Essure 0, Super Fertility, 1

The BBQ Pit
1

18 months ago, 6 weeks after the birth of my 4th child, I had myself sterilized with the Essure procedure. 3 months later, I had the dye study to make sure it had been successful. Sure enough, not a wisp of dye could be seen going up the tubes on either side.

A week ago, my period didn’t come. I’m still nursing my toddler; that’s getting painful to the point of ‘my god what’s going on here’. So, I took a home test on about the 6th. Negative. Today, I went in for what I figured would be a blood test - got to rule everything out, always like to know the cause of pain, etc. You know. So they had me do the urine test first, and in comes my doctor, hiding her face behind my chart. I wish I had a video of the expression on her face. Rueful. Shaking her head. No.

“No what,” I said. “No, nothing?”
“No,” she says, “Not negative. A good, solid positive.”

Oh, my god.

So clearly, one of my husband’s extremely vigorous little swimmers was able to get UP the tube, which 18 months ago was blocked so that fluid couldn’t get up it at all. But can the egg get DOWN? Nobody knows. There have been no documented pregnancies following the Essure procedure. Nobody knows what will happen. Nobody, in fact, knows what the risks are to continue an intrauterine pregnancy with the Essure implants still in the tubes. If it’s even IN the uterus. I don’t have an ultrasound scheduled until Tuesday.

Ectopic pregnancy is a significant cause of maternal death in the United States. I’m under orders to go the ER immediately if I have any sharp pains in my abdomen between now and Tuesday.

Damn. Insert extensive list of vile epithets here.

Well, if it’s intrauterine, we won’t sent it back. We’ll grit our teeth and go through the 9 months of hell, because we think the alternative is a pretty rotten thing to do. If that’s the case, I expect 3 months of bedrest, and possibly some hospitalization, but a good outcome. And then I think I’ll have my uterus ripped out by the roots, and the ground around it salted, napalmed, and Roundupped.

If it isn’t…I guess we’ll have the surgery to protect my health, and wish the little critter better luck next time, finding a more hospitable home. And THEN I will have my uterus ripped out by the roots.

Dangit.

2

Wow. Chotii, that really, really sucks.
I can’t wish that implantation hasn’t ocurred, because of the danger to your health and everything; and I can’t wish that it has because as much as I know that you love your family, this clearly isn’t what you planned. Plus being not so great for your health and everything.

I guess I just wish you the best - and if it happened to me, I think I’d want to see shredded uterus after the surgery just to be sure it was gone.

3

Dude, I can dig. I got pregnant with my fourth baby while I had an IUD inserted. He was born very early. My water broke at just before 24 weeks, and I was admitted to the hospital that day. A little over two weeks later, he decided to make his grand entrance. He was born at 26 weeks gestation and hung out in the NICU for two months. His name’s Gabe and he’s frickin’ awesome.

I had a tubal ligation a few weeks after he was born. If I get pregnant again, I’ll personally give Mr. Urban a vascetomy.

Good luck and please keep us updated.

4

Wow. I’m glad I read this thread as I was actually considering get the Essure procedure done.

A good FYI for me.

5

I’m still in denial. Gawd.

The thing is, the statistics are phenomenal. No documented pregnancies. They say “No procedure is 100% effective”. Just like a tubal - they have a certain known failure rate. So does vasectomy. But the early statistics have been amazing.

Why do I get to be the lucky exception?

I’d probably still recommend it, but sheesh. If this turns out to be tubal, I may change my mind.

6

Wow. On the other hand, you get to be the first documented medical instance of something. That has a bit of cachet.

Best wishes in whatever happens.

7

They told you to watch for pain in your shoulder didn’t they? Some ectopics have referred pain in the shoulder.

Man, that’s rough though! The kind of thing you most definitely do not want to be an exception for.

8

I’m glad to see that the baby will be welcome if this pregnancy “takes.” :slight_smile: Best of luck, whatever happens!

9

Holy crap. You have got to be just totally freaked out over this. Five kids- hoo boy! It IS cool that you’re the first for something, but wow. Please bump this thread after your ultrasound.

10

Hoo boy. That’s gotta be stressful. I’m trying to get pregnant now, but we’ve already decided one more and that’s it; I was considering Essure, because my husband is being a big whiny baby about the prospect of a vasectomy. Now… Jeez. Who knows? Good luck with everything, Chotii.

11

Wow! I hope the egg manages to get down safely. The tubal thing sounds so awful.

I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope it works out OK.

12

Sweet holy hell! Good luck with the new spawn . . . and have fun being the first in history!

13

:eek: I’m sending good vibes your way Chotii, and prayers if you want them. I hope everything turns out for the best healthwise for all concerned, whether it happens to be you carrying to term, or surgery. I wonder if they are going to want to document you for a study? Maybe to figure out how it happened and make the procedure better? Good lord, I couldn’t imagine!
[SUB]Though, hysterectomies aren’t a picnic either, I’ve had one because of a cantaloupe sized fibriod in the muscle walls of my utereus. Recovery wasn’t fun, the first BM post-op especially was no fun. shudder[/SUB]

14

Lorena? Is that you?

Sympathy and best wishes to Chotii.

15

Holy cow, Chotii. Good luck and best wishes for a good outcome!

16

I think it’s time for your husband to take one for the team, chotii. With your super-fertility, it’s probably best if you both have all your possible tubes removed.

17

:eek: If you’re the first will they name the syndrome after you? Or is that just for diseases? Either way, Chotii, I’ll be thinking of you till Tuesday.

18

My husband has rhuematoid arthritis, and I’m reluctant for him to get ‘fixed’ because it can sometimes cause autoimmune reaction. But yeah. It may come to that.

I’m trying to figure out if there’s any connection to my uterus being ‘T’ shaped? My doctor told me she had a terrible time getting the Essure implant in on one side (but we agreed in advance that if she couldn’t, she’d simply do a tubal ligation at the time). Eventually, she got it in. And it seemed to have worked, or so we all thought.

Maybe they’ll decide that T-shaped uteri are not suited to the implants, or something.

19

I’ve decided what ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ outcomes would be:

Good: unruptured tubal pregnancy, which can be removed.
Good: healthy viable pregnancy in uterus.
Bad: Ruptured tubal pregnancy
Baddish: twins in uterus.

20

The makers of Essure are currently claiming a 99.80% success rate in preventing pregnancy with their product, so a few users would seem to have had this experience previously.