A mother of four who had her tubes tied in October was stunned when she suddenly went into labor last week—and gave birth to a baby boy.



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Destini Free, 23, an employee at the Family Dollar Store in Sweeny, Texas, was stepping out of the bathtub on Friday early morning when her water broke. “I had taken a warm bath because I thought I caught a stomach virus that was going around,” Free told Yahoo! Shine. “While I was drying off, my water suddenly broke. I was totally in shock but I knew what that meant.”



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Her family was still asleep so Free took matters into her own hands, grabbing her keys and driving herself to the Sweeny Community Hospital, a short drive away from her home. “Once I arrived, I was happy to see my best friend’s sister working the front desk. I told her, ‘I know this is crazy, but I think I’m in labor.’"



Already mother to 5-year-old Adrienne, 2-year-old Cameron, and 11-month-old Cayden, Free was familiar with the signs of pregnancy. “But I had no cravings or fatigue, and I never felt the baby kick,” she said. “I help unload several hundred pounds of merchandise each week at work, which I was able to do with no problem. I also didn’t really gain weight—I thought I was just carrying leftover weight from my last pregnancy.”



Unfortunately, the hospital didn’t perform deliveries so Free was told she would be transported to another facility. But the baby couldn’t wait. After 38 minutes of labor, Free delivered a boy she named Christian. “When they handed him to me, I still couldn’t believe it—nor could my husband.”



When Free had a tubal ligation (a procedure in which a woman’s fallopian tubes are cut, blocked, or tied in order to prevent pregnancy), her OBGYN had informed her there was a one percent chance the surgery wouldn’t be effective.



“Although it’s rare for a woman to get pregnant after getting her tubes tied, I have seen it before,” Joanne Stone, MD, director of fetal medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York City, who did not treat Free, told Yahoo! Shine. “The failure rate of tubal ligation is slightly lower than say, a vasectomy which can have anywhere from .5% to a 5% failure rate.”



There are a few ways to perform a tubal ligation, says Stone. A doctor can either tie the center of both fallopian tubes so they’re no longer able to transport an egg to the uterus. Or, he or she can perform a laparoscopy, which entails inserting a device into the body that burns the center of each tube. “There are cases where the damaged tissue on the tubes can regrow and reattach. Unfortunately, nothing is foolproof,” says Stone.



And that's a blessing for Free. "He was such a surprise, but I'm so happy that my son is here," she says.



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