This week, our bumpshell of the week is: Kiri from the blog BAZAARMUMMA.COM! She is sharing with us her pregnancy experience as she has a bicornuate uterus. But what exactly is a bicornuate uterus? Kiri explains it all here.

”I discovered I had a heart shaped uterus back in 2011 when I went for an ultrasound to help determine why I hadn’t had a period in over 6 months. The scan confirmed I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and was also able to tell me that I had what’s called a “Complete Bicornuate Uterus” which was the freakier of the two not knowing what the hell it was. My GP was even shocked saying how rare it was and that she had never had any patients with it before. I was referred to a fertility specialist and was told to start trying for a baby right away because it could take a lot of failed attempts before I could conceive having both PCOS and BU. On top of that they found out I have O negative blood (one of the rarest) which just topped off how fantastically special I felt! 😥 And I wasn’t even ready to start thinking about having kids yet.So to briefly explain; a normal uterus looks a bit like an upside down pear and a Bicornuate Uterus looks more like a heart shape and there are basically two separate uterine chambers (horns) each with a fallopian tube and ovary connecting at the bottom to one cervix and then into a normal vagina. There are also many other variations of uterine abnormalities such as a septum separating the centre of the uterus into two areas, or two complete uteri matched with two cervix and so on.

Statistics show that around 50% of pregnancies where the woman has a Bicornuate Uterus will miscarry.

And then 15-25% of those who don’t miscarry, will give birth pre-term because there simply won’t be enough room among other reasons. So not only are the chances of falling pregnant significantly lower than normal because the uterus isn’t “ideal” the chances of carrying full term are pretty low.

But I had a chance I thought. After doing hours of research I found that there are actually so many women out there who have a BU and have had two or three healthy kids with virtually normal pregnancies. Although, of course there are some unfortunate and sad stories too. So for the next two years I stayed off the pill to try and gain control of my periods naturally and although not actively trying for a baby my fiancé and I fell pregnant with Matisse by surprise in 2013, five months before our wedding day. She grew nicely in the right horn and the left grew a little bit and then just got pushed to the side with everything else. Whenever I had a Braxton Hicks contraction, which was all the time, you could even see where she was – head down, the shoulders and legs – it was so weird – such a lopsided belly! I was kept under close observation by my obstetrician with scans every 2 weeks to make sure she had enough growing room and that my cervix showed no signs of opening early. Lucky for us she was head down for most of the pregnancy and stayed that way so I was able to deliver naturally and even on her actual due date.

Grateful beyond words.

When Matisse was 23 months we were blessed again with another surprise baby and this time it implanted on the left side. So we had no idea what will happen all over again although I felt somewhat more confident being the second time around and that we (kind of) knew what we were in for. It wasn’t until early this week when I had my 24 week scan and we discovered that our little bub has decided to move half into the right side with her legs still over on the left! This might not sound that weird to you but this completely changes what they originally thought about my uterus. So it’s actually a sub-septate uterus or somewhere in between. What ever it is we know that there is an opening at the base because this baby is sitting in it bum down in the breech position and basically hugging the big massive septate thing in the middle. Here’s what I mean..

So what does that this mean for our bub? Well it’s hard to tell really. Because we’re still early on there’s plenty of time for her to still change positions and maybe wriggle back up into one of the sides although the chances of requiring a c-section are a lot higher as there is no way I could push her out in that position! So we’ll see how we go. I have no idea if she’s going to have enough room like that as she starts to grow a lot more. The last thing I want is to go into premature labour. Every pregnancy is different from the last and nothing in pregnancy or childbirth is certain!

One thing for sure is that it can be done and it may (delivery normally on time), there’s just not a lot we can do other than wait. I’ve read (probably way too many) online forums where women have been ordered to stay on bed rest after 24 weeks as well as having regular progesterone shots. Doesn’t really sound like I should be doing my weekly Body Attack classes any more and perhaps I should switch to a more gentle form of exercise! But anyhow, I like to stay super positive as worrying isn’t going to change a thing. It only makes things worse and my Obstetrician seems very relaxed about the whole situation so that’s (somewhat) comforting.

So for any lovely ladies out there in the same heart shaped uterus boat as me, don’t stress! We can go full-term and deliver healthy babies, it may not be every time and won’t be the same for every pregnancy but the chances are on our side.”

Kiri xxx

Leave us a comment if you had experience a particular pregnancy!