Two years ago, I went ahead and got a tubal reversal. I had my tubes tied after having my third child back in late 2008. I thought I was just done having kids at that point, so I tied my tubes.
My choice—no pressure from anyone. Fast-forward my life to, I don’t know, maybe six years ago—six years later, seven years later—I started feeling more and more like I’d love to have another child. I always wanted to add more children to the mix, but we thought it would be through adoption.
The idea of me carrying another child on my own was my heart’s desire. So, I did some research and learned about tubal reversal and that it was a possible thing to do to correct my tubes being tied.
I researched the option, and I looked into it. I began to get disappointed because I didn’t think it was feasible, given that it cost money. There was no necessary help to take care of it. So, I got discouraged.
Turning a Dream Into Reality
But long story short, we sold our house—not for that purpose, but because we were looking to sell and upgrade. So, we sold our house and came with the funds to help me achieve my goal of having the surgery, which I then did.
I went on to get pregnant on the first try, which ended in a chemical pregnancy. But then, you know, the second try, the second month in a row, I felt pregnant and was pregnant. Leading up to, I believe, the seventh or eighth week, I went for a check-up. Because of my tubal reversal, I had to go for check-ups, and they were weekly.
It was kind of an inconvenience, but it all made sense, and I appreciated it. I had to do an internal ultrasound, which was done vaginally, to just see how far the baby was growing, how much the baby’s growing, and whatnot.
Misdiagnosis Miscarriage
At one point, I started having the faintest of pink spotting. It was very faint—it was nothing extreme—and I mentioned it to OB-GYN. She checked everything and then, she told me to prepare for a miscarriage.
She just kind of jumped right to the conclusion and sent me home, basically telling me, “I think you’re going to have a miscarriage, and you need to just be ready.”
She even asked me what method I would prefer. If I preferred to do it at home, she said I could be sent home, left to deal with it there, and then come back in about two weeks to check if everything had passed on its own. If not, I would have to do a DNC.
It just freaked me out! I just couldn’t imagine. She said I might be in pain and, since I was out of town where I went for the appointment (it was about an hour away), I just couldn’t picture dealing with it alone, far from home.
Dealing with the Uncertainty
I came back home with all that on my mind, and I didn’t have to go back for another two weeks. So, they said, “You’ll know in two weeks.” That was a really hard two-week wait. Mind you, I was doing my best to remain positive and hopeful.
I was praying. I had a lot of faith that everything was okay. You know, you think about it. You want this baby so bad, and you are just waiting to hold it in your arms. You’ve gone through this whole process, and now this is what going to happen. It’s just really, really sad.
A Change in the Outcome
When I went back, everything was okay. The baby was growing nicely and exactly where she should be. Meanwhile, my misdiagnosed miscarriage go on to become a successful pregnancy.
The Importance of Being Your Advocate
Those options were presented to me, given the scenario. And like I said, the only thing I experienced was mild spotting. It wasn’t even red—it was just mild spotting, and I don’t even know if it was accompanied by cramping. But they saw what they saw, and I don’t understand it, maybe it was doctors’ instincts.
For those of you who are on a TTC journey, for those of you who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant, just in any case where you’re perhaps prompted to do something, just make sure you give it thought.
My misdiagnosed miscarriage success story is shocking, I know because we trust our physicians. We trust those who are trained to care for us. Make sure you ask questions and don’t just feel pressured into doing something when you know deep down things may not be bad.
What are the odds of a miscarriage being misdiagnosed?
My Advice: Dr. Olivia Wilson
A disturbing new study finds a number of pregnancies are being misdiagnosed as miscarriages.
This new study looked at 3,000 pregnant women in Britain whose doctors believed that they were going to miscarry. It turns out that a number of them—549 of those initial miscarriage diagnoses—of that number, 19 were wrong.
One wrong diagnosis is devastating, just because of the obvious mental anguish that that might cause. And any woman who’s experienced this with their OB-GYN or their provider knows how stressful it can be.
On the other side, We stress about it also, because this can be a difficult clinical assessment to make. We go by a couple of parameters: number one, what we see on ultrasound; number two, what the pregnancy blood test shows.
Because a lot of times, women will come in waving the plastic stick and say, “I just got a positive urine pregnancy test.” Then we need to correlate that with dating—when her last period was, if she knows that—what we see on Sono, and what the blood hormone level is.
A lot of times, those three points of information don’t match up. So, a lot of times, unfortunately, as this study pointed out, a woman will be told, “This is either nonviable, this is a miscarriage, a threatened miscarriage.” And then what’s worse then is the risk of being told, “We have to go straight to the operating room for a DNC and finish this off.”
I will tell you, as a board-certified OB-GYN, I don’t know that in 21 years I have ever had a case where there has been an emergency to go to the O.R. and do a DNC.
So, if you’re ever in this situation, you should feel completely within your rights to say, “Can we wait? Can we follow this up? Can we repeat the Sono, repeat the blood test?” And a lot of times—and I have seen this—what we thought was nonviable or a threatened miscarriage turns into a healthy pregnancy. Not always, but it happens.
Success after 4 Recurrent Miscarriages Story