Just experienced an ectopic pregnancy
Hi everyone,
I am new to this thread, having just joined a few minutes ago. I wanted to add my experience to help process everything that's happened over the past 3 weeks. I did an at home pregnancy test one week after a missed period but it came back negative. I went to my Doctor who said I was pregnant but that the development wasn't normal and I had to expect a miscarriage. 2 days later the bleeding started and went on for a further 10. Back to the doctor who was worried I may have an ectopic pregnancy. I was admitted to hospital for 3 nights as my bleeding was heavier and I had shocking pain in my lower left side. But I was discharged after thinking something had 'passed' and my hormone level slowly dropping. However 2 days later, after going back to the hospital for another monitoring blood test they told me my hormone level remained the same and I needed to have a d&c, with a possible laparoscopy (or however it's spelled).
The following day was very traumatic, particularly as I had to have my uterus widened with a suppository beforehand and wait 3 hours before the procedure could happen. My husband wasn't able to wait with me which was also distressing. After I woke up the Doctors told me they had done the d&c and during this accidentally punctured the top of my uterus, as well as undergoing the lap and having found a 'big' fetus in my left tube. I was really lucky that my tube stayed in however the Doctors cannot tell me why it happened in the first place or how functional it will be in the future. They looked in my right tube as well and said it looked perfect which was a relief.
I have been home for 2 days now and go between floods of tears at the drop of a hat, sleeping often in the day and continuing to experience pain. I'm on ibuprofen as I have a strange reaction to panadol.
I'd like to mention that I am living in Germany so am not sure if people's experiences are different with the medical system and their treatment. Though I have to say that the Doctors here did a great job. They just aren't hearts and flowers kind of people. My husband and I had only been trying a short time to get pregnant and are upset about our loss. I think the shock of having the surgery effected me a lot more than what I'd thought. If I only had to have a d&c I feel like I would have been OK. We have no children and I feel really nervous about trying again. We were told to wait a minimum of 3 months before ttc again, so that the lining builds up again. The Doctors were all really positive about us conceiving correctly in the future but still.
I got in touch with a psychologist while I was in hospital and received information about contacts in the community. Even though my German is rather good I feel more comfortable discussing this in English. It's really helped reading all your posts and hearing your experiences.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks