| If you have had your tubes tied you may be | | | | What this means is that if you do show any signs of |
| wondering about a pregnancy after tubal ligation. | | | | having a pregnancy after tubal ligation, get to your |
| Your concern may come from one of two sources. | | | | doctor ASAP. Left untreated, an ectopic pregnancy |
| First off, while you have been told that tubal ligation | | | | can lead to all kinds of problems, up to and including |
| is a permanent form of birth control, you may have | | | | being a threat to your life. If caught quickly, a drug |
| heard stories of women still getting pregnant. That | | | | is used to stop the development. Otherwise, you |
| can be scary and something you are totally | | | | may be looking a surgery. |
| unprepared to have happen. | | | | Now for the second scenario we look at women |
| The second source of your wondering may be the | | | | who want another pregnancy after tubal ligation. |
| fact that you want a pregnancy after tubal ligation. | | | | For whatever reason, you may have changed your |
| For many reasons there is a percentage of women | | | | mind. In this case, you will be happy to know that |
| who change their minds. Maybe their marital | | | | tubal ligation is not necessarily the permanent form of |
| situation has changed. Maybe there is guilt about | | | | birth control you were told. In fact, you can find |
| not being "whole". Maybe they have been suffering | | | | tubal surgeons who will perform an operation known |
| from post tubal ligation syndrome and their lives are | | | | as tubal reversal. |
| just miserable. Maybe the worst of all, a child has | | | | However, you will want to be very sure that you |
| died and the family no longer feels complete. There | | | | find a tubal reversal doctor who is very experienced |
| are any number of reasons for this change of heart. | | | | at this procedure. DO NOT select a surgeon who |
| In the first scenario above, where you might fear | | | | only performs a handful, if that many, of these a |
| you could still get pregnant, you should know that it | | | | year. You chances for a successful reversal will be |
| is possible. However, the likelihood is very small. | | | | greater with a more experienced surgeon who has |
| Less than 2 women out of 100 get pregnant | | | | seen everything. |
| following a tubal ligation. This was the outcome of a | | | | Better yet would be selecting a tubal surgeon who |
| recent study. That's the good news. | | | | works at a tubal reversal center or clinic where that |
| The bad news is that if you are in that very small | | | | operation is all they do. If you go to a fertility clinic |
| group, there is a high possibility that you will have an | | | | that also has IVF, that is what they will push on |
| ectopic pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy is where | | | | you. After all, it costs more. Unfortunately for all |
| the fetus implants somewhere other than the | | | | that cost, it is less successful for any one cycle than |
| uterus. Maybe there is enough blockage to keep it | | | | tubal reversal thus usually requiring more cycles at |
| from reaching the uterus. It's also possible to attach | | | | even greater cost. |
| somewhere outside the fallopian tube. | | | | |