I’m writing this because I might not be here had I not read one of your stories online.
I had no risk factors for an ectopic pregnancy and all I had was pain on one side that kept coming and going. I had no vaginal bleeding at all. Many of your stories talk about vaginal bleeding but this one story didn’t. That one story could potentially have saved my life.
Having had a miscarriage in November 2023, I was incredibly anxious when I found out I was four weeks pregnant in early May 2024. I was overjoyed but incredibly anxious. I didn’t want it all taken away from me again.
Fast forward two weeks and I was at a play park with my toddler. I started experiencing a strange, stitch-like pain on my right-hand side. It didn’t feel like any pain I’d had before. I sat down for ten minutes, and it eased. I then walked around for about half an hour, and it came back. This time it felt a lot more intense and seemed to be pushing downwards. I felt like I couldn’t walk and had to take slow steps to get back to the car. My partner drove me home. I rang the local emergency department, and they advised that I take pain killers and see if it went away. It did. I thought it was trapped wind, round ligament pain or early pregnancy cramps. This was confirmed by my midwife at my booking appointment the following Wednesday.
Five days later, I got the same pain again. It was the same on one side. It was so intense. Once again, I took some pain relief, got into the bath and it eased. I remember thinking that I didn’t remember this sort of pain in my other two pregnancies but kept replaying what my midwife had said.
The following morning, I was at work. This time the pain felt a lot worse. I felt it all down my back and really pushing down. It wasn’t as one sided as before. I took more pain relief and messaged my midwife. She again told me early pregnancy cramps are completely normal. I messaged again after two hours of being in a lot of pain and she didn’t reply. The pain got so intense that I rang the local team of midwives who advised me to go to the emergency department, so I did. I waited for around two hours and was seen by a nurse practitioner. She said there was nothing they could do without an ultrasound scan and booked me for a scan at the early pregnancy unit for in two days’ time.
On Sunday morning, at 7 weeks and 2 days pregnant, I went for an early scan, and I was told there was no sign of my pregnancy. I was heartbroken. I couldn’t make sense of it at all. They told me it could be one of three things: A very early pregnancy, a miscarriage, or an ectopic pregnancy. I think I knew then but was advised not to read anything. They took a blood test to measure my hormone levels and told me I would have to come back in 48 hours. They said they would ring if my hormone levels were high. I later found out they were 3800.
I went home and I began secretly reading your page, pretending to my partner that I wasn’t reading anything pregnancy related. I trailed through story after story where bleeding was mentioned. One story didn’t mention bleeding and talked about pain where they couldn’t get up off the floor.
That night, I was sitting watching the television and felt the most excruciating pain ever. It was the same pain but intensified. Again, it was down my right side and all down my back. This time, I couldn’t move and had to crawl across the floor. I immediately told my partner to take me to the hospital. I thought back to the story where the lady was crawling across the floor. I was convinced this was an ectopic pregnancy. I went straight to the desk, and I said to the receptionist that I was having an ectopic pregnancy.
I waited in the emergency department from about 8pm until 5am the following morning. I was transferred to gynaecology where the doctor told me that because my pain had eased, I could go home. He did advise me that if I had any more pain I was to go back to the ward. That was all he said, and I was sent home.
The following day, I tried to keep myself busy, but I was terrified the pain would come back. At around 2pm, it did. I went straight to the ward, and they finally admitted me. The pain was more frequent and more intense. I was given stronger painkillers to help me.
I stayed in overnight and the following day, I was told my only option was to have keyhole surgery to eliminate the possibility of it being an ectopic pregnancy. The doctors still sounded very doubtful because I had no risk factors. I was not seen as an emergency case because of this. I waited for five and a half hours before they took me down for surgery.
In this time, I remember feeling really ill. I was so poorly, all I wanted to do was sleep. I also felt like I wanted to go to the toilet but couldn’t. When they started the surgery, my ectopic pregnancy was confirmed, and they realised my Fallopian tube had ruptured already. I had 350ml of blood in my uterus.
Coming out of that surgery, I had no idea what had happened. I didn’t know whether I’d lost the baby. I didn’t know anything. In fact, one of the consultants caught me when I was just waking up in recovery and said, “Everything went well.” I kept asking when I would find out what had happened and was promised someone would come up to see me as soon as I was back on the ward. When my partner said he knew, I asked him not to tell me because I wanted to hear it from a doctor. However, when no doctor came, he ended up having to tell me. This was hard on my partner too. I think it just made me feel like it was nothing to them and yet I’d lost a baby, a Fallopian tube, and could have lost my life.
Had I not kept going back to the hospital, I don’t know whether I would have got to the point I did as quickly as I did. Had I not read the story on your website, I don’t think I would have been convinced I was having an ectopic pregnancy. I wouldn’t have advocated for myself. I kept saying to the doctors if it isn’t an ectopic pregnancy, why would I be getting this pain? I was told it could be many different things relating to my pregnancy. I felt so many times that I was being treated like an overly anxious hypochondriac when, in reality, I was right all along.
Johannah’s message to others: Please remember that you don’t have to have risk factors, and you don’t have to have bleeding. Remember to trust your instincts. I’m heartbroken I’ve lost two babies in completely different ways but I’m so thankful I am here to look after my little boy and that my life was saved because of the story on The EPT website.
Thank you to Johannah for sharing her experience. If you would like to share your experience of ectopic pregnancy, please visit our guide for more information.
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