Hi my name is Kianna. I’m 26 and I live in California, USA.
I’ve unfortunately had two miscarriages in the last year (Dec 2021 and April 2022).
I found out I was pregnant again in the ER November 15th, 2022. I was having sharp abdominal pain on my lower right side. Nothing was found on my ultrasound. But blood work showed my HCG (pregnacy hormones) was at 560. We were shocked but happy we were pregnant again! Then they said it’s possible I could have an ectopic pregnacy since they couldn’t find the embryo. The pain slowly decreased and they released me telling me to follow up with my OB/GYN.
OB rechecked my HCG that week and found it went up slowly. I asked him about the chances of an ectopic pregnancy, he said I was a very low risk since I didn’t have any of the risk factors.
I was having some vaginal spotting so they put me on bedrest as another week went by. By then my HCG went up to 700 something. But it wasn’t doubling like they would’ve like to see in a normal pregnancy. I had been having backache and bloating (not unusual for a pregnancy). But the whole time I was having a tightness in my abdominal muscles like a “charlie horse”. My abdomen was feeling very tight like my muscles were being stretched out from the inside.
On November 28th I was told my HCG dropped over 100 points. The OB called me and told me I was miscarrying. We were absolutely devastated, losing another baby. My OB said it wasn’t necessary for me to have another ultrasound. He instructed me to wait 2 weeks and do a home pregnancy test. He expects it to be negative. On December 3rd the brownish spotting changed to bleeding bright red (to be expected with a miscarriage), but notably I had very few clots. I also never had any cramping or contractions like my previous miscarriages.
Two weeks later, on December 12th, it’s still positive! So I called the OB office, had my HCG rechecked, it was at 420. Going down, but very slowly…
At this point, that stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen was coming back. It would come and go. Come and go. I was also starting to get a pain in my right shoulder that radiated up my neck. I thought it was from stress. But over a few days it was getting worse. I found the shoulder pain was worse when my bladder was full. Very odd. I was also feeling a pressure in my rectum, a lot like hemorrhoids. And when I emptied my bladder for a brief moment I would feel pain. (Later I found out a lot of this was from bleeding internally).
My gut feeling was telling me something was wrong. I explained to my doctor how these symptoms were VERY different from my first two miscarriages. He decided I should get another ultrasound done within the next week to make sure everything including my ovaries looked okay.
It took me 3 days to get an ultrasound appt. And when I finally got the appt, it wasn’t until next week!!! I couldn’t wait that long. So I called the OB office & they found me a same day appt an hour drive away. I didn’t care, I knew something was wrong and I needed to be seen.
I drove the hour to the appt. After it was done the ultrasound tech told me, “let me check with the radiologist to make sure it is safe for you to go”.
I knew she saw something concerning as they’ve never told me that before (and I’ve had a bunch of ultrasounds done in the past). The radiologist said they found a 7.6cm mass near my right ovary (the size of an apple
).
Again, 1 month prior in the ER they saw nothing on the ultrasound! To the radiologist it looked like it could be an ectopic pregnancy. Fortunately he knew my OB and had his cell phone number. He said my OB wanted to see me immediately.
At the office, the OB said he still didn’t think it could be an ectopic pregnancy because my HCG (pregnancy hormones) were too low to have a growth that size. He thought it was more likely I had an ovarian cyst or a large blood clot unrelated to the pregnancy. He gave me the option of waiting it out or to have an investigative laproscopic surgery.
Trusting my gut, I chose to have the surgery. The doctor was able to schedule my surgery for 3 hours later, I went straight to the hospital to get checked in.
It was the scariest thing having an unplanned surgery. But it was a good thing we did, because that 7.6cm mass was fetal tissue and there was a lot of blood in my abdomen from the fallopian tube rupturing. I was really lucky.
Right now my body is healing. I’m learning to maneuver in a body that’s not at it’s normal capabilties and that’s hard.
I’m still in shock. I’m still processing everything that happened the day of the surgery and the last 3 months leading up to it. I’m hoping to connect with others who can relate.
My IG: @remembering.riley