Woman on pill pregnant with quads

[True_Blue]

A 24-year-old woman who had been taking a course of contraceptive pills has found she is expecting identical quads.

Soheyla Zolfaghary, from Leeds, was told she was expecting four babies after going for a pregnancy scan, the Daily Mirror newspaper said.

Ms Zolfaghary had been on a low dosage contraceptive pill after giving birth to son Zachary seven months ago.

The Multiple Births Association said natural quads were rare as most were born to mothers on fertility treatment.

more....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4238765.stm

[amazona]

1. poor woman

What a nasty surprise.

Any chance the hormones in her pills were mixed up? Seems this really shouldn't have happened.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[kutastha]

3. Mixed up how?

n/t

[amazona]

4. well do you remember the Rite Aid case in the 90s?

The pharmacist filled a diabetic's script with the wrong pill, and the child was permanently brain-damaged, and there was a huge lawsuit over the care of the child which was going to run into the millions since the child was young, needed lifelong nursing care, and wasn't going to die but wasn't ever going to wake up either.

Sometimes, thank goodness, not often...but sometimes...a prescription is filled with the wrong pill.

A friend of mine had prolactinoma,
a pituitary tumor secreting excess prolactin. She found out the medicine she was prescribed to treat this, had a side effect of causing multiple births if she did get pregnant, although her illness made pregnancy unlikely.

I guess to me it doesn't seem entirely beyond the laws of probability that the poor woman who is PG with quads got the wrong pills, since there are pills that can cause multiple births and they are not that uncommonly prescribed.


Just wondering, clearly I have no proof of anything.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[MissB]

10. I think what is more likely is that she was taking the low dosage pills

But perhaps not taking them correctly.

If you've ever taken regular birth control pills, you know that you can usually get away with missing a pill during the month, as long as you take two pills the next day (and I say usually, because you could still get preggers that way).

You cannot do that with the low dosage pills. They caution you to take them at the same time each day, faithfully.

My second child is a low dosage birth control baby. I treated the low dosage pills quite casually. No biggie for us, because we were thinking about having another one anyway. Getting preggers when one's oldest child is only 7 months was a bit rough. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to do that, only be expecting quads.

[jmm]

25. My doctor warned me

that with a higher dose pill you could skip a couple of days and still be ok but with a low dose one if you don't take it correctly once it pretty much isn't effective for a week, twice and not for a whole month.

[elizsan]

11. These are identical

Things that make it more likely to have a multiple pregnancy (like your friend's bromocriptine medication) don't make identical birth more likely, only fraternal. They can promote multiple ovulations. Identical births come from a fertilized egg splitting, so it's just this woman's luck (good or bad) that this happened.

[kutastha]

12. yes

That's why I was asking about how a med mix up could contribute. Even if by some slim chance she received clomiphene or danazol, we'd expect to see nonidentical twins.

[MountainLaurel]

15. Probably not

Birth control pills don't come loose in a bottle. They're prepackaged in a plastic packet, with each day's pill in a separate slot in the plastic. They're very clearly marked on the outside of the boxes that the pharmacist sees (I buy mine in a three pack, so it's the same sort of packaging.) And even if the pharmacist got the wrong box, the patient would be able to tell immediately because the pill packaging would not be right.

[RayOfHope]

16. But they way BCP's are packaged

would make a mix up highly unlikely. They come from the manufacturer in blister packs, not loose in a bottle.

[FreedomAngel82]

22. I knew someone

at my church who was on a pill to help with pregnancy and she ended up pregnant with four babies. It was weird. And she almost made it through with them but they all died. :cry: It was sad (she already had a little boy though) because she only had like a month or so to go and she lost the babies. :( So this isn't a first time thing. Although kinda weird. Oh and I believe the babies were identical but I'm not 100% positive. I just remember her being pregnant with four babies because of how she got pregnant.

