22-year-old Kiero Elton’s dreams of having a large family and experiencing more pregnancies were now over after she underwent surgery that ended her chances of conceiving again.
The mother-of-two had two difficult pregnancies.
One week after giving birth to her first child, she started hemorrhaging blood clots and it turned out that she hadn’t completely passed her placenta. She lost a lot of blood that she needed a dilation and curettage to get rid of the remains.
However, she needed another dilation and curettage as the heavy bleeding just wouldn’t stop.
Seven months later, Kiera and Preston discovered that they were expecting a son. Three weeks after giving birth to her second child, the same thing happened.
She had two large blood clots and she started bleeding heavily. An ultrasound revealed some placenta retained in the top of her uterus.
Doctors were then forced to remove her uterus, ending her chances of becoming pregnant again.
“Initially, I was just happy that I had two kids and I was able to start raising my family without any more problems. I was thankful that the doctors didn’t wait any longer and just did the surgery,” Kiera said.
“Once it started to sink in, it really hurt me and still does. We always wanted more kids, so knowing I’ll never be able to get pregnant again makes me emotional. Most of my friends aren’t having kids for many years, so I’m sad I won’t get to experience pregnancy with them.
“Having a hysterectomy at such a young age was an eye opener. I will be 23 this year and I can’t have any more children, which is heart-breaking. I’ve been through the ringer and back and I’m not even 25 yet.
“I know one day that my kids will ask me for another sibling and it’s going to be very difficult to tell them no. But at least because they are still young, I will have years to mentally prepare myself for it.”
Before doctors performed a hysterectomy to remove her uterus, she first underwent surgery that involved inserting a balloon into her uterus, filling it with 500 milliliters of saline.
The balloon stopped the blood flow through her cervix and gave a temporary fix to give doctors more time for a more permanent solution.
“My doctor spoke to a radiologist and they wanted to proceed with a uterine artery embolization to cut off most of the blood flow to the uterus,” Kiera said.
“They filled my uterus with a balloon filled with saline to contract my uterus to stop the bleeding. My doctor stayed with me to slowly take the balloon out after the procedure and make sure I didn’t bleed out. Thankfully, things went well, and I was sent home after a blood transfusion.
“I felt disappointed in my body and all I could think about were my babies at home and how much time I was away from them.”
But when she started bleeding again the next day, doctors were left with no choice but to perform a hysterectomy.
“They believed my body would keep bleeding if they didn’t take action,” Kiera expressed. “They were trying everything to stop the bleeding, but it wasn’t working. In the end, it was the best option because if they didn’t take it out, I would have gone septic and most likely died.”
Kiera is now sharing her story to let other women know about the possible problems that she wasn’t aware of.
“I want women to advocate for themselves after having a baby and if you feel like something is wrong, make your doctor do something. If you’re having any abnormal bleeding, see your doctor immediately,” she expressed.
“I want women to know that having a hysterectomy shouldn’t define you. Hysterectomies are life changing, regardless of why or when you have one.”
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