My name is Lindsay and I am from Bermuda. In November 2009, my husband and I were devastated by a missed miscarriage when I was almost 10 weeks pregnant. We already had one daughter and were very excited to be expecting a sibling for her. Soon after, I had my first D&C. I had no bleeding afterwards and felt ok at first but then noticed I was quite dizzy in the following weeks. I also noticed that I wasn’t losing the protruding tummy no matter how much I exercised and that pregnancy tests were still positive, meaning that I still had hcg (the pregnancy hormone) in my system. At a follow up appointment 4 weeks later, I asked if it was possible for me to still have remaining placental tissue inside but the doctor dismissed this idea by saying that I would definitely know as I would be experiencing a lot of bleeding. I also called into the office after this appointment to say that I was concerned that my hcg levels were still quite high 5 weeks later and that the dizziness was really bothering me. However, again, I was dismissed and told by the nurse that if the doctor thought there was a problem, she would tell me. In frustration, I went to see my general practitioner who thought I should have an ultrasound. This was now 6 weeks after my first D&C. Turned out that there was still a 5x7cm sac remaining! I had to have a second D&C as a result 2 days later.

Everything seemed to be fine in recovery, until I got up to get dressed and started bleeding heavily. It really shocked me to see the amount of blood around me and the doctor was immediately paged and was back within minutes trying to stop the bleeding by manually removing clots of blood that had pooled inside me after the surgery. I stayed in the hospital several hours longer and was sent home, only to return to the hospital that night in an ambulance after passing out at home. I was really anemic due to the amount of blood lost and had to take some time off work to recover as my iron levels were so low and I was extremely dizzy with horrible headaches. I took high doses of iron to try to get my blood count back up and was feeling fine again a few weeks later. Unfortunately, when my next period was due, I noticed only a couple of spots of blood for the first day and that was it. I also had a lot of cramping. This really seemed abnormal to me but I hoped it was just my body readjusting after the surgeries. After this happened the following month again though, I was really getting worried and did my research. My symptoms seemed to completely match with those related to Asherman’s Syndrome. I joined the AS group in order to get more information and kept reading about how great one A list doctor in California was. It seemed too far for me to travel for the surgery but I really wanted to go to the person that would be the best as I felt like I had already been through so much and wanted to just get this problem dealt with as soon as possible. I felt like I had already wasted enough of my time constantly worrying about this.

I had a phone consultation with this doctor and he said that my symptoms definitely matched up and that I would not be able to have a successful pregnancy without the surgery. I flew to Los Angeles and had the surgery on April 22^nd, 2010. It turned out that I had moderate scarring that was mostly situated near the cervix but also along the cornual recesses (uterine walls), up to but not occluding the ostia of the fallopian tubes. I had a Cook stent placed in my uterus for 3 weeks and was on hormone therapy for 50 days (high dosage of estrogen every day and then progesterone only from days 46 – 50). After the completion of the hormone therapy, I had an HSG that was luckily clear and was given the green light to try to conceive. Unfortunately my lining was very thin (3.1mm mid cycle) so I took Chinese herbs, had acupuncture and even put wheat grass in my morning smoothies for a whole month. By the next month, my lining had improved significantly and I conceived in the next cycle.

I was beyond excited to be pregnant again after all that I had been through but also terrified of the increased risks of placental problems and incompetent cervix especially, as this seemed to be a common issue among women from the group who had become pregnant post Asherman’s. I was prescribed progesterone for the first 14 weeks of my pregnancy (suppositories) and then had transvaginal ultrasounds every 2 weeks from weeks 14 through 26 to measure the length of my cervix. I really considered a preventative cerclage and now am so happy I didn’t have it as my cervical length was great throughout the pregnancy. I had no placental issues and aside from a scare with an irregular heartbeat that later corrected itself in utero, everything, including labor, went extremely well. My son Lucas was born on April 23^rd, 2011 and is now a healthy and happy 2 month old.

I consider myself to be extremely lucky as I know it doesn’t turn out this way for everyone. Unfortunately there are many women on the board who either require repeat surgeries or have continued issues with their linings after surgery. As much as the circumstances that brought me to this site were very unfortunate and unlucky, I cannot stop thinking about how lucky I am to have jumped through all of these hurdles and to have had such a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Lucas is my miracle…I really thought it would never happen for me again so every day that I get to see his sweet little face, I feel so blessed.

I wish those of you that read this the best of luck on your journey – we all deserve it after all that we have gone through. Try to remain positive through the tough times and if you find yourself in the position that I am in with a post AS baby (whether through natural birth, adoption or surrogacy), remember to be thankful every day for the precious gift that you have been given.