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afox892 t1_jdm2xco wrote

On the subject of things that can go terribly wrong with pregnancy, look up molar pregnancies and acardiac twins.

With molar pregnancies, two sperm fertilize one egg, or one sperm fertilizes an egg that doesn't contain the genetic material that it's supposed to, and the incorrect chromosome count means that instead of conceiving something that turns into a normal placenta*, the woman conceives this large fluid sac-filled mass. It can grow through the muscle of the uterus and can potentially turn cancerous and metastasize to the lungs, brain, etc. It's also possible to have a fraternal twin situation where one twin is a normal fetus and the other is a cystic mass that generally ends up killing the fetus. This mass produces much more hCG (the hormone that turns a pregnancy test positive) than normal, can cause preeclampsia, and as time goes by without removal the woman will often start passing grape-like cysts from the vagina.

*In the type with the empty egg (known as a complete mole), no maternal DNA is present so it's basically the father's cells that are getting inside the woman, invading, and potentially even killing her. Really odd to think about. In the type where two sperm fertilize one egg, a fetus can form in addition to the abnormal cystic placenta, but it's typically nonviable.

As for acardiac twins, when a fertilized egg splits to form identical twins, depending on exactly when it splits they could end up sharing one placenta and/or amniotic sac. And when they share a placenta, sometimes the blood vessels don't form properly and the twins end up connected to each other. This can result in twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, where one twin gets a disproportionate amount of the blood and ends up large and beet red while the other ends up tiny and anemic (and one or both may end up dying). In a more extreme case, they can end up with twin reversed arterial perfusion, where one twin (A) ends up supplying all of the blood to the other twin (B). Unfortunately for twin B, they're getting the deoxygenated blood that has already been used by A, so they don't get enough oxygen to develop correctly. They don't end up being able to develop a heart (hence acardiac twin), but some of them don't even develop a head, and just end up being a big mass of flesh with legs and a spine that just stops at the neck. Some of them end up being nothing more than a head with an umbilical cord coming out of the stump of the neck. Treatment involves going in and shutting off the blood supply (after which the now-dead acardiac twin stays in the uterus until birth), but if left untreated, twin B generally gets pretty large and ends up killing twin A because having to supply blood to two bodies causes the heart to fail.

Horrifying.

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level27jennybro t1_jdmpjbb wrote

And politicians who don't understand this want womens options limited to the point they may have to suffer through an experience like this because 'life is sacred'.

I couldn't even imagine being in Texas and having acradiac twins with one being just a head and spinal cord, then having to argue to the law that an abortion is necessary in that case.

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afox892 t1_jdmubet wrote

Or a fraternal twin situation where one twin is a normal, healthy, viable fetus and the other twin is a complete mole which turned cancerous (called a choriocarcinoma). This is a fast-growing, aggressive cancer that quickly spreads beyond the uterus, particularly to the lungs. The very first thing that needs to be done to treat it is to evacuate the contents of the uterus, and that means terminating the healthy fetus. And there are so many places in the US where that wouldn't happen. She'd just have to wonder if the growing mass would kill the fetus in time for her to get treatment and start chemotherapy, or if it would be too late. But as long as that fetus had a heartbeat, its life would be prioritized higher than hers.

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bebe_bird t1_jdmzw5g wrote

This is how I know the pro-life debate is just gaslighting us - saying all life is sacred while blatantly ignoring any science that supports higher quality of life lacks a consistent logic. There's too much "grey space" that's not actually grey at all, but it's difficult to codify.

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Airosokoto t1_jdnzqdr wrote

It's all about wanting control instead of morality. There of those who desire a simpler world view so they can feel as if their incontrol, and those that will use them to get power because of how easy it is to manipulate them.

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Laney20 t1_jdooiyf wrote

It's the same with the anti-trans stuff. Kids aren't getting surgeries. The vast majority of "gender affirming care" for kids is therapy, puberty blockers, and hormones. All of these are reversible. And all the science says they improve the outcomes for the kids. Yet here we are...

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DastardlyRidleylash t1_jdn0mls wrote

It's like George Carlin said; to pro-lifers it's a matter of if they're preborn, they're fine, but if they're preschool, they're fucked until they can be turned into soldiers. They're effectively just anti-woman, just masking it under a visage that seems more palatable.

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uniqueUsername_1024 t1_jdoj9zc wrote

“Pro-lifers” only protect children before they’re born; then they don’t care if those kids get shot in school or starve on the street.

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KeniLF t1_jdmcakn wrote

<insert gif of woman fainting on stairs>

I am TRAUMATIZED after reading this 💀

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Xyrus2000 t1_jdo2nie wrote

Because our education system is...challenged when it comes to biological education, there are some pretty big gaps when it comes to people knowing how things in the body function.

