I Had My Tubes Tied After Delivery, Here's What Happened...

2 years ago my husband and I decided we weren’t going to try but we also weren’t going to prevent a pregnancy. We’d just see what would happen.

You see, I was dead set on having a girl and while I knew there was a 50/50 chance of that happening, it still didn’t stop me from sending pink glitter dust out into the universe.

Finally, after a long and hard pregnancy, I delivered a healthy baby girl on November 3, 2018. That is also the day I shut down my baby making tubes for good.

Yes, I had my tubes tied after delivery, and here’s what happened…

I Had My Tubes Tied After Delivery, Here’s What Happened…

Now, I want to first start by saying, I am sharing my story to let other’s know what CAN happen not what necessarily WILL happen.

I want to let other moms know what I didn’t know going into the surgery.

You should also know that I am one of those “rare cases” in just about every situation life seems to throw at me. Basically, “what can happen, will” sort of thing.

And in this case, I was one of those rare cases.

Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of the way, I want to share my experience.

When my husband and I found out we were pregnant in February of last year we were ecstatic. We hadn’t been trying but we also hadn’t been preventing it. We were “going with the flow”.

At the time we found out, we had decided that as long as it was a healthy pregnancy, it would be our last regardless if it were a girl or boy.

I knew in my heart I was done after 3 kids due to health concerns (I have preeclampsia with every pregnancy) and the fact that I just knew 3 was my limit.

While I knew that my husband could have a simple procedure (vasectomy) I thought it just made more sense while I am already in the hospital and recovering, to get what is called a postpartum tubal litigation (minilaparotomy).

For those of you that don’t know, doctors are able to make a small incision near your belly button right after delivery of your baby to cut or tie small sections of your fallopian tubes to permanently prevent pregnancy.

It is simple to do after delivery of your baby because your tubes are much higher (near the belly button area). It’s even easier to do during a C-section when you are already cut open and numb. Recovery is just about the same as it would be after delivering a baby.

Now, you might be saying – well, why not just use birth control?

And see, that’s another one of those incidents where I am the one of the lucky (sarcasm) people that become very ill on birth control.

Yes, I’ve tried several different forms and my body either rejects the birth control or becomes very ill because of it.

So, tubal litigation made sense.

It also made sense since I knew we’d be close to hitting our medical deductible for the year just from the birth of our daughter, so we’d certainly hit it with the additional surgery.

And after talking to my doctor, she wanted to ensure that at age 28 I knew for sure I was done having kids and it wouldn’t be something I’d regret later on.

I knew it was the right decision so we scheduled it to happen the day I delivered my daughter.

Up until the day I was to be induced with my daughter, I read about the surgery, I asked my OB questions and I tried to mentally prepare myself for what was about to happen.

Surgery at any point is scary and I knew that this one would be a bit different because I’d be awake. Numb but awake.

So, Friday November 2nd I was induced. My daughter was born in the early morning hours of November 3rd and once she was born, I was allowed to hold her and visit with her and my husband for about 20 minutes before they came to get me for surgery.

I was wheeled into the OR room where they gave me additional medication in my epidural and strapped me to the gurney.

They raised a blue sheet in front of me so all I could see was my anesthesiologist behind me, and my blood pressure monitor next to me. Much like what I’ve been told happens during a C-Section (I’ve always delivered vaginally).

After going through what was about to happen, the doctors said they were going to make a small incision under my belly button and wanted me to tell them if I felt anything.

The first incision was made and I felt nothing.

“Okay, no problem, I got this!” – I thought to myself.

And then it happened…

I FELT THE SHARP SCISSORS CUTTING MY TUBES.

If that sentence made you cringe, I am sorry. It still makes me cringe to think about.

But yes, I did feel it.

I started to freak out and tell them to stop because I could feel it.

My blood pressure starting rising and was so high, it was making the alarms go off.

The doctors were trying to keep me calm and telling me they were going to get lidocaine to help numb the inside. They were also pushing an extra dose of medication into my epidural to try to help.

At this point I am panicking, I knew I was already cut open and I was alone (my husband went to the nursery with our newborn daughter) and I was scared.

I remember thinking to myself for a split second, what if this is it? What if I have a stroke or heart attack from trying to do what we thought was right?

I could overhear the doctors saying to each other that the floor had run out of lidocaine and they were paging other floors to bring some.

“Hang in there Brittanie” they tell me.

They once again try to start cutting hoping the additional medication would keep me from seeing anything.

Nope. Felt it again.

With my blood pressure in “stroke zone” as they call it, the anesthesiologist made the decision to put me to sleep.

And I am so grateful he did.

I woke up what seemed like hours later (it was like an hour later) in the delivery room with my husband and daughter. I was loopy and mostly numb but I could remember what happened.

I started to tell my husband and I was in tears, just horrified of the experience I went through.

Recovery was pretty normal. I was in pain but it was manageable with some mild pain medication.

6 weeks later at my postpartum appointment I told my OB what had happened (she didn’t do the surgery, another doctor did) and she apologizes saying “that only happens in about every 1/1000 people during surgery”.

Oh yay, I got to be that 1 person out of 1,000 that had opted for that surgery and felt it.

So again, I am sharing my story because I want moms to know what to expect. Even if you don’t feel the surgery (and I truly hope you don’t) I want you to know what it’s like.

Because I wish I had known. I also wish I had known that it was possible to feel because I wouldn’t have been so scared or caught off-guard.

It can be a scary and overwhelming experience but if you know you are done having children, it can be a great option so you can avoid any hormones or other means of birth control.

Plus, remember, it’s a one and done procedure so it’s something you won’t have to go through again. I’m grateful I don’t!

And in case you’re wondering – yes, I am fine now. I am 4 months postpartum as of this posting and I feel great. I do sometimes get a little tender around my incision but I am fully healed and ready to raise my last baby.

Here is my sweet baby girl and I at her 4-month check-up.