 News
20th February 2006
Pregnancy discovered minutes before operation
A woman discovered she was pregnant minutes before undergoing
a hysterectomy for endometriosis.
Natasha Hill-Cannan, 33, had attempted to start a family for eight years,
and had tried IVF without success.
She had agreed to a hysterectomy after the pain from her endometriosis
became unbearable.
She had been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome in 1994, which
caused her to have an irregular menstrual cycle, and with endometriosis
in 2000.
Mrs Hill-Cannan had been told the chances of having a baby would be very
low, as her husband Jeremy, 36, also had a low sperm count.
Her Consultant at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny advised a hysterectomy
to try and help the pain and she agreed.
However, a routine pregnancy test just before the operation meant it
had to be cancelled.
Mrs Hill-Cannan said she did not think the test result meant anything,
as she had had false positive results in the past and even the Consultant
said there was only a slim chance that she really was pregnant but they
had to be sure.
She said, "I had psyched myself for the operation and had been in pain
for many years. We had been told we could not have children and I just
wanted to be free of pain.
"I was devastated when the operation was postponed because positive pregnancy
results had been part of the health problems I was suffering and nothing
had ever come of it."
She was sent for a scan three hours later, which revealed she was 10
weeks pregnant.
"I had rung my husband when the result came back positive, and he said,
'don't be silly'.
"He was sitting on my bed when an image came up on the screen and he
said 'What is that?'
"When we were told that was our baby, he fell off the bed and I started
crying. Even the radiographer was stunned," she said.
"You could hear the heart beating and it gives me goose bumps to talk
about it now."
Baby Henry was born in August after just 23 minutes of labour.
Mrs Hill-Cannan said, "Henry is doing extremely well. We think he truly
is a miracle and have to pinch ourselves every day to make sure we are
not dreaming."
When asked if she wanted another child, Mrs Hill-Cannan remarked, "How
do you build on perfection? If it happens it would be great but I think
we're more than happy with Henry."
Doctors believe drugs she was given to thin the lining of the womb prior
to the operation helped her to conceive.
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