Joining at 20 Weeks... (IUD Surprise!)

[JuniperMama]

I've been a long time MDC member but between 2 kids, a very full-time job, and a house and marriage, etc, I have been dormant for a long time.  Then last week happened:

To cut to the chase, I'm 20 weeks pregnant (they said it's probably a boy) and due Mid-February.  It's a totally unplanned surprise.  We found out last Thursday.

 

So you may be thinking: "That's half way! You've had two children, how can you not have known before now??"

 

A reasonable question...  Here's the long story...

 

I had been having pregnancy-type symptoms since June.  In the past few months, I asked my dr. on 2 different occasions about the possibility of pregnancy.  She assured me each time that since I had an IUD, there was like a 1% chance that I could be pregnant and I really shouldn't worry about it.  She said that there were lots of other reasons for those symptoms (ie: stress) and that I should put pregnancy out of my mind.

 

In a rather rare move for me, I listened to her advice!  I don't know why I didn't follow my intuition at each of those junctures but I didn't.  I guess I just decided that she must be right and that I was crazy and should let it go.  

 

That is until last Thursday when I decided, despite losing over 20 pounds this summer, my belly was becoming undeniably rounded and I was pretty sure I felt movement.  I finally went and got a drugstore test and lo' and behold, it was screamingly positive.  I called my OB (as opposed to my regular doctor who had been blowing me off these past few months) and she had me come in immediately to get an ultrasound and see what was going on and if everything was ok, etc.  At that point, we discovered that this was a "missed" pregnancy that was 20 weeks along and that the IUD is totally MIA! 

 

At this point, we are working on adjusting our brains to the idea of a third baby after having planned to stop at two.  It's totally wild that it happened now, just when I gave away literally ALL of my maternity clothes, newborn gear (swings, bottles, clothes, etc.)  This is going to be like starting over in some ways.  Our heads are still spinning.

 

I am definitely in need of some support and thought it was time to head back to Mothering.

 

If anyone can tell me stories about IUD babies that turned out ok, I'd be really grateful.  This is crazy.  I find myself really worried that something could be wrong with him or that the baby or I will be in some kind of danger.  I need all the good news about this that I can get. 

 

TIA! 

[parsley]

Wow!  JuniperMama, what a story!  I hope you and your family are adjusting well to this huge surprise. 

For what it's worth, I was an IUD baby.  And, have always been completely healthy and had neuro-typical development.  My mother did have the IUD removed during pregnancy (!!!) but it seems like the risk of miscarriage from an IUD has come and gone already for you. 

Theoretically an IUD makes the uterus inhospitable-- clearly not the case in this instance-- by making the lining too thin.  Beyond that, I imagine the IUD could have punctured the placenta but you would have signs of that (bleeding, for sure and it would have shown up on the u/s) so I would think that at this point you are in the clear.  I recall reading some thread here on mothering about a MIA IUD and a full term pregnancy.  You could try searching for that.

Out of curiosity, what type of IUD did you have?  Hormonal (Mirena) or copper? 

Good luck and welcome!

[bluedaisy]

Wow, welcome to the Feb DDC!!!  That's a wild story, congratulations on your pregnancy!

I don't have any stories about IUD babies but I think there are at least 2 other women in the DDC that are pregnant even though they had an IUD...if you go to the introduction post you might be able to find out who they are if they don't post here.

That's great that your little one is healthy...all the best with the pregnancy and adjusting to this huge surprise!

[Right of Passage]

Welcome back and Congrats!  What a suprise!

[BloomingRosebud]

Congrats!  What a great story!  Good luck :)

[hildare]

i thought there were a couple of other mamas in this ddc who had the same thing happen!  also, i think i read a few birth stories recently where the iud came out with the baby! 

i do know that the biggest danger in your situation is already past- you are most likely not having an ectopic pg.  :)  congratulations.

[JuniperMama]

Thanks for the warm welcome.  :)

It has definitely been a roller coaster week or so.  We're working on getting comfortable with this whole thing.  It's intense for sure!

[JuniperMama]

Just a quick update -- I ended up meeting with a Genetic Counselor to get the full scoop on the stats and what was possible, etc.  We'd been given all kinds of differing information and felt really confused so decided to go to someone who specializes in this and it's all they do every day. 

She said we did qualify for a Quad Screen even though we were 20w5d.  However, there was some question re: the accuracy of the results at this stage.

The stats we were given for risk of chromosome disorder at my age (36) were 1:148.  The risk of a complication with the amnio was 1:400-500. 

We decided that the screening was potentially going to cause more worry than help with the possibility of false positives, etc. and the risk of amnio problem was much lower than the risk of a chromosome problem so we opted to do the amnio.  It was a very hard decision but we felt it was right for our family.

The good news is that everything went fine.  We got the preliminary (FISH) result back in 24 hours: no trisomy 13, 18, or 21.  The full results will be back in a couple weeks but they said with our ultrasound results and the FISH result, things look really good! 

Now on to planning for life with 3 kids! 

[parsley]

Glad everything is looking good, JuniperMama!

[mrs sauce]

Hey there,

I am pregnant with an IUD surprise baby in February too! There is at least one more mama on this thread in the same boat. I too had gotten rid of all of my maternity clothes and almost all of my baby gear and I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact that I am really pregnant and really going to be the mama of 4 (!) kids.

1% sounds like a really small percentage, but I have met a lot of women now who are in that 1%!