Short story: A warning to those with IUD's! Check your strings! Mine perforated my uterus and is floating in my abdomen. I have to have surgery next week! I found upon searching that another one or two hellobee members have had this happen!

The long story: I had the Mirena placed 8 weeks postpartum last year. 2 months later, my provider checked and said the strings were high up there, so I probably wouldn't be able to feel them, but she clearly saw them.

Fast forward to a week ago, when I had my yearly check up. She didn't see the strings. She said "you can get an ultrasound if you want to be sure, but I'm sure it's in there and fine". She said usually the strings are just curled up in the cervix. I opted for the ultrasound. It wasn't in my uterus. My IUD was MIA!!

So I was sent for an abdominal X-ray. And there it was, above my pelvis on the right side of my abdomen. Not sure when it happened, although my suspicion is it was about a month or more ago. I had some weird pains just on my right side. I was expecting my period and had eaten crap food that day, so I figured my stomach wasn't happy (it was nothing severe, just uncomfortable for an evening and then done). Then I kept spotting off and on but didn't get my period for another week, but then I got it like normal. Had some bad cramps with that period. I wrote off the weird period as my first one post-weaning. Now I think that spotting and pain was when it perforated and the period with bad cramps was because the IUD was gone.

Now I have to have surgery (laproscopic and outpatient, luckily) on Tuesday to go in and get it. And then figure out what we will do for birth control now. I really don't want to go on the pill!

So, it's pretty rare for IUDs to do this this far out from insertion. Most perforations happen on insertion when the provider pushes it through. But mine was not that! I had no idea this was an ongoing risk! So just a warning to feel for your strings (if you can, like I said, I couldn't feel mine) and report to your doc if you don't feel them!