When I had my ectopic pregnancy, it was so hard to find a story with a positive ending to help me through it. I told myself that I would share my experience if I got to have a happy ending.
We have a two-year-old son and wanted to try for another baby. I fell pregnant straight away and we were over the moon. We waited a few weeks and then brought our son a top that read “Big Brother 2024”, put it on him and surprised the whole family.
We then went for an early scan before our 12-week scan, as we had done with our son for reassurance. We took our son with us as we were excited for him to meet his little brother or sister. However, that’s when our life shattered for the first time.
We were told we had, had a missed miscarriage; there was no heartbeat. We were all in pieces. What followed was a few weeks of hospital appointments and it was a heartbreaking time for us.
I was told I was perfectly healthy, and that this happens to 1 in 4 people, was very common, and that I would go on to have a successful pregnancy.
When we felt ready and my body had healed, we tried again. I did a pregnancy test – it was negative. We were disappointed. I then started to feel extremely unwell, like I had never felt before. I felt completely exhausted, was bleeding, I then felt what I can only describe as an explosion inside of me and had pain in my shoulders. I wasn’t planning on going to go to the doctors, but thought I best get checked. When I got to the doctors and explained how I felt and that we were trying for a baby again. Luckily the doctor made me do another pregnancy test despite me assuring her that I had done a lot, and they were all negative. The test the doctor took was a very faint positive.
From there I had a mix of emotions. Wow I’m pregnant, but what is this feeling, this pain and why am I bleeding? We were praying for a miracle.
The doctor told me to go to the hospital to get checked and rang the early pregnancy unit for me. When I went to the hospital, they did a scan and couldn’t see the pregnancy in my womb, I was crying. We were in pain again. Why me, why us? She thought we had lost our baby again. Then she checked my ovaries and my Fallopian tubes and found an ectopic pregnancy in my left Fallopian tube with internal bleeding.
Our entire worlds shattered; my heart could not take this pain. I was then prepped for emergency surgery. The pain mentally and physically after surgery was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. The surgeons were very good and managed to save my left Fallopian tube.
After recovering from my ectopic pregnancy, I was petrified it would happen again, particularly as I was told that I would now be at higher risk for another ectopic pregnancy. I didn’t want to ever try again for another baby as I didn’t want to put my life at risk again and leave my family.
Then one day I just had a feeling, I just really really wanted to grow our family. I had so much more love to give, so we tried one last time and I fell pregnant again.
I went on to experience pain in my stomach again as well as shoulder tip pain. I panicked and went to hospital. They kept me in for three nights as it was another suspected ectopic pregnancy. I had a small internal bleed, and my left Fallopian tube was bulky on the scan. They kept me in until they could see the baby.
By day four they could see the yolk sac and baby IN MY WOMB! We cried with happiness. The internal bleeding was from a cyst that had ruptured, and the baby was growing in the right place in my womb. I was so happy. I just felt my whole world come together again and the darkness lifted off my shoulders.
I now have another son who at the time of writing this is six weeks old. And I am the happiest I have ever been. I’m so glad we tried again – all the pain and suffering from the past is still always there and will always be our story. But giving our son his sibling and having our miracle baby after everything I have been through has really made me appreciate life so much. Sometimes bad things happen to you in life for no reason whatsoever and time does heal.
Thank you to Carla for sharing her experience with us. If you would like to share your experience of ectopic pregnancy, please visit our guide for more information.
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