Pregnancy after hysterectomy Posted: 04-23-08 00:23am
While experiencing "MORNING SICKNESS"
symptoms for the past 2-3 days..and
feeling like a NUTCASE because I had a
Partial hysterectomy last April! Still
have my ovaries & tubes...NO uterus, NO
CERVIX! So, after reading the message
board flooded with stories of symptoms &
strange pregnancy occurances, I wanted to
share THIS article I found on the SAME
SUBJECT written by a MEDICAL
Professional...
>>>>>>> I have always had an instinctual
interest in fertility. As a young adult, I
worked as an intern at a large medical
laboratory where I had the most wonderful,
hands-on education in medical infertility
and its testing.
Ten years, one child and a hysterectomy
later, I find myself in a guest lecture in
college. Our guest that day was a young
nurse from the local teaching hospital. I
wasn't particularly interested in the
lecture topic that day until I heard the
words "pregnant after hysterectomy". I
immediately raised my hand, apologized for
the interruption and asked her to repeat
the story.
Apparently, she worked with a patient who
had become pregnant after having a partial
hysterectomy. The placenta was attached to
the small intestine and the pregnancy was
fully supported to term. I was absolutely
astonished!
The next day, I began my research. And I
found the facts.
It is entirely possible to become pregnant
after a hysterectomy if you have your
ovaries. Normally your eggs are absorbed
in the body or if they do actually
fertilize, the pregnancy usually dies off
before it is noticeable. However, once in
a while, if the placenta attaches to a
nutrient rich blood supply on an organ in
the abdominal cavity, the end result is a
full term pregnancy and a live birth.
Abdominal pregnancies occur 9 out of every
1000 ectopic pregnancies or 1 in every
10,000 births. Risk factors include
infertility, previous pelvic infection,
endometriosis, and previous ectopic
pregnancy. Abdominal pregnancy is a very
serious and possibly life threatening
condition. Removal of the placenta after
birth can cause uncontrollable bleeding or
death and is usually left in place because
of that.