Dr. Marjorie Greenfield
Specializing in pregnancy and birth.
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 Ask Dr. Greenfield
Pregnant during Tubal Ligation | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Greenfield,
I had a tubal ligation, only to find out ten days after my surgery that I was pregnant. My doctor did not do a pregnancy test prior to my surgery. Could something be wrong with my baby? I am now 11 weeks pregnant and was about four weeks pregnant on the day of my surgery.— Worried! in Fremont, CA | | | ANSWER |
September 17, 2001 | | | Dear Worried,
I used to have a rule that I only did tubal ligations immediately after a menstrual period, in order to prevent this from happening, but it gets very cumbersome to try to schedule in these little windows, especially for women whose cycles are irregular, so I rely on my patient preventing pregnancy during the weeks before the procedure is to be done and on a pregnancy test the day of the procedure. But even when a pregnancy test is done, a woman can be a week pregnant and the test would be negative.
The good news is--there is no evidence that surgery or anesthesia in early pregnancy causes birth defects or any other problem for the baby. There may be a slight increase in the risk of miscarriage from the anesthetic, but you are out of range for that now, if everything is fine at 11 weeks. And, if it is any consolation, you have your postpartum birth control all taken care of!— by Marjorie Greenfield, M.D. |
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