It’s always been my dream to have a family and in 2014 I met an amazing guy. We were married in June 2015 and wanted to start building our family right away. However, my cycle was messed up and the hormones they gave me to regulate my cycle had the opposite effect and I hadn’t ovulated in over a year. Finally, in February 2016 I ovulated on my own, but we didn’t have any expectations of getting pregnant that first cycle. Two weeks later we took a pregnancy test and couldn’t believe our eyes, it was positive. We thought it was a miracle and couldn’t believe how lucky we were.
We had a week and a half of excitement discussing when we would tell everyone and making plans for the future, while still being cautiously optimistic knowing that a quarter of all pregnancies ended in miscarriage. On Monday, March 4 that hope was shattered when I started to bleed. I called the doctor who told me to come in and said that this was common and not to worry. The next day I started having sharp pains in my lower right abdomen. I called the early pregnancy unit at the hospital who told me to come in. They took bloods and sent me home and told me to come back in 2 days (hcg 313). They took bloods again and did a scan. I was told that my levels (hcg 419) were lower than they would like, but they were rising. The scan showed nothing, but they said this was common since it was still early (5.5 weeks).
They wanted us to come back the following Monday, but we had a vacation planned for that next week. We asked if we should cancel and they said that since only 1 % of pregnancies are ectopic and only 10% of that 1% were from first pregnancies and my progesterone levels were so high that I only had a 0.00005% of it being ectopic and they were confident that it wasn’t ectopic. I took it easy that week on holiday and we were back in the hospital for a scan the following Monday. The ultrasound took around 20 minutes and I knew something major was wrong. She then confirmed our worst nightmare, that it was Ectopic. After that it was a whirlwind of tests and waiting to speak to doctors (hcg 1800). We were told to come back on Friday for the 4 day bloods. On that Friday my hcg levels had risen to 2651. We went back the following Monday for my 7 day bloods and my levels increased again to 2660, meaning that the treatment hadn’t worked and I needed to return the next day for a 2nd dose of the Methotrexate. I returned 3 days later for another blood test and my levels had finally started dropping (hcg 1662). In the end it took until July 5th before I had a negative result (almost 3 months later).
It’s crazy because I’ve never known anyone who had an Ectopic pregnancy, but I’ve learned a lot through this trial. I always thought that all I had to do was get married and start trying and it would just happen. It wasn’t until I had this experience that I’ve learned about the heartache that so many women have suffered, with infertility and losing babies. My heart is broken, but I am hopeful that I will give birth to a healthy baby in the future.