I've come to the conclusion that there's no reproductive justice. I have patients who are trying anything and everything to have a baby. I have patients who seem to get pregnant when they wink at their guy. Then there's R.

She came to me in disbelief after a home pregnancy test was positive. I confirmed her pregnancy with my own test and an ultrasound, then sat and listened to her story. R. was convinced that she would never get pregnant again (she has two little ones at home) because of her medical history. She had her left fallopian tube removed for an ectopic pregnancy, and her right ovary removed due to a large cyst. "How in the world did the egg make it all the way across?" she asked.

It is pretty amazing, to think that a single cell egg could float across the pelvis, dodging small intestines, and get captured by the other fallopian tube in time to be fertilized. That's the body's imperative, I told R. Where there's any chance of pregnancy, the body takes it. I've never seen a person too sick to get pregnant, despite what their doctors may say about their illnesses. And I've seen other patients beside R. where against all anatomical odds, they get pregnant.

These cases, of course, happen most to women who weren't planning pregnancy at all.  Like I said, no justice.  Ladies, if you've got a uterus, at least one functioning tube and ovary (no matter what side), and you're having intercourse, you can get pregnant. Yay for the tenacity of our ovaries...but you'd best be using birth control if you don't want that stick to turn blue. Have any of you known someone who's gotten pregnant against all odds?