My 11-year Ordeal with Troublesome Pregnancies

I became pregnant a month after my high school graduation and a month after my 18th birthday. The pregnancy started out good, no morning sickness, no problems. By the time I was 6 months pregnant I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I had to see a nutritionist, go on a diet, and check my sugar three times a day.

Within a couple of weeks I came down with the flu. I could not keep anything down at all. I was taken to the emergency room and they sent me up to the labor and delivery unit because apparently they send all pregnant women straight up there if they are more than 5 months pregnant regardless of the problem. They hooked me up to an I.V. and monitors. A doctor came in at some point and looked at the monitors and asked me if I knew that I was having contractions. I had been feeling something but it didn't hurt and I didn't realize that's what they were. By the next morning I was feeling 90% better and they sent me home on pills that were supposed to stop the contractions. My doctor allowed me to return to work as long as I did not do anything physical or lift more than 8 pounds.

I went in and out of the hospital a few more times after this with contractions. Then one day they started getting worse. I went into the hospital and was kept there for 4-1/2 weeks. I was not allowed out of bed for any reason at all and I was on magnesium sulfate, which is basically a muscle relaxer. After the 4-1/2 weeks of peeing in bedpans, being stuck with needles several times a day, and having complete strangers interrupt my sleep whenever they felt like it, I was sent home with a medicine pump that went into my leg. I was home on bed rest with that for 2 more weeks until I hit 37 weeks and was taken off of the pump and bed rest. My contractions did not increase! So I went to the mall and walked around. After all of this and now the baby does not want to come out? I don't think so. When the mall didn't work, I got on the Healthrider, which was one of those fitness contraption fads at the time. I went into the hospital that night and delivered her the next morning. Would you believe she was 7 lbs, 14 oz. at 37 weeks? They told me if I went four more weeks she would have been 10 pounds! All was healthy for a while.

Less than a year later...I started having extremely long and heavy periods. The heavy periods would last for weeks at a time. The doctor tried putting changing my birth control pills and none of them seemed to help. So he scheduled me for a laparoscopy. They went in through my belly button with a scope to look around to find out what the problem was. This is when I was diagnosed with endometriosis. He burned it off, but said that is just temporary. He also said that I had a vein in my uterus that was the size of his finger and it should have been the size of a tip of a pen. He did not know what that meant because he had never seen anything like it before. Of course I have to be the unusual one.

My battle with endometriosis continued for several years of switching birth controls and another surgery. And then a new experimental treatment came along. This was a shot called Lupron. I had to sign a waiver, but I was desperate at this point. I was so tired from all of the blood I was losing not to mention the huge inconvenience this was. It was becoming an emotional strain on me as well. So I would get this shot once a month for five months and the side effects were just supposed to be like that of someone going through menopause (stopped periods and hot flashes). Well I had those, but I also completely lost my appetite. I was only 110 pounds to begin with and by the time I was done with this treatment I was down to 95 pounds. I was also having very bad dizzy spells and was afraid to drive and sometimes I thought for sure I was going to pass out. Not sure if this was from the shot or just from not eating anything because of this shot.

Well after my treatments I was doing good for a while. I then decided to have another child while I still could. I asked my doctor first if he thought this would be too dangerous for me. He told me there was no way of knowing whether another pregnancy would by like the first one or whether I would be able to get pregnant. Well fortunately I got pregnant pretty quickly and went on the diet again. This time I started having contractions by the time I was five months pregnant. In and out of the hospital again, bed rest, all the fun stuff like the first time. The last 2 weeks of my pregnancy I was in the hospital dilated at 6 cm. All of the doctors and nurses said they had never seen or heard of anyone being dilated this much for this long. Once again, I am not normal. This time my son was born five weeks early and still weighed 6 lbs, 10 oz. He would have been almost 12 pounds had I delivered him at 40 weeks! He was born healthy and all was well for a while.

After him I decided to try this wonderful birth control shot that is supposed to stop your periods. What a blessing this was. I stayed on this for 3 years and never had a period. But, while on this shot I had other problems. After an annual pap smear I was called back into the office. Apparently there was some cervical dysplasia. First they took a lot more samples, which was a lot of fun. Then the doc decided to freeze it all off in his office. He told me to take a couple Ibuprofen before coming in. I didn't realize I should have taken 6 or 7. But that wasn't the worst of it. After they freeze the cervix, it "thaws out" for the next several weeks.

When this procedure didn't work I went in for a surgery so they could remove several layers of my cervix by burning it off somehow. My next pap was okay, but six months later it was back again. The doctor said he had never seen it come back that quick. That's right...I'm weird. So he asked me how I felt about having more children. I said chances were not likely, especially since I was divorced at this point. So he decided to go back in to remove even more layers.

All was well for a while until I started having pain. I went to the doctor. They did an internal and external ultrasound and found that I had 9 ovarian cysts! Of course! Why not? He said they would go away. Great.

At some point I decided to quit the shot. I don't know why, but I did. But the pain would not go away. The pain just kept getting worse and worse. The doctor said that my endometriosis must have returned because there is no complete cure for it. The pain became unbearable at times. I consider myself to have a high tolerance to pain, but some days I was taking Vicodin every 4 hours on the dot and still in tears. At this point I had had enough! The doctor asked me if I wanted to try Lupron again. I said no thanks! Schedule my hysterectomy today!

Because of all of the problems I had had in the past with my uterus, cervix, and ovaries, he removed everything. Surgery went well and I was sent home after a few days. My current fiance and I were living together and about 2 weeks after my hysterectomy I had a little bit to drink and for some reason decided to ignore my doctors instructions on not having sex for 6 weeks. I woke up the next morning surrounded by blood. It was not a pretty sight and I was scared out of my mind. My boyfriend called 911 and focused himself on keeping me calm. He knew I had to calm down or I would bleed more. Three paramedics showed up, wrapped me up in blankets, carried me down the steps and rushed me to the emergency room.

The nurse who admitted me did not seem to be too worried about me so I thought maybe it wasn't that bad. I was laying in a bed directly across from the nurses station and I saw a doctor glance up at me and he immediately ran to my side and starting yelling for nurses. I remember him yelling to get my doctor on the phone. He yelled to get someone from OB down there. He yelled for units of O-negative blood. I remember them worrying about my blood pressure dropping drastically. I also remember him looking me in the eyes and telling me everything was going to be okay to keep me calm. I was being stuck by needles from every direction and there were people all around me. Apparently I lost consciousness at one point and the next thing I remember is things had calmed down some and they asked me if I wanted to see my boyfriend before I was rushed into surgery. My doctor would be there any minute. They had to call him out of church.

Going into surgery I prayed that I would wake up and make it through this. I awoke from surgery in the ICU with a tube down my throat. I always said I never wanted to be awake with a tube down my throat. I thought I would freak out. I did freak out a little, but they removed it and I immediately starting asking questions. I wanted to know why I was in the ICU because I immediately thought the worst. They just wanted to keep a very close eye on me. The second question was "where is my family?". I wanted to see them immediately. I was so glad to be able to see them again.

I was told later that I had to be given 6 units of blood and they were very concerned that I would not make it. They said my skin turned very gray and my blood pressure dropped to almost nothing. I am so thankful for my boyfriend waking me up early that morning and keeping me calm. I am also extremely thankful for all of the doctors and nurses that saved my life. They will never know how grateful I am for that.

I am telling this story to show others with endometriosis that they are not alone and also to urge people to listen to their doctors. They did not go to school for so many years for nothing. These instructions are given for a reason. Ignoring them almost ended my life.