- Hey, y'all welcome back.
I'm Mama Dr. Jones, a board certified OB GYN,
a mom of four, and it's everybody's favorite time
of the month, much better than that other time of the month,
where we review a famously entertaining episode
of TLC's, "I didn't know I was pregnant"
and ruin it with educational commentary.
This episode is really interesting, tons of learning points.
It's season four, episode 18, and it's about someone
who got pregnant unexpectedly after having their tubes tied.
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Let's jump into the video.
(soft music)
Today's video is sponsored by KiwiCo,
and we'll hear more about them in a moment.
- [Narrator] Chrystle and her fiance Nathan,
are looking forward to adding another child to their family.
Chrystle is eight months pregnant and expecting a boy.
Together, they are already raising
Chrystle's daughter, Alexis
and their younger daughter, Aubrey.
On January 13th, 2010 at the age of 23,
Chrystle gives birth to their new son, Nathan Jr,
By C-section.
- I love how they have X-rays up in the operating room,
why would you need a chest x-ray up in an operating room
when you're doing a C-section?
I have no idea.
Also, and I just noticed this while editing,
they apparently are planning to do this C-section
at the level of her knee.
So that's an ectopic pregnancy type I've never heard of,
but maybe TLC knows something that I don't.
TLC's editing and scene setting never fails to amaze me.
- [Narrator] She and Nathan decided in advance,
that after delivery Chrystle would have her tubes tied.
- We both agreed it was time to have her tubes tied.
I mean, we were happy with three.
- I knew it was supposed to be permanent.
And the only way you could ever have kids again,
as if you had it surgically reversed.
- Tubal ligation is permanent,
there is however a failure rate and I'm sure
they're setting us up for what's about to happen.
The failure rate of tubal ligation depends on the method
that is used, but they all hang out around the same amount,
which is around 10 to 13 and a thousand.
And that's based on information from the CREST study,
which followed about 10,000 people over a 10 year period
after getting their tubes tied, and documented pregnancies
that happened thereafter.
All of those pregnancies obviously don't go on
to become live birth, some of them are ectopic,
some of them are miscarriages, but there is a failure rate.
That being said, when we talk about tubal reversal,
this is not always a very reliable thing.
Nobody should get their tubes tied unless they are certain,
they are done having babies.
This is a very expensive procedure to have a tubal reversal,
and it doesn't always work very well.
So that's just something to note when you hear someone say,
unless you have it reversed, that's not really that easy.
Tubal ligation being done at the time of the C-section
actually makes it a little bit more reliable,
but tubes can grow back together.
And the younger you are when you have your tubes tied,
the lot more likely it is that over time you will eventually
get pregnant and that will fail.
But again, it's still very, very rare about 10 to 13
in a thousand over a 10 year period,
which in that study I was talking about
with the 10,000 people was 143 total pregnancies
over that 10-year period in those 10,000 people.
So the risk is low for failure, but it can happen.
- [Narrator] The procedure goes smoothly
and two months later, Chrystle's period returns.
- Menstrual cycle was normal.
It lasted like three to four days every month.
And it came like the seventh or eighth day of every month.
It was the same before and after I had my tubes tied.
- [Narrator] As spring approaches, Chrystle turns 24
and has her hands full as a stay at home mom.
- So she's young, again, I told you the younger you are
at the time of a tubal ligation being done,
the higher the chance of failure.
It's still low, but it's higher.
You have an increased fertility compared to someone
who's older, and you have a longer period of time
that you will continue to make eggs compared to someone
who gets their tubes tied at 38.
- While running errands on June 3rd,
Chrystle is blindsided by an oncoming car.
- I slammed on brakes and there was no way I would stop.
(car crashes)
- Chrystle recovers from the accident
except for lingering back pain that plagues her all summer.
Unable to exercise, Chrystle begins to put on weight.
In September, Chrystle has little time for sleep
when she starts a job working at a home improvement store
to help make ends meet.
- I was getting up at 3:30 in the morning
to be at work by five.
- [Nathan] And then when she got home,
she would take care of the three kids.
I wouldn't get in the bed till like 11:30.
And then the next day I had to get up and start
at 3:30 again. So I mean, I was tired.
