Title: How a Shocking Pregnancy Turned into Quadruplets
Content:
When Callie Woodard went for a scan to check surgery to remove an ectopic pregnancy had been successful, she had a shock four times over. Despite her having surgery to remove an ectopic pregnancy growing in her womb – she was still pregnant. But it wasn’t just with one baby – four little heartbeats were pumping away in her womb. Callie, 36 from California, USA, then delivered her healthy quadruplets – after getting the shock of her life. She said: “Doctors think that I was actually pregnant with five babies – and one had been in my fallopian tube, and the other four were in my womb. “But it had been such early days that the four other heartbeats hadn’t shown up on the scan. “I’d gone from having surgery to remove the one baby, to being told that I was still pregnant with quads. “It was such a shock, and it took a while to sink in.”
Callie and her husband Gabriel, 38, had tried for one more baby to complete their family after she’d given birth to their daughter Ariella, now seven. They started trying when Ariella was 18 months old, but nothing happened.
Fertility problems
The couple went to see a doctor, who carried out tests and told them the devastating news that Callie’s egg quality was poor – like a pre-menopausal woman – and that she had such few eggs left she was unlikely to get pregnant. “We were heartbroken,” said Callie. “But they gave me drugs to stimulate my ovaries, and amazingly, I fell pregnant.” An early scan showed the couple was pregnant with twins, and Callie went on to give birth to Noah and Samara in June 2019. “We then decided that we wanted one more baby to make our family complete and went back to see the same doctor. “When I told him I’d had twins after he’d seen us last time, he was astounded. “When we told him we wanted one more baby he had even more crushing news for us.”
Callie’s eggs were in an “even worse” condition than before, the doctor told the parents, and said the parents should not “hold out any hope.” He said the only way they stood a chance was to use a donor egg, which involves using eggs from another woman. The couple had almost given up, but doctors decided to give Callie a different fertility drug on their eighth try, and amazingly, she found out she was pregnant. “Gabriel and I were thrilled; we had done it without using donor eggs, and I was finally pregnant,” she said. “We were over the moon.”
Ectopic pregnancy fears
Within just a few weeks of her pregnancy, Callie started to get “stabbing pains” in her left side. Doctors suspected she was experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, which happens when the embryo grows inside the fallopian tube. “We were devastated; we’d thought that I was finally pregnant, but now we were being told that it was looking like it was an ectopic, which meant that it would have to be surgically removed.” The doctors did some scans, but her womb was empty. Yet the tests showed that she was pregnant, which confirmed that it was an ectopic pregnancy. “The pains were getting worse and worse,” said Callie. Doctors decided they had to perform emergency surgery to remove the ruptured fallopian tube, which doctors thought was causing the pain. “The anaesthetist offered me a newer type of anaesthesia, which meant a better recovery time. “But it would also be damaging to any pregnancy, unlike the older drugs. “Give me the other type,” I begged them.
“We feel like the luckiest family in the world.”
What is an ectopic pregnancy? And what are the symptoms?
An ectopic pregnancy happens when a fertilised egg implants outside the womb. Fertilisation, when the sperm meets the egg, happens in a fallopian tube, and usually the egg should travel to the womb where it implants. In an ectopic pregnany, the fertilised egg attaches itself somewhere it cannot grow. Most of the time this is on the fallopian tubes, but it can also happen on the ovaries, the cervix (neck to the womb) or another organ inside the pelvis. The pregnancy does not usually last longer than 12 weeks, as symptoms will occur before then. Sadly the pregnancy always has to be terminated. The egg will be removed in an operation or using medicine.
What are the signs and symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy?
Often there are no symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, and it is usually detected when a mother goes for a routine pregnancy scan. If you do have symptoms, typically these will start to show between the fourth and 12th month of the pregnancy. These can include:
– Vaginal bleeding
– Brown watery discharge
– Pain in the lower abdomen down one side
– Missed period
– Discomfort when going to the bathroom
– Pain in the tip of your shoulder