IVF or Tubal Reversal?
Pregnancy After Tubal Ligation: IVF or Tubal Reversal?
A Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal patient, Cyndi, describes to Dr. Monteith how she was trapped in an abusive marriage and had a tubal ligation. After divorcing and meeting her current partner, Steven, she wanted to have another child with him. She then describes being talked out of tubal ligation reversal and into IVF by an infertility specialist, only to discover that IVF is illegal for unmarried couples in the state of Arkansas.
The following replies are from those posted at IVF or Tubal Reversal in forum After Tubal Reversal at Tubal Reversal Message Board:
Posted by cindy0714 (Member # 13204) on January 06, 2009 08:13 PM:
This story is so familiar. My husband and I were also told our chances would be better through IVF than tubal reversal. IVF failed and broke our hearts. Now here we are 4 years later at CHTRC. I will be having my TR in March. Good Luck to you Cyndi.
Posted by magdvn (Member # 12680) on January 06, 2009 11:30 PM:
I was told by a fertility specialist that IVF was a better option for us since I was almost 40 and would most likely only want one more child. My husband and I were led to believe that since I had had no problem getting pregnant in the past and he had no abnormal tests that we were almost assured to get pregnant. After $15,000 and no pregnancy (and no frozen embryos to try again) we were very disappointed.
We decide to have TR done because at least then we could try every month instead of a one time deal. I wish we would have done the TR much earlier and instead of IVF.
Merill
Posted by pam mills (Member # 617) on January 07, 2009 05:32 AM:
Thank you ladies for your input. As your stories confirm, this issue is more common than we like to think. Many people are not even aware that tubal reversal is an alternative to IVF. I am so happy that you have found your way to Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center and I look forward to meeting you when you arrive in Chapel Hill.
Pam Mills, CRNA
Posted by Martha, LPN (Member # 12781) on January 07, 2009 09:03 AM:
Thank you for this blog Dr. Monteith. We get frequent calls where we explain to women that with tubal reversal surgery, once the tubes are repaired, the chance of pregnancy can occur each month naturally. With IVF, medications must be administered by injection and a minor surgical procedure is performed each time pregnancy is attempted. Compared with current national IVF statistics, tubal reversal surgery at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center has a higher pregnancy rate and it is more affordable than IVF.
Martha
Martha
Posted by BirthdayBaker Judy (Member # 10176) on January 07, 2009 05:13 PM:
Just wanted to add a bit of my story for those over 40. I was 41 when I had my TR and 42 with my perfectly normal PG and delivery.
Judy
TR 10/16/2006
PG --1st try BFP 2/22/07
Delivery 11/2/07 baby boy 10# 7oz and 22.5 inches.
Vaginal delivery -- no pain meds.
Baby Joey is approx. 27# and 33" today at 14 months old. He's walking, reading words, knows colors, and numbers but isn't forming and using words just yet. He was tongue tied at birth and it took us 6 months to find a DR that would fix the issue. (This is a common family birth defect for me.)
I wish you all our same success.
Posted by mommeeof3 (Member # 11929) on January 07, 2009 06:33 PM:
I think tr and ivf are both wonderful. I did tr first to end up with ectopic and after months of ttc that's all I got. To me with ivf you have 2 be a good candidate 4 it. I did it once transferred 2 eggs and I am currently 15weeks pregnant with twins.I don't regret either decision that I made cause the tr was about being whole again and that's how I feel WHOLE! We try and we get errors. I wish you all happiness with your decisions.
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