For example, a fertilized human egg is not some gentle little thing growing peacefully within the uterus. A fertilized human egg is actually an incredibly voracious parasite that will attach itself to whatever it can and, like a vampire, will drain it of every last nutrient.

The uterus, contrary to popular myth, is there to protect the mother from its ravenous appetite. It acts as a firewall to prevent the egg from killing its host. Hence why when a fertilized egg goes awry (winds up anywhere outside the uterus) it's a serious and life-threatening situation. Women can wind up dying in horrible and incredibly painful ways when things go wrong. And now, thanks to the rising far-right "Christian" nationalists creating the Neo-Inquisition, all those lovely horrible ways to die are making a comeback.

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delinquentsaviors t1_jdpgrck wrote

“Parasite” is a bit extreme. I agree with the other poster. I would almost think you find human reproduction abhorrent 🤨.

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Xyrus2000 t1_jdpmo33 wrote

How is it extreme? You may not like the term, but that's what it is.

It's not "freaky", or "abhorrent". It's just science.

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michaelvsaucetookdmt t1_jdowf30 wrote

Well youre putting your own little slant on it by saying shit like “voracious parasite.” Literally every placental mammal works this way. People learn about this in school. I don’t want you telling middle schoolers in sex ed this shit just because you think its freaky any more than i want super christians to control sex ed.

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Xyrus2000 t1_jdp0kqr wrote

>Well youre putting your own little slant on it by saying shit like “voracious parasite.”

That's not a slant. That is what a fertilized egg is. Have you ever seen the end result of an untreated ectopic pregnancy?

>Literally every placental mammal works this way

Did I say anything different? Pregnancy is parasitic by nature in most mammals. The only thing that prevents a pregnancy from killing the mother is the uterus. The fertilized egg can implant and grow just about anywhere.

>People learn about this in school.

No, they really don't. They get a sugar-coated version, if they get any version at all. Hence the TIL post and the various other medical-related posts by others here describe what can go wrong and WHY we have medical procedures to deal with it.

Or rather, we did until the fanatical religious nut jobs started with their idiotic "life begins at conception" bullsh*t.

> I don’t want you telling middle schoolers in sex ed this shit just because you think its freaky

Freaky? How on Earth did you get that from what I or others have posted? These are medical facts. These are complications that can and do arise during pregnancies, and WHY they arise. These are why medical procedures to deal with them exist, and why they shouldn't be banned by far-right nut jobs.

Teenagers, especially teenage girls, should be educated on this because it can literally be life or death for them, especially if they live in a red state that can deny them treatment.

>any more than i want super christians to control sex ed

There wouldn't be sex education if "super christians" controlled sex education. They just got a principal fired because some kids saw Michelangelo's sculpture.

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michaelvsaucetookdmt t1_jdpeouk wrote

Bro shut the fuck up lmao. You’re too high on your own supply to realize that you ARE biased.

Yes, the fertilized egg does whatever it can to grow and gain resources. Thats literally all life. You know what I call that? Efficient. A parasite is when ANOTHER SPECIES takes nutrients from its host. It is not a parasite. You’re putting your own little slant on it, using very charged language.

Pregnancy is NOT parasitic by nature. It is reproduction. The animal WANTS to give resources so that it can pass on its genetic information. That is not parasitism, which is an unwanted attack on the host.

I said you think its freaky because of the charged language you use when talking about standard biological facts.

“Voracious parasite” “vampire” “ravenous appetite”

You don’t think those carry any sort of negative connotation? You think you’re just speaking straight facts?

What i meant is i don’t want middle schoolers to hear those things specifically. Sure you said some factual things, but you don’t have to use phrases that carry such negative connotations. Thats far from how a scientist would describe these things.

Teenagers should understand how this works, but they should also not be told that a fertilized egg is a “vampiric parasite that has a ravenous appetite and will kill you if it gets the chance.” Sure, that is a possibility, but those cases are very rare and you don’t have to make it seem so scary.

You can explain that fertilized eggs/fetuses suck nutrients from their mother in the controlled environment that is the uterus. If they exist outside of that controlled environment, they can develop incorrectly and harm the mother. You see how the way i said it and the way you said it are very different?

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Xyrus2000 t1_jdpr8zl wrote

>Bro shut the fuck up lmao. You’re too high on your own supply to realize that you ARE biased.

Charged language? What exactly did I say that was incorrect? Have you ever seen what happens with something like an untreated ectopic pregnancy?

How would you describe an organism that will literally siphon every last resource from its host without regard for that host?

>A parasite is when ANOTHER SPECIES takes nutrients from its host.

