ectopic pregnancy

I had a period only 16 days after my last one started. I was very worried indeed. There must have been something wrong with my hormones. I went to see the doctor.

She was reassuring and told me that it was probably the stress of ttc messing up my hormones. Nevertheless, she would refer me for blood tests to make sure that everything  is OK. I went for the tests a week later, but have to wait 1 week for the results.

In the meantime, I realised that this "period" has lasted for much much longer than usual, and it was really light (barely filling a tampon). I also noticed that my breasts were really sore and I that I felt bloated. I wondered if I was pregnant and that the bleeding was pregnancy related. I did a test and it was positive. I was excited and apprehensive all at once. What could this mean? Was I pregnant? Was I miscarrying?

I did the test during a bank (public) holiday and had to wait for a few days for the doctors to be open. I saw the same doctor as before. She looked at me as if to say, "and what do you want THIS time?". I told her what happened and she referred me to the Early Pregnancy Unit. I would not be able to go until the next morning. I called my partner then went into work.

There followed a week of blood tests. My hCG levels were too low for them to scan me, and the tests told us that I was having a failing pregnancy. I was still bleeding lightly and I had noticed a tingling sensation on my right side. I had a horrible feeling that I was having an ectopic pregnancy. At my last appointment, the nurse was unhappy, my miscarriage was not resolving itself, I had been bleeding lightly for 14 days. A scan revealed a mass in my right tube, they were 99% sure that it was a tubal pregnancy.

From this scan, things moved very quickly. Within a couple of hours I was having keyhole surgery to remove the pregnancy and my right tube. And so it was, that at the beginning of May 2010, I went from having two fallopian tubes to one.

After the surgery I was told that my chances of conceiving were not greatly reduced. I still had 2 ovaries and it is possible for you to ovulate from the right and have the egg travel down the left tube. This was very good news. I went off on holiday and awaited my period so that we could try again...