- I feel like that's a very valid reason to be tired
and not think that it's because you're pregnant.
You just had a baby, you had your tubes tied and you started
this new job where you wake up at 3:30 in the morning,
that's terrible and you have three kids at home,
of course you're tired.
- [Narrator] At the beginning of 2011,
Chrystle's back is finally feeling better, and she makes
a new year's resolution to exercise and eat healthier.
- I felt like I had more energy,
I wasn't nowhere near as tired.
- [Narrator] But just when she starting to feel better,
Chrystle wakes up for work on January 24th
with sharp pains in her lower back.
- I started hurting in my kidney area pretty bad,
a really, really, really sharp pain.
Yeah, I had felt the pain before
when I had had previous kidney infections,
but it was like 20 times worse.
It made me very nervous and I had blood in my urine.
- So that could be a few things she could have back labor
if we're getting into the labor part.
And she has blood from either vaginal bleeding
and she just thought it was in the urine because
she didn't realize that it was actually vaginal bleeding ,
or it could be that she does have a kidney infection
and she's having some bleeding in the kidney,
or it could be a kidney stone,
which would oftentimes cause blood in the urine.
So there's a lot of things that can be going on here,
but I agree, no matter what it is,
if she's having severe pain and she's having blood
in her urine, which we call hematuria,
then she needs to go in and see a doctor.
- [Narrator] True or false, a newborn baby cries
with an accent, the answer when we return.
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Now let's get back to the video.
- [Narrator] True and false, a newborn baby cries
with an accent, the answer, true.
Babies cry with the same melody used
in their native language by the second day of life,
they actually start learning intonation in the womb.
Not wanting to worry her family, she doesn't tell them
about her pain.
Instead, she drives alone to the nearest emergency room.
- On the emergency room they asked me,
is there any way you could be pregnant?
And I'm like, no, I just had my periods two weeks ago,
there's no way, and I've had my tubes tied.
- [Narrator] To see what is going on,
Chrystle is given an ultrasound.
- So she says, she's still having periods.
This could be a number of things and I hear people say
this often, but it is physically impossible
to have an actual period when you are pregnant.
A menstrual cycle is shedding of the lining of the uterus.
If that happens while you are pregnant,
then you will have a miscarriage, so that is not possible.
It is possible and what is probably going on is that
she is having intermittent bleeding,
that she is interpreting as a menstrual cycle.
Which of course, why would you not?
If you're having bleeding here and there and it's happening
for a few days at a time and goes away and then comes back,
of course you would think that that's a period,
that makes total sense, but just for clarification purposes,
you can not have an actual period while you are pregnant,
hormonally and physically, that is not possible.
Some reasons that people may have bleeding during pregnancy
would be like a sub chorionic hematoma
or sub chorionic hemorrhage,
which is where a bleeding happens behind the placenta.
And that can cause bleeding and that can cause bleeding
on and off throughout a whole pregnancy.
Sometimes people have that and it happens here and there
for the whole 40 weeks.
You can have bleeding from the cervix,
so people sometimes get really sensitive cervix
during pregnancy. Cervix is made of the same mucosa,
like your gums and just like your gums are more likely
to bleed in pregnancy, the cervix is also more likely
to bleed during pregnancy, so it can be that as well.
There's a few other things, those are the two most common
that I would see causing frequent bleeding during pregnancy
that could be misinterpreted as a period.
- I kept asking, what can you tell me?
Miss, can you please tell me what's going on there.
At that point, I'm really worried.
- Doctor.
- He said, honey, you're in labor.
(tense music)
When he said that, I really thought he was crazy.
I thought he had really flipped his lid,
and I'm like, there's no way.
I was like, how?
You tell me, how am I pregnant?
Because I've had my tubes tied, I've had my period.
- I would like to know how they got that answer so quickly
just from an ultrasound, ultrasound doesn't diagnose labor,
but you know, interesting TLC editing as always.
- You're about to have a baby.
- [Narrator] She's shocked when she learns
that her pains are contractions.
- When it finally hit me was just like unbelievable.
- [Narrator] Chrystle calls her fiance, Nathan,
who is at home with their three kids and thinks Chrystle
is at work.
