The Heartache Of Having Two Vaginas: BORN DIFFERENT

NICCI TRIEFENBACH: The hardest thing about
the whole process is not feeling like a woman. And then the whole two vagina thing, you just
feel like wow, I’m a circus freak.
COMM: Nurse Nicci Triefenbach has come across many rare medical conditions in her work.
But her own medical anomaly affects less than one percent of women.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: My surgeon had told me
that I infact had two uteruses, two vaginas and two cervixes. The make-up of my reproductive
system prior to surgery, you would have the opening, normal labia and then it funnels
up and splits off into a Y and that’s two different vaginal canals. At the end of the
canals there were two little donut areas for cervixes and that divided off into two separate
uterine bodies.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: Cross-stitch my friend did for me when my surgery. That is the cervix,
cervixes and then the two uteruses with the ovaries.
COMM: Nicci first started having problems
when she was just 13-years-old.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: So I first noticed that something was wrong when I was bleeding more
than I thought I should. The pain was intolerable. When I was on my period, I could not function.
COMM: Having two vaginas made sex and dating
difficult for Nicci.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: I mean, the reaction, I had to finding out I had two vaginas, I felt
like a freak of nature.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: Honestly when a doctor tells you that, you think what the hell? What
do I do with this? And then there is the other aspect of, you know, trying to explain that
to your partners before you have sex, like, “Hey, I’m a little different down there”.
COMM: Since meeting husband Andy, Nicci has
found the love and acceptance she was looking for.
ANDY TRIEFENBACH: I can’t even honestly
begin to imagine what she has been through because I’m not a woman. But I could get,
you know a glimpse of it because I could see the after effects of it. I love her and she
is the one.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: He is my rock.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: He takes care of me.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: He has never made me feel like a disappointment.
ANDY TRIEFENBACH: Nicci is really strong.
I commend her for being as strong as she was getting through all of this. I can only imagine
how hard it was for her.
COMM: Nicci’s condition left her in a lot of pain and has caused much heartache.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: So, I have had three miscarriages.
You get very desperate when you want to have children and you just wonder “What am I
doing wrong?” “Why am I going through this?” My hardest and darkest moment? After
my last miscarriage. You know I’d been bleeding for six months straight and you’re drained,
you just want to be done.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: And you have moments where you don’t want to live, but you know you
have to, so staying strong is all I could do.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: Put on a fake smile and
do what you got to do to get by.
COMM: And five months ago, she made a life changing decision.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: It wouldn’t be safe for
me to try to have a child. Nor would it be a good idea with the bleeding issues I was
having. So, I was 31 and had my mind set on having a hysterectomy because the quality
of life wasn’t good. First, I was okay with it but the feeling I felt knowing that I could
not have my own children, I kind of felt empty, like I wasn’t really a woman. I wasn’t
fulfilling what I wanted to do.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: My quality of life since the surgery has been fantastic. I’m happy
and I can get healthy now. I have the energy to do so.
COMM: Today, Nicci is visiting doctor Brooke
Winner for a follow up appointment.
DR BROOKE WINNER: Hello! NICCI TRIEFENBACH: Hi!
DR BROOKE WINNER: How are you Nicole? NICCI TRIEFENBACH: Doing well. How are you?
DR BROOKE WINNER: Good. Any issues or problems since surgery?
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: No ma’am. DR BROOKE WINNER: The first thing I’m going
to do is to check the incisions on your abdomen. So, these incisions are perfect. These will
continue to get flatter, softer and less noticeable upto the course of the whole year. So what
you see now is not the final product. NICCI TRIEFENBACH: Okay.
DR BROOKE WINNER: But those look like, those are healing up great.
COMM: Now Nicci is looking forward to the
future and hopes that one day, she will be able to have a family of her own.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: I want to adopt one day,
hopefully soon.
NICCI TRIEFENBACH: There are so many woman out there that have anomalies and don’t
feel like they have anybody. So, you’re not alone and you’ve just got to be strong.
You’re not a circus freak. If you have two vaginas, you’re just different. You learn
to work with it.

The Heartache Of Having Two Vaginas: BORN DIFFERENT

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