Conceiving after being told about blocked tubes
Nine years ago, I was referred a patient by an OB. He had performed laparoscopic surgery on her and told her that her tubes were both blocked and were “unsalvageable”. So, we did IVF and she got pregnant with twins on her first cycle. She came back a few years later to use her remaining frozen embryos, but nothing came from it.
Recently, I got a message from her that she wanted to share some good news about her new baby. When I returned the call, I was curious why she didn’t come back to us for THIS cycle of IVF. To my surprise, she bubbled enthusiastically about an amazing miracle. She shared that she had given birth to this recent baby after getting pregnant spontaneously without any medical treatment. She shared that her son (one of the original twins) had told her last year “Mommy, I’m going to pray real hard for a brother or sister this year”.
From a medical perspective, it is not entirely implausible for a woman diagnosed with blocked tubes to ever conceieve. Having blocked tubes diagnosed via laparoscopy or HSG does not mean 100% sure that they are blocked or will always stay blocked. Having said that, I would certainly put it at less than a 1% probability that a patient in this situation is going to get pregnant naturally. Put that together with the finding of all the years that went by without her getting pregnant and you have the occurrence of something that is estimated to have less than a 1 in 1000 chance of happening. No, I don’t recommend that women with blocked tubes should wait patiently for a miracle to happen, but I also recognize that sometimes, miracles DO happen.
