Pregnant with IUD in place. Urgent advice/info needed!

Not sure if this is posted in the right spot....
I've just gotten off the phone to my sister in Canada and she is really stressed because last week she found out that she is 8weeks pregnant but she still has a copper IUD in place. She had an ultrasound and apparently the IUD is lodged in her uterus and can't be removed. The Dr said that the IUD has to be removed for the sake of her own health but in doing so the removal would probably cause a miscarriage. My sis got another opinion and the second Dr said that it would be ok to leave the IUD in place and continue with the pregnancy but the chance of having a miscarriage anyway from the IUD being left there is greater than 50% and there's a possibility she could miscarry in the second trimester.
So my sister is facing a really hard decision, whether to continue with the pregnancy and risk late miscarriage and complications or have a termination and remove the IUD. She has to make her mind up by Saturday. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be anyone she can talk to in Canada (she's an aussie citizen, she's just there travelling) and the midical advice she's been given is quite limited. I told her to see an OB (the two Dr's she saw were GPs) but since she isn't canadian the medical expenses for specialist appointments are quite high and she doesn't have much money.
I'm really sad because when i spoke to her today she said she was leaning towards having a termination because she's scared of losing the bub down the track. I think she's feeling pressured to go this way because so far the advice she's been given is that the pregnacy will end in miscarriage anyway. She is feeling really lost becuase she and her boyfriend would really like to keep the baby but she's not sure whether to risk the pregnancy and have to go through a miscarriage or just terminate now. If she did keep the bub she'd come back to Aus in the next few weeks and she'd have better care here where her pregnancy could be monitored more closely.
She asked me to research it for her so I've been googling like mad trying to find some info for her becuase i want her to have all the facts before she makes a decision. I'd like to hear from anyone who's been in a similar position or knows someone who's been pregnant with an IUD. Any info/websites you may know of would be really helpful. Does anyone know the chances of having the IUD removed and the pregnancy still being viable? She has a copper IUD not a hormone one so there's no risk of birth defects.
thanks

goodness- your poor sis :( she must be devasted)
i have no advice but prehaps you could call you own ob on her behalf? will start googling though/

Does your sister have travel insurance? Where in Canada is she? I may be able to help with some contacts in Canada depending on where she is.

I know of people who have continued with pregnancy and given birth to a term healthy baby.

good luck to her what a horrible position to be in.

Hi Jaxi, She is currently living in Whistler (not sure if i spelt that right). She has travel insurance, its with One Cover i think but i don't think it covers this kind of thing....
Any help would be very very much appreciated :)

I'll put my feelers out. I'd be able to find people in Vancouver. Not so sure about Whistler but will see who/what I can find overnight (with the time zone difference). I'll PM you with any details I'm able to find.

Thanks so much Jaxi i really appreciate your help:)

Hiya, my Aunt got pregnant with an IUD and it was left in and my cousin was fine, I guess it depends where exactly it is in relation to the baby. I'm so sorry I can't be of more help, but I wish your sister all the best. Cheers Missy

My best friend conceived with a copper IUD in place and the baby is fine! I don't know where it was in relation to the implantation site though.

I dont know much about it, but I do know a number of people who have gotten pregnant with IUDs and continued to have normal pregnancies and healthy babies.

Just saw this thread and wanted to say how terrible for your poor sister, I hope she is ok!

Keep us updated...

:hug: what a hard situation for your sister. :(

Is the IUD embedded in her uterine wall? Or in the placental tissue? Or just in-situ?

If she wants to continue the pregnancy the best course of action if it is NOT embedded is for the doctor to attempt removal, using the strings, GENTLY! If the removal proves difficult then they should leave it where it is.

In terms of removal now vs attempting to continue the pregnancy - the figures (47-56% spontaneous miscarriage rate) are based on studies done in the 1970's when ultrasound wasn't as good, antibiotics weren't as good and general obstertic care was less advanced. I can't find anything newer, nowadays they try to remove and if they can't they push to terminate. I do know 3 babies born with IUD's lodged into their placentas though...

What happens on Saturday that she has to decide by then? If i were her i'd try to find a doctor who will attempt to remove the IUD without harming the pregnancy and if i couldn't find one or it couldn't be done i'd come home to Aus and get close monitoring for the pregnancy.

With an IUD in situ there might be a 50% chance of loss, but with a termination the chance is 100%. I know that sounds obvious, but it might be better for her to look at what she DOES want rather than what she doesn't - at the moment there isn't an option which removes the risk of physical and emotional suffering due to loss, but there IS an option which offers the chance of having the baby.

Bx

Hi hoobley thanks for the reply
the IUD is imbedded in the uterine wall as far as i know so the Dr said they can't remove it by just pulling the strings so they'd have to dialate her cervix a bit and get it that way i guess.. not too sure about that. I think they said that if they had to do that then chances are she would lose the bub anyway so they're pushing for her to make a decision whether to have that done on Saturday or leave it in and hope for the best. I think if she decides to have it out then the Drs are planning to terminate the pregnancy then and just do it in one go IYKWIM. It sounds as though they are pushing her to take it out and therefore terminate even though the ultrasound showed that bub was growing nicely and not affected by the IUD (yet anyway).

