Gaby's Story

Hi. I’m Gaby. I’m a nurse and I know first hand how wonderful the Essure procedure can be for women. My story begins…

My husband and I were married in 1992, and shortly after that, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. I had to have surgery for it. I was told that if I wanted to get pregnant I shouldn’t wait because many women with this disease become infertile.

So two years later, I had my first daughter. It took us awhile to want to do it again. It was very hard on my body. When I got pregnant again three years later, it was even harder. There were tremendous complications, and I decided that pregnancy and I didn’t really get along. It wasn’t something my body did well. So, my husband and I agreed: No more kids.

Still, I wasn’t ready to do anything permanent, and my husband was not very excited by the thought of a vasectomy, so I chose to go with an IUD.

I had an IUD inserted that October. In May, I found out I was pregnant. I bled and bled for 17 weeks. My son was born in January. He was overdue. It was all really traumatic.

My husband went in to have a vasectomy. When they tested him a month later, his sperm count was zero. But because of our history, he went back for a second test later, and found out that his sperm count was at normal levels.

At least that was the easy way to find out!

I really didn’t want to go through another surgery. It’s hard on your body, it’s hard on your family and I was very busy. I didn’t have time to go through that. My husband was scheduled to go back for a second vasectomy when I heard about the clinical trial for the Essure product. I thought I’ve got nothing to lose.

I went in for the procedure in October 2000, and in January 2001, I was tested and my tubes were completely blocked. That was a very happy day.

I’ve had no problems, nothing. My biggest problem was relaxing enough to rely on it because of what we had gone through.

It has been great for my body. It has been great for my marriage. To give your marriage that kind of emotional freedom and intimate freedom…you just can’t explain what that means to someone who hasn’t been through it.

I would like to see Essure become the primary way for permanent birth control. I would recommend this procedure to anyone who wants permanent birth control. Because first of all, I think this is so much easier than tubal ligation and I really think it’s going to make a tubal ligation seem archaic.

It’s very exciting to know that this is here for women. I also want you to know that I am here for you. The Essure website has a lot of helpful and important information, but if you can’t find the answer to your question, ask me. As a nurse, I will do my best to address your questions or concerns. Since I have had the Essure procedure, I can also tell you about my experience. I’m looking forward to your questions.