Chrissy Teigen Was “Terrified” To Learn She Was Pregnant During Breast Surgery

Back in May, Chrissy Teigen announced that she was removing her breast implants after 10 years. "I want them out now," she told Glamour UK at the time. Two months later, she posted up-close photos of the under-boob scarring to prove to skeptical followers that she had indeed gone through with the surgical procedure that summer. Then, last week, the model and cookbook author dropped the biggest news of all: She's pregnant.

Given the sequence of events — and the fact that Teigen is already showing, which means she's likely a few months along in her pregnancy — fans started to question the timeline, wondering how she could have undergone an invasive surgery if she was pregnant at the time?

After one fan posed the question on Twitter, Teigen was quick to share her experience, which she says is "quite a story."

According to Teigen, she did undergo a pregnancy test before surgery, but it came back as a false negative. "I did the routine pregnancy test you do before surgery," she tweeted in response. "It said negative. It was not negative."

Following the procedure, Teigen then took another test, expecting the same results. "For many years now, I've taken pregnancy tests almost every month, praying to see a positive one day — just wishful thinking," Teigen continued on Twitter. "I never had a positive before. So the morning of John's album release, he wakes up at 3am to do Good Morning America. I woke up with him and was like man, should take my monthly test to be disappointed...."

This time, the pregnancy test was positive — and, given her recent breast surgery, the fear quickly set in. "I was scared shitless," Teigen wrote. "Was pretty positive you shouldn't get your boobs out while pregnant? Pretty sure."

Indeed, the American College Of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that while a pregnant woman should never be denied medically necessary surgery, elective surgery should be postponed until after the delivery. That’s because "many of the medications used are not deemed safe for the fetus," says Los Angeles-based plastic surgeon Lisa Cassileth, MD. "However, the commonly used medications for anesthesia usually cause no problems." But if a patient is far enough along to be actively producing milk, "a cut in the milk duct can cause milk leakage into the surgical site and around the implant," Dr. Cassileth adds. For women seeking breast surgery post pregnancy, she advises waiting until at least six months after breastfeeding. "The breasts are in a constant state of change in that period of time, and final size is very hard to predict," she explains.

In Teigen's rare case of a breast surgery happening in the early stages of pregnancy, the important next step was making sure both mom and baby were safe, which proved to be especially stressful for Teigen given her past fertility struggles. "We prayed to the boob surgery gods that everything would be okay," Teigen continued. "Went to every appointment terrified. Even without the surgery, I didn't think I could get pregnant naturally anyway. So the odds just felt...bad."

Luckily, in the end, Teigen alluded to the fact that everything checked out, and the family is happy, healthy, and looking forward to welcoming baby number three. "What they say so often can be true; when you give up on trying, life has a way of surprising you," she tweeted. "In summary: my boobs hurt."