- Hello.
- [Narrator] He can hardly believe the shocking news.
- I forgot she didn't tell them, oh my gosh,
can you imagine you're at home and you think your wife went
to work or your fiance or your partner, whoever went
to work and then they call and they're like, hi,
by the way, I'm actually at the hospital,
and I thought I had a kidney infection,
but I'm having a baby.
- You're what?
I had never heard of anyone having a baby
after their tubes were tied.
Are you sure?
I was stunned, not expecting a child,
and then you get a call one morning and saying,
you're gonna have another baby today.
- [Narrator] Nathan leaves the kids with a sitter
and rushes to the hospital.
- I love the acting in these shows,
I will never stop loving it.
He said, you're what?
Are you sure?
Like you could accidentally be diagnosed
with a full term baby that you are delivering.
- Because Chrystle has had three previous C-sections,
doctors decide that this is the safest way
for her to deliver.
- They had to get me prepped and then the let Nathan come in
and he sat beside me while I had the C-section.
I'm scared, I haven't went to the doctor,
I've smoked cigarettes, the car accident happened,
is the baby gonna be okay?
I mean, it tore me apart.
- I wonder if she went to the hospital
after the car accident, and why they didn't diagnose her
as pregnant at that time, that's very unusual to have been
in an accident, it showed her being evaluated by EMS.
So I'm assuming that she sought medical care after that.
How did they not do a pregnancy test?
- [Chrystle} It really did.
- [Woman] Come on baby, we got a baby boy.
- [Narrator] After a few minutes, doctors delivered
a six pound seven ounce, baby boy.
- [Chrystle] Oh my God.
- Sweetie pie, hello baby.
- When you hear that first cry,
it's like your heart flutters.
All of a sudden, just tears start pouring.
- [Narrator] Doctors pronounce the full term baby
in good health.
They take Chrystle to the maternity ward to recover.
She calls friends and family to tell
them the surprising news.
And everyone has the same question,
how did she get pregnant three months
after getting her tubes tied?
- I hope that they did something else at the time
of the C-section to add to her pregnancy prevention plan,
if she wanted them to removing the entire tube,
which still has a failure rate, but is lower,
or urging her partner to get a vasectomy,
which has a failure rate as well, but the nice thing
about a vasectomy is that one, it's safer, it's cheaper,
it's less invasive, but she's in a C-section,
so that's different, it's being done
at the time of C-section, but a vasectomy in general
compared to tubal ligation is a smaller surgery,
it is safer, it is less expensive
and it is just as reliable.
The additional benefit of the vasectomy
is that you can make sure it's working.
You can just get a semen analysis,
make sure there's no sperm inside the semen analysis
and know this is an effective vasectomy.
Tubal ligation, there's no way to test it.
You're just hoping that you're not in that small percentage
of failure rate.
Of course the vasectomy also requires that the person
who's trying to avoid pregnancy
is in a monogamous relationship and not having sex
with anyone else who could get them pregnant.
So that is for some people not reliable way
to prevent pregnancy, but in this situation,
it sounds like they were in a monogamous relationship.
- With all three of my other kids, I knew I was pregnant.
I had the morning sickness, I felt the kicking,
I was showing.
But with this one I had absolutely no signs or symptoms
of being pregnant.
- [Narrator] Chrystle and Nathan are keeping busy raising
their bigger than expected family.
- You know, as long as my kids are happy,
then nothing else matters.
- Christopher being born has made our family complete.
Is one of the most amazing feelings in the world.
- Super cute baby, I'm so happy that everything worked
out well for them and that they were able to adjust
to having a little bit bigger family than they expected.
If you have your tubes tied and you are using that
as your contraception, you can still rely on that
as your birth control.
The failure rate is low, 143 pregnancies in 10,000 people
over 10 years is very low.
So please don't make this think that you can't rely
on your tubal ligation.
That being said, always take a pregnancy test if something
is off, if you have new or weird symptoms,
or your period has changed,
and you're having sex with someone who can get you pregnant,
just take a pregnancy test.
If you're new here and you'd like to subscribe,
we'd love to have you, turn on notifications
so you never miss an upload, and I will see you next Monday.
(upbeat music)