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I suffered an ectopic pregnancy in December 2000. I had longed to become pregnant for a
several years following an abortion at the age of twenty three which I subsequently regretted.
Finally, at aged 28, I discovered I was pregnant. My period was about three weeks late but I
honestly didn't take too much notice as my periods had been fairly irregular in the recent months
preceding this. Under my doctor's advice, however, I did a home pregnancy test and was
absolutely overjoyed to see a positive pink dot appear on the test stick. My boyfriend was away
working at the time but I telephoned him and also my mum. Both were over the moon with the
news. I think its extremely important for women to be aware of the signs of this condition, as
they are not always, as in my case, the classic text book symptoms. Yes ectopic pregnancyis
associated with extreme debilitating pain but this is not always the first symptom. Similarly, the
bleeding which occurs (sometimes) with this condition may be sporadic and brown in colour.
Feeling faint is another indication, and this of course could be overlooked as merely a symptom
of pregnancy itself, especially in a first time pregnancy when a woman is unsure if what she is
experiencing is normal.Four days after I realised I was pregnant, I had an appointment with my
homeopath. Afterwards I waited at the bus stop for a good hour to get home and it was at this
point that I started to feel slightly unwell. I cannot say specifically what it was, but basically, I felt
cold and sick, as if coming down with a chill. Upon arriving home, I sat on the toilet and felt a
slight crampy feeling in my cervix similar to mild period pain. When I wiped myself, there was
bright red blood on the paper. It was not a lot of blood and it was watery rather that clots.
Obviously, I was extremely upset and worried. It being a Sunday, I phoned my local A&E
department and spoke to a doctor who told me that if the bleeding wasn't excessive, I needn't
necessarily panic as occasional bleeding in early pregnancy wasn't uncommon. She told me to
come in if it became heavier or if I started to experience any pain. The bleeding, to my relief,
subsided and became brown in colour and more like very light spotting. The next day, I went to
see my local GP who again, did not seem overly concerned as in all fairness, I had no other
symptoms other than this very light bleeding. Yes, looking back , I was feeling slightly unwell but
as I said before, I put this down to general pregnancy symptoms. To put my mind at rest, my GP
said he would book me in for an early pregnancy scan at the hospital.
Three days later, the bleeding was still occurring but still very light occasional brown spotting
and as I got ready to leave for the check-up, I honestly thought there was nothing to worry
about, although I do remember looking particularly pale that morning. My mum came to the
hospital with me and we sat in the waiting room feeling quite relaxed, even laughing and joking
together thinking everything would be fine. When I was called into the examination room, the
nurse performed an internal assessment which involved a probe being inserted into my vagina. I
remember feeling quite tender around my abdominal area as she did this. It seemed to take a
while and she was looking intently at the monitor as she moved the probe around. After five
minutes or so, she said that the examination was over, that I could get dressed and that the
consultant would explain the findings to me. It might sound naive, but even at this point I was
not particularly worried as the nurse had a very relaxed disposition and I didn't think there was a
problem. Ten minutes later, I was called in to see the consultant and told that although the
examination had detected a strong heartbeat, the embryo was in fact stuck in my left fallopian
tube and I would need to undergo emergency surgery to remove it. At this point my whole world
crumbled. I had heard of ectopic pregnancies but didn't realise the full implications. All I could
ask was "Is there anything you can do to save the baby?" I was told that unfortunately the
priority was to save my life not that of the fetus. Only then did it hit me that this is in fact a very
dangerous condition.I was taken immediately to a ward, given a bed and told to put a gown on.
Even as I write this, I am unexpectedly crying as it has brought the traumatic memory flooding
back. More than anything, it was such a shock. I was approximately eight weeks pregnant.
Despite, the urgency of my admittance to the ward, I waited 12 hours to go down to theater. It
was midnight by the time they wheeled me down. By this point, I had started to experience
symptoms more typical of an ectopic pregnancy. My abdominal area was starting to feel crampy
and I was very faint. Initially I put this down to the fact that I hadn't been allowed to eat or drink
all day prior to surgery and obviously I was still in shock.
One thing I will always remember is the kindness ofthe theatre staff. Because I had had such a
long wait prior to the operation, I was extremely nervous and it wasn't clear if my fallopian tube
had ruptured or if they would be able to save it. My main concern was as to what had caused
this to happen. I had heard of infections such as chlamydia causing fallopian tubes to become
blocked and I was terrified that both my tubes might be affected. One man in particular, I think it
was the anesthetist, held my hand and told me that his wife had had an ectopic pregnancy and
had gone on to have five children! This gave me great comfort and courage and was the last
thing I remember hearing before the operation. Upon waking, I was in a lot of discomfort. I
literally felt like I had been cut in half and sown back together. The surgery performed is the
same as that of a Cesarean section where four layers of muscle are cut through. I hadn't
realised that the cut across would be so long (about four inches) and yes, they had needed to
remove part of my fallopian tube as it had in fact ruptured. The good news, however, is that after
some investigation, they'd discovered that my other tube appeared to be fine so I would still be
able to conceive. I stayed in hospital for 5 days following the surgery. Its amazing how we take
our stomach muscles for granted. Everything was agony, even coughing. I was on morphine for
two days but after that, I was only allowed paracetamol. I have total respect for women who
undergo Cesarean section deliveries as this really is debilitating surgery and the thought of
having to nurse a newborn baby in that amount of pain is hard to imagine. But then saying that,
the emotional high a mother experiences after the birth of her baby most probably over-rides
any physical pain.

I am happy to say that five months after this experience, i discovered I was pregnant again and
on 21st February 2002 (after a really easy 4 hour labour!) I gave birth to a beautiful little boy,
Tayo. He is now five years old and is of course the most wonderful thing in my life. It was only
whilst attending a routine check up shortly after his birth that I was accidently given my hospital
notes to hold in the waiting room. Being the inquisitive type that I am, I read the details of my
ectopic surgery and discovered that a fairly routine proceedure which should have taken no
more than 25 minutes actually took an hour and a half because they had problems stopping the
internal bleeding. In my notes it said that there was 1.5 pints of

blood in my abdomen. No doubt had I not had such a long wait before being operated on this
wouldn't have been so severe. However, I am fully aware of the problems faced by the NHS on
a daily basis and to this day have nothing but sincere gratitude for the care I received in
hospital. After all, women are still dying from this condition in certain parts of the world. I would
just like to stress that although Ectopic pregnancies are rare, do be aware of any early possible
symptoms and get them checked out as soon as you can. Also, if you are unfortunate enough to
experience this condition, do not despair and think that you will never conceive again because
there are options available to you even if you have to lose both your tubes. One doctor actually
told me of a theory that when there is only one fallopian tube, the other one goes into overdrive
and your chances of conception become higher! (I would not take this as Gospel but he was a
doctor!)Lastly, give yourself time to grieve. You have, after all, just lost your baby, and as with
miscarriage, this has a huge (and often overlooked) impact on a woman's emotional health.
With surgical ectopic procedures, the woman has to cope not only with a devastating emotional
loss, but also the immense physical discomfort following surgery. I actually had a few sessions
of counselling following my experience as I became quite depressed and blamed myself for
what had happened. Following the operation, one particularly insensitive doctor told me very
bluntly that my fallopian tube had most probably become infected after my earlier termination
years before and this was quite likely the cause of the blockage. In all fairness, he didn't realise
that I already had guilt issues surrounding this, but to this day I think he could have applied
more tact in his deliverance. The counselling helped a great deal, however, and on my third
session I arrived beaming and glowing with the news that I was again pregnant!Y