Newborn Baby Holding IUD Proves Birth Control Isn't 100 Percent Effective
Proving that even the most reliable birth control doesn’t prevent pregnancy 100 percent of the time, a photo of baby Dexter Tyler holding his mother’s IUD post-birth has gone viral. The photo, which Metro newspaper in the United Kingdom reports as being uploaded to Facebook, is currently not on the social networking site as mom Lucy Hellein’s profile can no longer be found. However, the image of Tyler grasping the device can be seen on Imgur.
Read: Male Birth Control Injection Safe And Effective As Condoms, But Can't Find Drug Maker To Sell It
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet.
The paper reports that the IUD was found during Hellein’s C-section, and the photo was shared more than 56,000 times.
Speaking to Metro about the situation, she said, “This was actually my third Mirena, my first two worked great. I had this one inserted back in August.”
She goes on to tell the paper she found out she was pregnant in December, but didn’t initially want to admit it. When a pregnancy test confirmed that Dexter was on his way, Hellein was already 18 weeks pregnant.
‘My Mirena was nowhere to be found on ultrasound so my OB assumed that it had fallen out, but I wasn’t convinced,” Hellein tells Metro about the mystery of the IUD.
While unexpected, Dexter was a happy surprise for her family. “Although he wasn’t planned, my family and I feel incredibly blessed,” the mother says.
Mirena, the brand of IUD used by Hellein, is a hormonal-based birth control that is more than 99 percent effective and lasts up to five years, according to the maker.
IUDs can be inserted nonsurgically during an office visit and is reversible, so you can remove it and get pregnant. As in this case, it is possible for IUDs to shift, and Mirena recommends doing a monthly self-check to make sure it’s still there.
"It does occur, but very rarely," Mary Jane Minkin, M.D., clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Yale Medical School, explained to SELF.
The magazine reports that the most common issues, though they aren’t common at all, are when the IUD expels itself or pierces a uterine wall.
The best way to ensure that everything is working properly is to do a check, as Mirena recommends.
Self describes that the best way to do this is by inserting a finger into our vagina to ensure that you can feel the IUD strings coming from the cervix.
"Imagine touching your nose and having threads coming out of it—that’s what your IUD feels like. If someone can't feel their strings, I have them come in," Minkin told the magazine.
The strings may not always be noticeable, so if you don’t feel them, it’s not time to start panicking yet. Simply schedule a doctor’s office visit to ensure that your IUD is properly placed.
See Also:
Baby Blues Diet: Nutritional Supplements May Prevent Post-Partum Depression
Kids Aren't Eating Their Veggies; Here Are 5 Ways To Incorporate Produce Into Young Diets