If the egg somehow escapes the protection provided by the uterus, THEN it effectively becomes a parasite as it will feed, damage, and eventually kill the host.

>Pregnancy is NOT parasitic by nature. That is not parasitism, which is an unwanted attack on the host.

Pretty sure a fertilized egg outside of a uterus is an unwanted attack on the host.

>I said you think its freaky because of the charged language you use when talking about standard biological facts.
>
>“Voracious parasite” “vampire” “ravenous appetite”

How are those inaccurate descriptions? A fertilized egg outside of the uterus acts like a voracious parasite. It literally starts sucking the life out of the mother and will consume everything it can.

>You don’t think those carry any sort of negative connotation? You think you’re just speaking straight facts?

I'm sorry, but I thought we were discussing what happens when pregnancies go wrong. There really aren't a whole lot of positive things to say about ectopic or molar pregnancies. In fact, they're pretty f*cking terrible and you better hope no one you know and care about ever has to experience them, especially if they live in a red state.

You want "straight facts"? Okay. An ectopic pregnancy will put you through an unimaginable amount of pain and suffering and then kill you. Is that better?

>but you don’t have to use phrases that carry such negative connotations.

Would you prefer flowery prose?

>Thats far from how a scientist would describe these things.

Formal descriptions are reserved for scientific journals. When they talk to the general public, they use terms the general public will understand.

>Teenagers should understand how this works, but they should also not be told that a fertilized egg is a “vampiric parasite that has a ravenous appetite and will kill you if it gets the chance.”

That isn't what I said. This is what I said, with the context you chose to leave out:

For example, a fertilized human egg is not some gentle little thing growing peacefully within the uterus. A fertilized human egg is actually an incredibly voracious parasite that will attach itself to whatever it can and, like a vampire, will drain it of every last nutrient.

Hence why women have uteruses protecting them from the egg. With the vast majority of pregnancies, the fact that a fertilized human egg can kill is no more notable than the fact you can die in car crash tomorrow. But the context of the discussion is a TIL on pregnancies going wrong. Not everyone knows that a fertilized human egg is biologically lethal. Not everyone knows that the uterus is what protects the mother from that lethality.

>You can explain that fertilized eggs/fetuses suck nutrients from their mother in the controlled environment that is the uterus. If they exist outside of that controlled environment, they can develop incorrectly and harm the mother. You see how the way i said it and the way you said it are very different?

Yes, you sugarcoated a serious medical condition. One of many related to pregnancies. You also omitted that politicians at both state and national levels are either planning or have already implemented laws that will prevent women from receiving the treatment they would need to deal with these emergencies. That's a pretty big f*cking big omission to make in this country these days.

Either way, have fun waging war on adjectives you don't like.

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Laney20 t1_jdoo7pc wrote

This is why reproductive health care is so important.

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PurpleSignificant725 t1_jdmol7p wrote

Molar pregnancues are the grossest and saddest things. So sad

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86mysoul t1_jdp0o40 wrote

Gross? That's pretty harsh to people who have experienced this. (Like me)

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Readylamefire t1_jdntkn7 wrote

My sister was a mirror twin. They shared a placenta, and she developed reverse of her twin (they believe this happens after a very late split) and it came with a huge price. Her twin, the one that was developing with organs in the usual place, ended up with her blatter and organs outside her body. Initially they thought they lost both twins.

When she was born, my mom didn't get to see the aftermath of what happened to the other baby, she was unconscious. I don't think my dad did either. But my sister is alive, happy, and healthy despite a lot of struggles along the way.

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zombiechewtoy t1_jdmwlgl wrote

Jesus Christ I'm glad I didn't know any of this ahead of my first ultrasounds

Edit: I also wonder if molar pregnancy is what happened to queen Mary.

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slo0o0oth t1_jdn7igt wrote

I just gave birth a week ago and I’m SO glad I didn’t see this comment before then lol (still fucking traumatized tho…)

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86mysoul t1_jdp0g26 wrote

I had a complete molar in November of last year. It was my first pregnancy and it was probably one of the most emotionally traumatic things I've ever been through. I'm still processing it. Stuff of nightmares. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies.

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OneShotHelpful t1_jdnnwqu wrote

> In the type where two sperms fertilize one egg, a fetus can form in addition to the abnormal cystic placenta, but it's typically nonviable.

Typically??

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luugburz t1_jdoqowf wrote

thanks for the reminder to take my birth control

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DudeDudenson t1_jdo4wzk wrote

I've been learning horrifying shit in the internet since dial up so I'm okay reading all of this but maybe you should add a disclaimer at the beginning, this kind of stuff will literally traumatize people

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complitstudent t1_jdoqw3j wrote

I looked up pictures of acardiac twins and god do I wish i didn’t 💀💀💀

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