In July 2022 my husband and I were delighted to find out that we were pregnant for the first time. We were incredibly excited, dreaming of what could be; booking scans, filling in pregnancy journals and preparing for our lives to change in the most magical way.
Sadly just one week after finding out that I was pregnant I experienced a huge bleed at home and called my midwife as I thought I’d miscarried. At A&E (accident and emergency) I was told that I was still pregnant and was booked in for a scan the following day. Sadly, they couldn’t see anything on my scan and it was treated as a ‘pregnancy of an unknown location’ for a further agonizing week, until the consultant decided as there still was no sign of a pregnancy on the scan, yet my hCG (hormone produced in pregnancy) levels were rising rapidly, an indication that something was wrong.
My heart sank. I still didn’t know until after surgery what had happened. I had to sign forms with six eventualities of what they might find. Sadly, I had an 8-9 week ectopic pregnancy growing in my left Fallopian tube which had ruptured. The surgeon said they’d caught it ‘just in time’ before I started to lose more blood which they also found in my abdomen.
We lost so much that day. Hope in my body, hope I would ever recover and hope in the healthcare system, that they didn’t spot the signs earlier. 1 year on, the future is brighter, and despite never forgetting the baby we lost, we’re ready to share our story and find hope for a rainbow baby 🌈
Sophie's Poem - What We Lost
Thank you to Sophie for sharing her experience and poem. If you would like to share your experience of ectopic pregnancy, please visit our guide for more information. Please remember our support services are available at any time.