I had an Ectopic Pregnancy

I’m sure that many of you have wondered where I have been the past few days.  It’s been over a week since I posted anything. 

I have been having some pains during this pregnancy but although I have noted them, I haven’t been too terribly worried about them.  I had a lot of these same pains when I was pregnant with James.  But when I started to bleed some on Saturday I did start to worry. 

It wasn’t heavy bleeding and all of the sites and books that I read led me to believe that spotting was normal, and there was probably nothing wrong.  In fact, I had a full period with James, so again, things weren’t much different with this pregnancy than they were with James. 

The part that was different was the constant dull pain on my right side.  At times, it was sharp and unbelieveable, but when it wasn’t terrible, it was just nagging.  But it was always there.  It never really went away.  I’d say that on a scale of 1-10, it was a constant 3 or 4, but when it was sharp, it was as bad as 8-10.  It wouldn’t be sharp for long periods of time, just about 15 minutes every few hours.  I just thought that they were implantation pains, or maybe contstipation pains. 

I called the doctor on Sunday morning when I was still spotting and was told to take it easy that day.  If I was still bleeding on Monday then I should probably call the doctor back to see if they wanted me to come in for a visit.  Or if I felt the need I could always go to the emergency room to have it checked out.  On Monday morning I woke up around 4:30 and was so uncomfortable I immediately decided that I was not going to work and that I was going to go to the doctor to have it checked out. 

I finally got to see the doctor around 10 am and at that point I was extremely scared.  I still wasn’t in a whole lot of pain, and wasn’t bleeding as much as before, but my motherly instincts were kicking in.  I was given a urine test and blood test to determine my HCG levels.  Next the doctor gave me a pelvic exam to see if the baby was in my uterus.  He immediately ordered an ultrasound and even I could tell that there was no baby in my uterus. 

Unfortunately both Jim and I thought that I was just having some pain and that everything was fine.  That’s why we made the decision that he’d go to work and I would be fine at the doctor without him.  I called him from the ultrasound table and he walked out of his meeting and drove straight to the doctor to be with me. 

Between the doctors pelvic exam and the ultrasound, I was now in extreme pain.  I was vomiting, and cramping so bad that I could barely walk.  Dr. Harvin called the on call doctor at Kennestone and explained that I was coming to have my ectopic pregnancy removed.  He didn’t have to explain to me what was going on, it was all stuff that I had read about. 

In the end I went into surgery around 6:45 and unfortunately he had to remove my right fallopian tube completely. 

You’ll need to reference the first picture with the captions from the second.  I couldn’t figure out how to make them the same size and put the arrows and words in there, but you get the idea. 

He tried to save my fallopian tube, but it was so bad off that it would have done more damage should I try to get pregnant again, and chances were high that I could have another ectopic with that side.  Even as it is, I am at a greater risk of having another ectopic if/when I get pregnant again.  I am at a 10-15% greater risk for having another one now that I have had the first. 

I still have one good tube, and two good ovaries, so hopefully getting pregnant again won’t be difficult, but if I end up having another ectopic I still have the opportunity to do in verto fertilization. 

I am home recovering now.  I am out of work until at least Tuesday.  I have a follow up appointment on Monday and Dr. Bardwell will determine when I can go back to work, and if I can still make my trip to San Franscico next week. 

Please keep us in your prayers.  I am doing OK, but am still in a lot of post surgery pain.  I am resting and promise to let you know how things go over the next few days.