Alternately, those who have previously made a decision not to have any more of their own children, thus tying their tubes, may have had a change of heart later in life with a new relationship. They may feel that they are unable to have another child due to this previous decision.



The fact of the matter is that pregnancy is possible with tied tubes if one undergoes IVF. In fact, many women turn to IVF because they have had tubals that even with a reversal surgery could make getting pregnant again very difficult, if not impossible.

IVF stands for in-vitro fertilization. An egg is retrieved from the ovaries of the intended mother, fertilized in a petri dish with sperm from the intended father, and then transferred back into the womb of the carrier.

The carrier can be either the intended mother herself, or a gestational surrogate mother. Because the eggs are retrieved from the ovaries themselves, it is not necessary for them to travel through the blocked fallopian tubes. Thus, those with tubals pose no complications with the retrieval process.

Gestational surrogate mothers do not participate in the egg retrieval at all; thus it makes no difference if their tubes are tied or not. Their eggs are not needed.

In fact, many clinics, agencies, and intended parents prefer to find a gestational surrogate mother who has had her tubes tied. This tells them that she has no interest in another child of her own and relieves worries about her conceiving her husband's child instead.

One common reason for surrogacy is an intended mother who has functioning ovaries, but has no uterus, due to hysterectomy or simply because she wasn't born with one. Through IVF, eggs can be retrieved from these intended mothers and transferred into her surrogate, making it possible for her to still have her biological child.

Though you can still get pregnant via IVF if you have your tubes tied, you cannot become pregnant with your own biological child if you do not have ovaries. In the case of an intended mother without ovaries, an egg donor can be used. Eggs would be retrieved from the donor, fertilized with the intended father's sperm, and transferred back into the intended mother or surrogate mother.

You can be an egg donor if your tubes are tied, as again, the eggs do not need to go through the fallopian tubes in order to be retrieved. Egg donors are common in gestational surrogacy arrangements.

Modern fertility procedures have come a long way! Now so much is possible. It really brings to mind the term "it takes a village to raise a child".