This is Nydia Vazquez from Wichita, Kansas. Recently, she went viral for a TikTok where she described the time she visited the doctor and was surprised to find out she was almost six months pregnant.
"All I could think about is, 'Holy crap, is this baby okay?! What the heck has been really going on for the past five to six months?,'" Nydia told BuzzFeed.
Many women commented that they faced similar experiences. "It’s crazy how many people were able to relate to my story," Nydia said.
After going to the doctor and finding out she was more than five months along, Nydia uploaded a second TikTok where she played the part of a "doctor" and explained what she had been told by her own doctor: that it wasn't possible to have a period while pregnant, and that her monthly bleeding could have actually been a form of spotting from birth control.
Nydia's story resonated with many people who had experienced similar circumstances, so we reached out to Dr. Mary Jane Minkin — an OBGYN and professor at the Yale University of Medicine — to get more information on bleeding or having a period during pregnancy.
"What I can reassure folks with is that this is very unusual," Dr. Minkin told us. "If you take your birth control pills regularly at the same time every day, your chance of having a failure (i.e. getting pregnant) should be in the 1-2% category."
"A woman should not be getting her period while she is pregnant," Dr. Minkin explained. A period is caused by a withdrawal of progesterone — a hormone pregnant people have a lot of.
Dr. Minkin said that while surprise pregnancies are rare, it is important to get a test if you're experiencing symptoms.
There are a few reasons birth control pills can fail — the biggest being inconsistency. "We are human and we forget to take pills," Dr. Minkin said. "Some studies on pill users show that women may forget up to four pills in a month."
In addition to the surprise factor, Nydia believes the new law in Texas (which prevents women from getting abortions after six weeks) may have been a reason her video went so viral. "A lot of people don’t think that [the law] should be in place because of stories like these."
Despite everything, Nydia said she's happy with how her pregnancy turned out. Her baby boy, Román, was born in the spring of 2020 and is completely healthy.
She also said this whole experience has changed the way she sees pregnancy. "It just educated me more on the possibility of getting pregnant while on birth control," Nydia explained. "You could be doing all the right things, taking precautions, and still get pregnant."
