I like to tell people that I was a ‘late bloomer.’ I was married for ten years and never got pregnant. Then at age 38, I got pregnant for the first time and my husband and I were ecstatic. My husband is 10 years older than me and had children from his previous marriage (+ grandchildren). We were starting our lives together with our beautiful daughter and decided to try to have another child. We were successful and had a wonderful baby boy. We moved cross-country to New Mexico and started new jobs/graduate school and were raising our children, making plans for their schooling, including college. We decided our family was complete and I opted for the Essure procedure a few months after having our son, having been sold on the ‘noninvasive, non-hormonal, more effective than tubal ligation’ marketing. After the procedure was completed, I got the x-ray 3 months later as instructed and was told the tubes were occluded. My husband and I stopped using birth control pills and condoms as we were told by our OB/GYN that it was safe to do so.
My menstrual cycles had always been irregular throughout my life but I had several cycles in the months following the procedure. Then I didn’t have periods for a few months… this didn’t concern me as I had always been irregular, as I mentioned. So, I started a new job and had no obvious symptoms other than fatigue. But, having 2 little ones at home, in a new job, and going to grad school. Who wouldn’t be?? Plus, why would I even consider the possibility of being pregnant since I had a successful Essure procedure? It wasn’t until I gained 2 pounds that I started to wonder. So, I finally bought a pregnancy test. It was one with the plus signs and, though it appeared positive, I wasn’t convinced. So I scheduled an appointment with my doctor. I thought it could be menopause, though a bit early at age 42. The doctor said it was positive and my husband and I were a bit shocked to say the least. Not to mention, we didn’t have much time for planning our son’s arrival since I was five months along already!
We delivered a beautiful, healthy baby boy and are Blessed.
I had an ultrasound to determine the whereabouts of the Essure coils and one was no longer in its place. As I am now 43 (husband is 53) , I do not want to continue taking hormones and will be getting a tubal ligation to ensure no more surprise pregnancies for me.
So I write this in hopes that Essure re-evaluates their product and procedure and comes clean in their marketing that it is ‘more effective’ than tubal ligation.