While pregnant with her first child, a woman had an incredible and unforgettable experience. She went for a routine checkup in her final weeks of pregnancy, only to find out she needed an emergency C-section. But the real surprise came after the doctor looked inside her uterus.
In January 2023, Tamara McPhedrin turned to TikTok to share a shocking account with the world in a two-part video series. She narrated her most unusual experience during her first pregnancy, which became etched in her mind forever.
Taking a walk down memory lane, McPhedrin said she was barely 17 at the time. Owing to her motherly instinct, she said something was wrong. But when she consulted the doctors, they dismissed all her worries, given her young age.
McPhedrin started her eye-opening story with a short opening video inlay that read, “When the surgeon opened me up during an emergency C-section at 31 weeks, to find an empty uterus.” Since it was posted, the video had become a viral sensation, garnering millions of views.
As of April 3rd, 2023, it has garnered 6 million views and over 211,000 reactions. In response to netizens’ popular demand for more details, McPhedrin shared two longer clips to explain what she lived through. In the first part, she began by saying that although she hadn’t yet reached her due date, she knew she was pregnant, adding, “We’d seen the baby in there, so it was there, just not in the place it should have been.” The then 17-year-old McPhedrin went for her first ultrasound at 14 weeks. Knowing something wasn’t right, she discussed her concerns and worries with medical staff.
But McPhedrin noted that nobody listened to her because she was only a teenager. Had they listened to her then, McPhedrin said she wouldn’t have lived what she did later on. Fast forward to 20 weeks, the woman experienced another health complication. She began bleeding profusely and was in excruciating pain. But even then, she was taken aback when the doctors deemed it normal and told her not to worry.
Eventually, McPhedrin went for another ultrasound due to her unusually tiny baby bump, and the medical team discovered she had no amniotic fluid. Moreover, the doctors raised concerns regarding placental and baby growth. When she reached 31 weeks, McPhedrin said she was advised complete bed rest, going to little fetal movement. Then she had another scan where the medical staff couldn’t find her baby’s heartbeat. While they located the heartbeat later, it was quite low, and the baby appeared to be in distress.
McPhedrin recalls being taken to the labor ward where doctors decided to perform an emergency C-section. During the procedure, McPhedrin received the biggest shock of her life. The doctors told her and her partner that her uterus was empty, with only a bag of amniotic fluid. At that moment, the surgeon looked perplexed and asked McPhedrin, “Where is the baby?” In part two of her video series, McPhedrin expressed that she was shocked and clueless and couldn’t believe the surgeon.
She was lost for words and couldn’t comprehend the doctors, given that it was their job to know where the baby was. To locate the child, the medical team made a wider incision from one end of McPhedrin’s hip to the other.
It was then that they discovered an extra little cavity where her cervix was absent, but an ovary and a fallopian tube were very much present, and the baby was there. Even more mind-boggling was the cavity was cut off from her uterus. In scientific terminology, McPhedrin had a unicornuate uterus.
Fortunately, she had a safe delivery, and neither she nor her baby had any health scares. Since then, the TikTok mom has welcomed twins and another boy who were all delivered before their due dates.
As of April 2023, she’s expecting another child in hopes to carry her fifth baby to full term. Before concluding her story, McPhedrin advised her followers not to ignore any signs and regularly see the doctor if they feel something isn’t right in their pregnancy. What do you think about this mother’s shocking birth experience?
Have you ever heard of something similar happening before?