Megan Nichole’s life was going great- she had just graduated from pharmacy school and started a fellowship program which would prepare her for her future. Everything changed, however, when she found out she was pregnant. And while pregnancies are typically life-changing in emotional ways, Megan’s was different because she was sure it was impossible. The problem involves an IUD that for some unknown reason didn’t work, and will likely end in legal action such as the Paragard lawsuit.
Sudden Changes
Megan had been using the Copper Coil IUD for four years. This type of contraception eliminates the need to worry about constantly using protection. However, these devices don’t guarantee to work 100% of the time, and this case may have been no exception. Megan and her partner had no plans to have children until several years in the future, so this was especially shocking.
She went to her doctor to see what could have gone wrong. After confirming the pregnancy with an ultrasound, her doctor commented on the possibilities. “He said, perhaps the IUD had moved out of position or dislodged. But when he did check, it was where it was supposed to be – no one knows why it happened.”
The news completely changed her plans. Megan left her fellowship and moved back home, several miles away from where she was living. She was forced to think quickly about how to carry out her pregnancy. To avoid complications during childbirth, women usually have an epidural to ease back pain, but Megan didn’t like the idea. As a pharmacist she was uncomfortable getting drugs shot into her spine, so she opted for a natural birth.
But yet again her plans were ruined. Megan suddenly went into labour before she even realized it. At first, feelings of constipation made her seek medical attention, but at the hospital she found out she was 10cm dilated.
This forced her to abandon her natural water birth and she relied on hypnobirthing to stay relaxed. And just like that her son was born, 5 minutes after her water broke. “I kept thinking ‘Did that just really happen?’. I was so in shock; I didn’t emotionally catch up with everything that had happened until he was about two months old.”
Slippery Devices
For Nichole, a mother using a different IUD, the shock was equally devastating. She had a history of miscarriage, and had felt loss. That is why she decided to halt any further pregnancies with Paragard. She recorded her story in a YouTube vlog:
“My pregnancy test came back positive. I was in complete shock because I have the Paragard IUD, it’s a 10 year IUD and I had it in for 3 years so I didn’t really even think that pregnancy was possible,” she said. “Turns out that there’s a .8% chance of getting pregnant with the Paragard. And I’m that .8%, I guess.
“They were finally able to find a tiny little grey speck on the very tip of my uterus, and the doctor said that was where the egg had implanted. There was no sack or heartbeat or anything like that, it was just a tiny tiny grey speck. And he did confirm that my IUD had slipped very low and the pregnancy was above the IUD.”
Many women share the same story as Megan. The unexpectedness can completely alter the course of someone’s life. Megan wasn’t even living with her partner at the time her test came back positive, but she decided to give everything up for a healthy birth. In Nichole’s case, she was using a Paragard IUD. Her story can shed some light for anyone wondering: “how does Paragard work?” In describing how she found out about her pregnancy, it would appear she has enough evidence for a Paragard lawsuit.