customer Financial Services
Southwest Region

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[added March, 2001]

Thank you for doing this site. It gave me courage during my pregnancy !

This is my story...

In August 1999, I tried to get pregnant and it worked the first month we tried. During the first semester, I started to have sight spotting and cramps. My OB decided to make an ultrasound. They saw only one kidney and diagnosed an unicornuate uterus. This made my husband and I very worried. I decided to change OB for a high risk pregnancy specialist.

All went well. At 32 weeks, I was 2cm dilated. Because of the risks of early delivery, my doctor had me stop working early and put on bed rest for 2 weeks. I felt great and had no contraction. After 2 weeks, nothing had changed. I was at 34 weeks and it was now considered safe for me to walk around again. The weeks passed. No contractions - nothing. And all this time we were sure our sun was going to arrive early - at any minute!

They decided to induce when I was at 41 weeks. Our baby boy Léo was born 8 pounds 8 ounces by c-section (nothing to do with the unicornuate uterus - but the doctor was able to confirm it) on May 17th 2000. Apgar 9 all over. Very healthy and big !

We are trying for a second one and it will be great to be able to go threw a pregnancy without all the worry. My doctor says that if my uterus was able to stretch out as well the first time, it should be the same thing second time around.

There is very alarming data on negative outcomes of pregancies with UU. My doctor told me not to take these numbers too seriously as most women go threw their lives without even knowing they have UU. So these studies are made on problematic cases only as the non problematic cases are not even known to doctors.

I hope all of you out there that are pregnant with an UU are not too worried. Try to relax for you and for your baby and I hope you all the best.

Please excuse my poor english writing. I am French speaking.
Bahia Kennedy
Montréal, Canada