First off, as with any woman, if your period is late you will want to start with a pregnancy test. There are two types - a blood test administered at your doctor's office and a urine test which you can take at home. Since home pregnancy tests are about 97% accurate, you will most likely want to start there.



Now, there two answers you can get from a test. One is that you are pregnant and one that you are not. It could be, however, that you are simply testing a bit too early. If you get a negative indicator on the test but still show signs of being pregnant, you should test again in a couple days. Or you could go on in to your doctor and have the blood pregnancy test done as it will "read" the indicators sooner.

Once it is confirmed you are pregnant, then the twice weekly testing begins. For these tests now, you are concerned with the HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, levels in your blood. HCG is the pregnancy hormone. Dr. Gary Berger, the foremost tubal reversal doctor in the world, recommends these tests be done every two to three days.

When your HCG hits 1500, then it's time for the next step. You will want to have an ultrasound done. What your ob/gyn doctor should be looking for is the gestational sac in the uterus.

If a gestational sac is seen, you're good to go. However, if not, you will need to do the HCG test and ultrasound again in two days. Although that may not be comfortable, there's a chance your doctor will not see the sac until HCG reaches 2500.

A week after seeing the gestational sac another ultrasound should be done to look for the yolk sac. This just goes to further affirm the fertile egg has implanted in the uterus.

The reason for all the testing and ultrasounds is really quite simple. After a tubal reversal, there is an increased chance of an ectopic pregnancy by 10-15%. You are testing to be sure you are really pregnant and that the egg has implanted in the uterus. You don't want it to be developing in your tube. You especially don't want that after having gone through the surgery to reconnect your tubes. They hold the promise of your future children. If it turns out to be an ectopic pregnancy, you want to know right away so steps can be taken to make it all safer for you and your tube.

One last step of this pregnancy after tubal reversal protocol remains to be discussed. If you are a patient of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, you should submit a Pregnancy Report as soon as you know you are pregnant. In addition, if you have any questions or concerns, they are there to help you seven days a week. You can still get support after your tubal reversal surgery from Dr. Berger and his staff.