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Woman gives birth to a baby boy after IUD birth control device fails

By Abigail Malbon|

Get a Mirena IUD, they said. Itกฏs the best form of contraception, they said.

But in a classic case of irony meets Murphyกฏs Law, a woman from Alabama in the U.S. has given birth to a beautiful baby boy who appears to have been born holding the very Mirena? IUD which was meant to have prevented his conception.

The photo has gone viral, with the initial pic of baby Dexter Tyler holding the?device being shared 60,000 times in just two days. Now his stunned and thrilled mother Lucy Hellein, 34, has set the record straight.

Yes, her Mirena? contraception failed.

No, Dexter wasnกฏt born holding the device.

It turns out a nurse กฐplaced it in the hand of her son as a sort of tongue-in-cheek nod to conceiving while having an IUD in,กฑ Hellein told First Coast News. Then a friend posted it on Facebook and soon it was being shared around the world.

กฐI didnกฏt think it would go viral,กฑ the mother-of-three said.

It has certainly gone viral, with Dexter now being dubbed the "Mirena Baby", calling into question the effectiveness of the popular birth control.

The Mirena? IUD is an intrauterine device that is implanted in a womanกฏs uterus, according to the companyกฏs official website. It releases small amounts of hormones to prevent pregnancy and is recommended for women who have already had children. The birth control device is normally 99.9 percent effective.

This was Helleinกฏs third IUD, with the first two working perfectly. Her doctor told her she most likely fell pregnant shortly after it was implanted. กฐMy doctor believes I may have gotten pregnant about three weeks after it was placed,กฑ she said.

Patients are normally given a pregnancy test ahead of the t-shaped device being placed, however these tests also have an incredibly small failure rate.

Upon discovering the surprise pregnancy in December 2016, medical staff told Hellein the IUD had probably fallen out, but the newly pregnant mum suspected it was still in there somewhere.

กฐMy OB and the majority of the nurses I saw during the remainder of my pregnancy assumed [the IUD] had just fallen out,กฑ she told?Global News.?กฐShortly after he was born I heard my OB say, 'I found your Mirena. It was behind the placenta'.กฑ

After deciding to continue with the unplanned pregnancy, her doctor was unable to remove the IUD because that could have triggered a miscarriage.

It was during Dexterกฏs scheduled c-section birth on 27 April that a nurse found it wedged behind the placenta and thought it would be hilarious to have the baby appear to be holding it at birth.

The surprised mum was told she was lucky the IUD didnกฏt interrupt the blood flow between the placenta and her baby as it moved around in her uterus during the pregnancy.

Upon discovering the surprise pregnancy, Hellein was still aware that her baby was at risk by the rogue IUD. กฐI was scared at first, since I had a Mirena,กฑ she told Global News. กฐFrom what I had read online, the majority of IUD pregnancies are either not viable or end in miscarriage.กฑ

Attempts to contact?Bayer who hold the rights to Mirena in Australia and New Zealand have so far failed, however nurse practitioner Laura Ghasseminia from Planned Parenthood?told First Coast News itกฏs "next to impossible" to get pregnant with an IUD in place. "You have a better chance of winning the Lotto," she said.

Hellein จC who should definitely buy a Lotto ticket จC told First Coast News that baby Dexterกฏs original due date was May 4 but he was delivered a week early and is now a week-and-a-day old.

The family has started a Go Fund Me page to help save up for a college fund for surprise baby Dexter.

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