Hi, I just want to share my experience with you about my ovarian ectopic pregnancy.
On Monday 17th July I found out I was pregnant. I had missed a period and had previously done a test but it was negative, I carried on but I just wasn’t feeling well and keep having lower abdominal pain. I was coming up to having my second miss period and still in pain so I decided to see my doctor. From the beginning I saw 2 of my local GP’s, the first refused to do a pregnancy test and then just told me to come back in 6 months if I still hadn’t had a period and still had pain. A week later I did another pregnancy test at home and a line came it up but it was so faint, I just didn’t know. I bough a second test, a digital one and that just didn’t work. So I decided to go back to my GP. The second doctor was more dismissive and said it wasn’t up to them to tell me if I was pregnant and not up to them to confirm it, just to take a home pregnancy test. I was told by my GP that they don’t do pregnancy tests anymore. She then asked me if I wanted to keep the baby or not. The baby?! She wouldn’t even confirm if I was pregnant. I should also say I am 31, I have a loving finance and I was currently at that point on the pill. So to be pregnant was a shock. No pregnancy advice was given, no health advice and I was just sent away saying if I wanted to keep it make an appointment with a midwife or here is a number Marie’s stopes if not.
I rang the midwife at my GPs and it was a six week wait for an appointment, she then advised me to see Marie Stopes in the meantime to get a dating scan as they can see you quicker. That weekend I was even more pain I went saw an out of hours GP who was the first to spot that it might be ectopic. I was referred immediately to the EPU, they told that the pregnancy was ectopic and they would be keeping me in for the weekend to monitor how it develops. After vaginal scan and blood tests said it was developing normally, about 8-9 weeks and to go home and relax.
Then I began spotting, light pink blood and over the next few days it got heavier. Nearly a week later I went back and was told that I had miscarried. I was really sad, it had all happened so fast and I never planned to be pregnant but I still felt terrible. But even after two weeks I was still bleeding very heavy and was still in severe pain on my right side, I went back to the EPU think that maybe it hadn’t passes all by it self and I might just need some help. That was when they told me I was still pregnant and it was in a 6.5cm sac attached to my ovary. My abdomen was full of blood and at this point I could bleed to death internally.
I was in so much shock, for a moment I was relieve I was still pregnant. I stupidly asked the doctor if they were going to just move it down into my uterus. That’s when they told me unfortunately I couldn’t keep it and it what was bleeding inside of me and could kill me. To find out I was still pregnant but it could kill me and that I couldn’t keep it was the single most shocking thing I’ve ever been through and then they said that it would need surgery and it would mean taking the ovary also. Just too much. I didn’t want to lose my ovary, as during the last scan they also found a 4.5cm cyst on my right ovary. Where had that come from? They said they sa it last time but it was only 2cm so they didn’t mention it. I couldn’t believe it I was overwhelmed, I couldn’t even think. I just though at that point with something wrong with both ovaries I would never have a baby. I was devastated. How could this happen? How could it go wrong? What did i do wrong?
I explained this to the consultant and that I’d never had any children and I didn’t want them to take my ovary, was there any other options. initially they were not happy, they explained that the HGC level were low which is good but the size of the sac was very dangerous and surgery would be the safest option for me. They did however agree to hold off and monitor me for the weekend and take my HCG levels and check the size. On the Friday they were 265 and dropped to 235 on the Sunday. They kept me in as they said I was high risk of rupturing. On the Monday after a chat they came back and said that although its over 6cm in size, but the HCG levels were dropping they decided to let me have a different treatment, Methotrexate. But if this didn’t work or ruptured I would have to have the surgery. I had this 2 and half weeks ago and it is most awful pain. A week later the levels went up to 336 but have since come down to 215, and now my last blood test was at 20.3. I have been bleeding for 2 months solid, I have pain in my hipbone and my right side abdomen, and I’m just exhausted. We still don’t know what damage has been done to the ovary and we haven’t even thought about the cyst on the other yet, I’m waiting for a referral. I just hope that it will be okay so I get another chance to have a baby. Just getting answers or knowing where my fertility is feels so far away.
The hardest part for my fiancé and I was that with this pregnancy we have been through every permutation of pregnancy. Since before I knew I was pregnant I have been in pain. It took till nearly 10 weeks and I’ve had to have 5 vaginal scans to get a diagnosis and to get treatment. I felt like nobody would help me and that I was an inconvenience and I was told because an ovarian ectopic is so rare they don’t immediately look for it. I wasn’t given any information and everything we have found out was my partner extensively searching the Internet, which isn’t always the most reliable. This is the only place I’ve found and reading more about it just shocks me. I just wanted to share my experience, as before this I knew nothing about ectopic pregnancies and just how difficult and dangerous this could be. Im sorry for the ramble and if Ive missed anything, this is the first time Ive wrote anything about it and its really hard to do so I really appreciate reading all of your stories and experiences you’ve already shared. Its made me feel less alone and less like a crazy person, I know just how hard it is to put down and to share this with other people but its been a support so thank you.