Woman gets pregnant again despite birth control implant
DENVER - A Denver mother of two and her doctors are not sure how it happened, but despite getting a long-term birth control implant earlier this year that's supposed to be more than 99 percent effective, she recently learned she's expecting baby #3.
CBS Denver reports Ebony Cole got the hormone implant called Nexplanon inserted in her arm in January at a Kaiser Permanente medical office. It's supposed to prevent pregnancy for three years.
"My sisters tried it. It was successful for the both of them, so I thought maybe it would work for me too," Cole told CBS4.
Cole already has a 5-year-old boy and a 7-month-old baby girl, and she and her husband decided that was enough for now.
When the device was implanted, she says the health care provider told her "'I want you to feel it to see if it's there ... to confirm that it's there.' And I felt it, it was there," Cole said.
She received a sticker confirming that the implant was put in her arm on Jan. 12 and would last until January 2018. But everything changed for Cole in April.
"I went to the ER and they said, 'You're about 5 weeks pregnant.' I said, 'How? This doesn't make sense. I have this thing in my arm,' " Cole recounted.
She is now 14-weeks pregnant and still has no answers. She says that Kaiser Permanente doctors tried to locate the implant, but couldn't find it.
"They looked around in there with the ultrasound for a little while, then they used their fingers just to feel the area where they put it in at. They couldn't find it," Cole said.
Next she says that they did a blood test and found no trace of the progestin hormone in her system. That's when Kaiser Permanente doctors told her that the implant is not in her arm.
Nexplanon is made by Merck. On its website, Merck recommends that patients and caregivers feel for the implant after it's inserted. The website goes on to say that "The implant may not be in the patients' arm at all due to failed insertion." CBS Denver asked Merck for further explanation of "failed insertion" and how often that happens, and got no reply.
"This makes no sense. I watched you put it in my arm. I felt it after you got done putting it in my arm. I had it wrapped up, there were bandages around the bandage she put on there," Cole said.
Kaiser Permanente provided a statement to CBS Denver saying, "The care and safety of our patients is our highest priority. Any concern raised involving a patient's care is taken seriously and will be fully investigated."
Cole says she's concerned that it could harm her or her unborn baby.
"I personally believe that it's still there," Cole said.