4 True Stories of Pregnancy After Tubal Ligation

Approximately one out of every 200 people become pregnant after a tubal ligation procedure, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Having your tubes tied is not always an effective birth control method.

1. Sophie Fredericks became pregnant after a failed tubal ligation. While undergoing surgery, a fertilized egg had already left her fallopian tube but hadn't yet made it to her uterus.

The New South Wales mom, along with her husband, decided that after three children their family was complete. Fredericks scheduled a tubal ligation surgery and all was well until it wasn't; she found herself exhausted and experiencing pregnancy symptoms.

"Nine weeks after the op, on the spur of the moment, I did a pregnancy test to rule it out," Fredericks told Kidspot, a subsidiary of Australia's News.com. "To my shock, it was positive! That can’t be right, I thought."

Her general practitioner confirmed with the hospital that they performed a pregnancy test before the procedure, which had come back negative. "So they concluded that at the time of the surgery, the fertilized egg had left my fallopian tube but hadn’t yet embedded itself in my uterus," Fredericks explained.

2. Cynthia Williams filed a lawsuit against her physician, when she became pregnant after undergoing a tubal ligation procedure on the wrong fallopian tube.

Mom of three Cynthia Williams and her husband both carry the sickle cell disease trait. After having had three children, she decided that tubal ligation was the way to go. Williams had lost her right ovary at age 12 due to a cyst and only needed her left fallopian tube "tied," but her physician mistakenly performed the procedure on Williams' right fallopian tube. Six months later her daughter Kennadi was born, with sickle cell disease.

"I love Kennadi with all my heart, and that’s the honest-to-God truth," Williams told ABC News. "But it’s been a life change for everybody, my whole family."

In the weeks and months after Roe v. Wade was overturned by The Supreme Court, physicans saw an influx in patients seeking information about tubal ligation. However, interest in tubal ligation reversal is also on the rise.

3. Texas mom Nuvia had a tubal ligation reversal in November 2019, started trying for pregnancy in February, and became pregnant the following May. She chronicled her experience with an ectopic pregnancy on her Youtube Channel, Nuvy Life.

"I started having this pressure like when you have to go to the bathroom. I was super bloated and had just gotten my period a few days before," Nuvia explained in her video. "This miracle baby was conceived naturally after a failed IVF, followed by an ectopic pregnancy that resulted in me losing my left fallopian tube."

Dr. Ralph Sperrazza, MD, performs tubal ligation reversals at his practice in Snyder, New York.

"In the last 20 years [doctors] have been using techniques [for ligation] that do far less damage, and which make the tube repairable," Sperrazza told The Buffalo News. "It's not new, but there are refinements to it. What we're seeing now is, there's just much more of a demand for it. Lots of people are changing their minds, which may be a newer phenomenon."

Undergoing a tubal ligation procedure can increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy</a>; when a fertilized egg implants within the fallopian tubes rather than the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies can be treated with medication if caught early, but laparoscopic surgery may be necessary to remove the tissue and repair the fallopian tube if it goes undetected for too long.

4. Online forums are a helpful resource for those dealing with a variety of difficult situations. An ectopic pregnancy is no different. Online user Libertyke shared her story on the UK Ectopic Pregnancy Trust Forum.

"I've never wanted to be a mother for many different reasons, why [sic] is why (after conversations with my husband of course), I decided to have a tubal ligation," forum user Libertyke wrote. "Best decision in my life, since I didn’t have to worry about anything anymore concerning birth control."

However, the procedure would prove to be unsucessful, and later landed the author of the post in the ER. She details undergoing a variety of tests and bloodwork which showed elevated hCG levels, but nothing in her uterus indicating she was pregnant. It was then that doctors suspected an ectopic pregnancy.

"Words can not describe how I’m feeling since all of this has happened," she wrote on the forum. "I was shocked to hear that I was pregnant, despite my tubal ligation (which apparently is very rare), and then again to find out it was ectopic."

An ectopic pregnancy can quickly become an emergency situation, so it is important to recognize symptoms. In addition to the typical signs of pregnancy, an ectopic pregnancy after tubal ligation can include symptoms such as:

• Pain in the abdomen and pelvic area
• Vaginal bleeding
• Pelvic pressure
• Lightheadedness
• Unconsciousness

These symptoms require immediate medical treatment, as an ectopic pregnancy could cause fallopian tube rupture.