You will awake from the procedure in our recovery room, where you will be observed for 2-3 hours. Upon discharge, you will receive a prescription for pain medication and an antibiotic. You will also receive instructions regarding diet and activity. In general, we recommend return to your normal diet within 1-2 days and return to some normal activity within 7 days. We do not recommend pushing, pulling or lifting anything more than 10 lbs for at least two weeks to allow yourself ample time to heal completely. Your outer wound dressing may be removed after 2 days and the strips underneath can be removed in 7 days. Be sure to keep the incision area dry when taking showers. Moving around after surgery helps healing, you feel better sooner and you go back to work earlier.
On the day of your surgery, you must be accompanied by an adult over the age of 18 on the day of surgery and you should expect to be driven home or to your hotel by your companion to recover.
If you are an out of town patient, you will return to your hotel room or previously arranged accommodations to rest for at least 24 hours before returning home. Your post operative appointment approximately is two to four weeks following your surgery and you can do that in your hometown with your own OBGYN.
Pregnancy after tubal reversal: How long before I will be ready to try to conceive?
Unless your reversal is particularly difficult, you may try as soon as you like. We have patients who have successfully conceived in the same cycle as their tubal reversal surgery. We will tell you after your reversal if you need to wait before trying and you will be given detailed instructions before you go home.
What do I do if I think I’m pregnant?
Three things need to be done the minute you miss a menstrual period. You need to get one of the urine stick tests. If that is positive, you need to get a quantitative blood pregnancy test [called an HCG test]. The third thing is a vaginal ultrasound to make sure the baby is in the womb and not located within your tubes.
A primary concern is the risk of ectopic [tubular] pregnancy – the risk becomes greater after tubal ligation reversal than if your tubes had never been tied. Ectopic pregnancies can be dangerous, even sometimes fatal. If you catch an ectopic pregnancy early, it can be treated with medicine and the tube is saved.
Early detection of an ectopic pregnancy means that it almost always can be treated without surgery. The tests need to be completed in the first week or two after you miss your period. Sometimes our tubal reversal patients forget these things that we tell them about early pregnancy detection and we tell them to call us if that happens.
Getting Pregnant After My Tubal Reversal Surgery
Natural Cycle is exactly what it implies. It uses one’s own cycle in conjunction with timed intercourse, intrauterine insemination or therapeutic donor insemination. One may have intercourse every other day starting on cycle day 11. Another option is to use an ovulation detection kit to determine when your LH (luteinizing hormone) surges and have intercourse 12-24 hours after the surge. Typically, we recommend testing every 12 hours with your ovulation kits.
If you are not pregnant within a specific amount of time Dr. Toma or Dr. Mulvaney tells you in your consultation, you can then start using Clomid (Clomiphene Citrate) or Femera (Letrozole). These are fertility drugs taken orally for the purpose of inducing ovulation (the release of one or more eggs). It is often a first line of treatment in young women (less than 40 years of age) who fail to ovulate (anovulatory), ovulate irregularly (oligo-ovulatory), and women who ovulate abnormally with associated hormone imbalance (dysovulatory). These medications have never been associated with the development of birth defects in humans.
Clomid and Femera are administered for five days during the early menstrual cycle. Some clinicians prescribe the drug from the 5th through the 9th day of the cycle. However, we prefer that the drugs be taken from cycle day 1 through 5 because there is some evidence that the earlier the drug is administered, the more likely it is to promote the development of the optimal number of follicles (fluid-filled spaces in the ovaries that contain the maturing eggs and produce the hormone estrogen) without affecting the lining of the uterus.
If your are not successful in conceiving after using Clomid or Femera for three cycles, you may consider Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). Click here to read more about artificial insemination at NCCRM after tubal reversal surgery.
HSG (Hysterosalpingogram)
If you are having difficulty getting pregnant following a tubal ligation reversal, we recommend that you get a test called HSG (Hysterosalpingogram). This test checks for fluid passing through your tubes or tubal patency. It can be done here at our office or if you live out of state, you can email Maureen or call 919-233-1680 (x132) and we can help you get it scheduled with someone local to you.
**If you are ready to get started scheduling a tubal reversal, click here to start the process.
