For as long as I can remember, I’ve had pelvic pain and horrendous menstrual cycles. Even at young age, the go to was to be on birth control pills to try to lessen the severity of my periods. Newsflash – it didn’t work! It was a band-aid fix, if that. From ruptured ovarian cysts in Afghanistan to laparoscopic surgery to remove free fluid in my belly, it has been an uphill and painful journey.

I’ve been on various forms of birth control over the years in effort to skip or minimize periods. Some of them included the mini pill (postpartum with both kids), implanon (about 10 years ago), nexplanon (currently implanted in my left arm), Mirena, 2 birth control pills at once continuously to all but eliminate my periods.

The reason for my pain – endometriosis. Despite not having a cycle since right before getting pregnant with Colt in 2018, I still experience pain and symptoms associated with endometriosis including pelvic pain, ovarian pain, bloating, low back pain, nausea and constipation. Yes, you read that correctly. Those are just a few symptoms I have despite not having a period. The reason I haven’t is because I was either pregnant or breastfeeding and sometimes when you breastfeed, your period doesn’t return. Hormones, gotta love them 😒

My surgery is in 16 days. I’m confident in my decision to have the hysterectomy done because it is necessary to improve my quality of life, and we are done having children. I’m eager to just have it get here and move on so I can recover and start feeling better on that front (my other medical issues are another story). In addition to the laparoscopic hysterectomy (that is going to be done by a robot 😳), I have to get a bladder sling and fix a slight bladder prolapse… I guess pushing out 2 kiddos that are decent sizes quickly will do that to you. All normal, all not talked about enough so I’m putting it out there. Child bearing people don’t tend to talk about these issues or feel ashamed or embarrassed but I’m here to tell you that this is real life, and I’m going to be open and raw about it. You’re not alone if you’re going through similar issues. When it’s all said and done, I’ll have only my ovaries left as far as reproductive organs go.

We have a game plan in place for the kiddos with them staying at my parents and my in-laws the first night I’m home. I’m thankful the surgery is considered outpatient even though I will be at the hospital. We won’t find out what time I need to be there until the day prior. So I’m a bit anxious about that just because I am a detail oriented person, so the not knowing is annoying but I need to just go with the flow for this because I can’t change it. I have started getting together some post-op recovery items which I will share in another post.

Have any questions for me? Have you had a laparoscopic hysterectomy? Do you experience endometriosis? I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Take care, Stef 💜

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