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| Molar Pregnancy | A molar pregnancy occurs if there are some certain abnormalities present in the fertilized egg during the moment of conception. There exist two types of molar pregnancy: complete and partial. If the fertilized egg either does not get developed into an embryo, it is called complete molar pregnancy. In case of a complete molar pregnancy, there are only placental parts, and no baby, it usually forms when the sperm fertilizes an empty egg. A woman thinks she is pregnant, because the placenta grows and the hCG, which is called the pregnancy hormone, is produced.
And partial molar pregnancy occurs when two sperm fertilize one egg, and instead of forming twins, because of something going wrong, there occurs pregnancy with abnormal fetus as well as with placental abnormalities.
In most normal pregnancies the fertilized egg contains 46 chromosomes: 23 from the father and 23 from the mother. In case of a complete molar pregnancy there are no maternal chromosomes in the fertilized egg, and because the father’s sperm is duplicated, the embryo ends up with two copies of chromosomes from the father and none from the mother. This means that there is no amniotic sac, no embryo, no any normal placental tissue, and the very placenta consists of a mass of cysts, which look like a cluster of grapes. And in most partial molar pregnancies there are 69 chromosomes, which consist of a normal complement of chromosomes from the mother and a double complement of chromosomes from the father.
This double complement of chromosomes of the father occurs either in case when the sperm is duplicated or when two sperm fertilize the same egg. This leads to the development of some normal placental tissue among the cluster – like mass of abnormal tissue. Usually the embryo begins to develop, and it may even get developed into a fetus, or either into just some fetal tissue or an amniotic sac. But even when there is a fetus present in the uterus, in most cases it is such an abnormal, that it is not able to survive and develop.
It should also be noted that molar pregnancies occur as often as about one in every 1,000 pregnancies. And yet, most of them are considered to be “accidents of nature”, and not anyone’s fault, though, there are some risk factors and causes, however, they only make the risk of having a molar pregnancy higher. This is why there is no necessity to blame oneself for having a molar pregnancy.
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