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With an IUD in situ there might be a 50% chance of loss, but with a termination the chance is 100%. I know that sounds obvious, but it might be better for her to look at what she DOES want rather than what she doesn't - at the moment there isn't an option which removes the risk of physical and emotional suffering due to loss, but there IS an option which offers the chance of having the baby

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I completely agree with you, i think she should wait it out and see. I can understand that the thought of having a late miscarriage would be absolutely devistating but if she terminates there will always be the question of 'what if?' IYKWIM

Thanks for your post, you raised a good point.

if they had to take it out, wouldnt they be able to do a cervical stitch, or do they mean that by dilating it she may go in to preterm labour?

I agree with what Hoobley has said Ithink I would try to go on with the pg. 50% chance of a healthy baby is more than 0%.

I agree with EVERYONE else, any chance of the baby surviving is going to be with leaving it in place, taking it out when it really doesn't need to be taken out is going to kill the baby and hurt your sister. I would be leaving it in, coming home and getting proper treatment.

Termination doesnt give the baby a fighting chance, leaving it does. A decent Ob will do everything in their power to make sure the baby is ok. A GP cannot make a specialist recommendation, They do not have the training to make an educated recommendation and therefore should be telling her to go home and see a specialist.

Sorry to hear about your sister. I am a Canadian citizen and was recently back there for a visit. Because it had been so long since I was home, my medicare was expired and I was on travel insurance, I found out I was pregnant over there and had such bad pain I thought I was having an ectopic, my insurance covered the ER visit and ultrasound and would have covered the surgery to remove it had it come to that. I think they cover any emergency situation as long as it was not a pre-exisiting condition, so if your sister got pregnant after cover than she may be covered for it, especially if she can get the doctor to say it is an emergency situation. I hope everything works for the best. It is so stressful being away from home and not having your usual medical care available.

It sounds as if the procedure to remove the embedded IUD would be fairly dangerous for the pregnancy - i.e. just getting it out would disrupt the tissues of the placenta etc. The cervical stitch is not an option. Miscarriage with an IUD is usually caused by disruption of the placenta/rupture of the sack during removal or septic infection when it has been left in place, not a weak cervix. A cervical stitch holding a septic pregnancy could potentially cause death, because it's just preventing the body from ridding itself of the infection. That's very rare though, because if the pregnancy becomes septic they pump you full of anti-B's and hasten the loss to protect your health (there is no way to save the baby in that case).

Lesty i have read that embedded IUD's give far better outcomes but i can't find a study. Apparently the fact that it has become buried in the uterine wall means the body can prevent infection more effectively. I'm sure she is under considerable medical pressure to terminate. I really feel for her, so far from home, I really hope she's ok :(

Bx

I am 20 years old and have a copper IUD too, and just found out that I am 8 weeks pregnant.... what decision did your sister go with....? I'm on the same boat right now and needs some answer! My ob said i should just leave it in...?

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I am 20 years old and have a copper IUD too, and just found out that I am 8 weeks pregnant.... what decision did your sister go with....? I'm on the same boat right now and needs some answer! My ob said i should just leave it in...?

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Hi mh637, i'm so sorry you're going through this :hug: My sis found it very very hard to make a decision but in the end she decided to end the pregnancy. Her decision was swayed alot by the fact that she's travelling and so she didn't have proper access to specialists etc and was scared to continue with a high risk pregnancy in a different country. She saw two doctors and one said to terminate the pregnancy and the other encouraged her to keep the IUD in and continue with the pregnancy. I know the decision to terminate tore her apart but the decision was her's and she weighed up the risks and decided that the risk was too big to take with her current lifestyle.
If you don't mind me asking, is the IUD imbedded? Can you still feel the string? My sisters IUD was imbedded and the string couldn't be felt so the doctors said that the IUD couldn't be removed without removing the baby as well and if she kept it in and had the bub two things would happen. 1 the bub would be fine and the IUD would probably come out with the placenter at delivery or 2 she would suffer a late miscarriage halfway through the pregnancy.. i know this scared her a lot as the thought of a late miscarriage really upset her.

I really feel for you as i understand that this is such a horrible thing to have to go through, personaly i think if it happened to me i would continue with the pregnancy but then i have a wonderful hubby, stable income to pay for specialist care etc, good medical care etc luxuries my sister didn't have. If i was overseas and in her position i honestly don't know what i would have done.

Have you talked to your doctor about your options and all the risks involved?
Thinking of you :hug:

Not that this really helps but im the product of my mum having an IUD, getting pregnant, got it removed (was told either remove it and maybe miscarry or risk other complications) and here i am :)