[leesa]

2. Oh man! Poor thing.

[zalinda]

5. If she's on

antibiotics at the same time, she can get pregnant.

zalinda

[mtnester]

17. That is how my son was conceived...BC failed on antibiotics for pneumonia

Back in the day (1980) they did not know antiobiotics actually rendered most oral contraceptives useless. Many of my female friends, over the years, have never had a pharmacist let them know they need to use anothet form of BC for the dureation of the antibiotics and for several months afterward. They usually freak out when I mention it.


I believe it is standard to now tell/warn women about that? Anyone?

[Piltdown13]

20. I've never had a doctor warn me about this interaction

...which, fortunately, I found out about before I ever went on the pill. It deeply concerns me that I don't get this warning at the student health center -- if they're not telling me, they're probably not telling anyone, and I doubt that your average college kid (or even many of my fellow grad students) know about this.

One thing, though -- from what I understand, you only need to use a backup for the duration of antibiotic use (or two weeks, whichever is longer, presumably for the same reason you have to wait at least a week before quitting your backup when you first start the pill) plus another week for safety, not for several months after finishing treatment; once the antibiotics are out of your system, the interference with the pill is no longer an issue.

[L.A.dweller]

27. The student health center on campus

didn't tell me that either. But when I went to an MD she warned me.

[lynne]

6. YIKES ! Brings to mind the old saying -

- that the only way the pill is 100% effective as birth control is by firmly holding onto them with your knees.

[NickofTime]

7. Shows Why Abortion is Necessary

[MissB]

8. Only if she wanted one

Otherwise, I can't imagine why one would suggest to her that she have an abortion.

[lynne]

9. According to the article -

- she plans on having the babies and feels rather special as idential quads are so unusual.

Best of luck to her and the babies!

[kutastha]

13. One might suggest selective reduction...

...because of the inherent difficulty in carrying and delivering quads. The mean gestational age for quads is 30 weeks, with a natural birth weight of about 2.5 pounds, a 64% chance of one or more of the children being impaired, and all the added difficulty of having a preterm infant, multiplied by four. Thus, it might be a consideration.

[True_Blue]

14. I knew a woman who was pregnant with quads

She was in her early forties and had been on fertility pills. Her doctor told her that not all 4 would make it and recommended selective reduction. She wouldn't do it and she ended up losing all 4 of them. It was very sad because her and her husband had been trying to have a baby for so long.

[WildClarySage]

18. The pill works by suppressing ovulation and if you miss a pill

or more likely several, or have a course of antibiotics or other meds that interfere with the pill's effectiveness, it's very likely to hyperstimulate the ovaries. Actually, taking the pill for a short period of time and stopping abruptly is often a treatment prescribed for infertility.

Best of luck to this woman and her family.

[Piltdown13]

19. Just looked up the type of pill she was on...

Apparently she was taking a version that contains progesterone only; those contraceptives "don't necessarily inhibit ovulation" according to the package insert. http://home.intekom.com/pharm/searle/femulen.html

From what I recall, progesterone-only pills have a higher failure rate than combination pills; maybe they work even less well just after delivery?

Of course, that really only accounts for her getting pregnant in the first place; as far as the quads thing goes, she just got "lucky."

[SarahB]

21. The progesterone only ones...

primarily alter a woman's cervical fluid making it more inhospitable to sperm. I believe the failure rate is about 5% as opposed to 1% or less with standard, combination bc pills.

[Pithlet]

24. Also, the fact that

if you don't take them within an hour of the same time every day, they aren't as effective makes them iffy. That was the type I was on while breastfeeding because estrogen can affect milk supply. Believe me, the day I weaned I switched to the regular kind. I do miss it, though, aside from the pain-in-the-ass factor. It had no side effects for me, and I never had a period. It was great.

God. Quads. 7 months post partum. Gack...

[MissB]

26. As I said above, you do have to be more careful with the low dose pills

Aside from the higher percentage of failure, you can't take them as casually as the regular pill. You really can't skip a day and expect to make it up the next. You are supposed to take them at the same time every day.

I'd say she got really lucky.

[sonicx]

23. Pill + Condom together is the best