Bicornuate Uterus & Pregnancy: Management & Miscarriage Risk

Question
i am 9.5 weeks pregnant and they dianosed me with bicornate uterus at 7 weeks when i had a scan after complaining of pain in my right side. how will i be managed and is there anything i can do to reduce the risk of miscarriage? also can this be corrected?

Answer
Hi Georgie,

Degree's of Bicornuate Uterus comes into play here. Some women, are able to go full term, and doctors dont even realize that they have this condition. Others, are detected pretty early, when the mother feels cramping, such as you did.

There is absolutely nothing you can do. This condition is actually a birth defect, where the uterus has 2 horns, on either side. Now, if the baby is in either of these"horns" usually, the pregnancy will end in misscarriage, because the there simply is not enough room to grow. Also, the tissue will not expand, to accomodate growing baby.

A bicornuate uterus can be associated with miscarriage, preterm delivery, fetal growth retardation, and an abnormal fetal presentation (breech or transverse), and sometimes various birth defects of the baby.

Its very common, that women who do have this condition, find themselves with a baby in breech condition. Sometimes, the baby fits better, being in the "Head up" condition. So this its very common for babies whom go full term, to be breech. But the baby may also turn head down, it depends on the shape of the uterus and the baby's size. Again, every case, is different so its really hard to say about your specific case.

Statistics say, Pregnancies in women with a bicornuate uterus have a 55 -63% fetal survival rate with a 15 -25% rate of preterm delivery. If a woman is known to have a bicornuate uterus, her pregnancies will most likely be considered high-risk.

I know some of this information I gave you is a little gloomy, But I feel like I have to tell you everything I do know about this.

Unfortuently, there is absolutely nothing you can do at this point. The result lies on your body, and where the baby is sitting. There is no medical procedure, to correct this.

Just keep in mind Georgie, that many women have had full term, healthy babies. Many women go undiagnosed with this condition as well. As I said, the severity of this condition comes in different degree's.

Keep positive, its the best thing you can do :)

Thanks for writing.

Kristy-