Candice's Story
oliveoil35@home.com
In December 1998, I found out that I was pregnant for the third time. I was so excited-a big family is my dream. The next day, I started spotting.  I called the doctor and he told me to come in and get the levels of my HCG, so I did.  While I was there they did a quick ultrasound just to make sure the pregnancy wasn't tubal. Well, they couldn't see anything in my uterus but told me not to worry because I was only about five weeks pregnant and it was too early to see anything in most cases.

On New Year's Eve, I was getting ready for a party when I started feeling hot and cold flashes.  I felt as if I were going to faint, so I lay on the bathroom floor until I got my strength to go to my bed. I had my husband call the doctor on call and they asked my husband if by any chance did we have any reason to believe that the pregnancy was tubal. We answered, "No. Of course not."  Why would we?  All my hcg levels kept coming back normal, so the doctor said I was probably having a miscarriage and if I went to the hospital I would just sit around and wait for it to happen and to just stay in the comfort of my own bed and call my OB on Monday. Little did I know that my fallopian tube ruptured that was the pain I was feeling.

Two weeks go by and I'm still spotting and sometimes passing blood clots the size of my fist. Well I can't take it any more (for God sake I'm going into my 10th week of pregnancy).  I call my doctor and demand an ultrasound, so he sets one up for the next morning. The next morning, I wake up and as I'm getting into the shower I remember looking in the mirror thinking "Gees, I look dead." I make it through the shower get dressed.  I passed out on my kitchen floor, and came to with about four paramedics calling my name, asking me questions.  My husband told them I was pregnant and they immediately said it was ectopic.  They informed my husband that I had almost no pulse and had maybe 20 minutes to live.

I was taken to the hospital and had surgery. My left tube ruptured and I had been bleeding to death for almost two weeks. I lost more than half of the blood in my body-I needed a blood transfusion. I was told I could never have another baby again.  My dream was shattered. I changed doctors and my new doctor said that he didn't see any problem with me conceiving again, but that it might take me a little longer than someone with two tubes.

I got pregnant three months later and now have a one-year old daughter.  I'm now trying for my 4th child and I'm still scared to death of another ectopic.  I just have to pray that everything will be okay.  I've never gotten over my ectopic and never will.  I think about it all the time, but thankfully I found this website and now I feel like someone else knows the empty feeling I feel everyday. I had a happier ending than some of the stories you've read and I pray that you will have a happy ending, too.

UPDATE 1/2001:

Its been three years since my 1st ectopic pregnancy, this is just a little update. I just had another one November 30, 2000-again on the left side, even though there wasn't a tube there, the resident that did the emergency surgery left quite a bit of tube which was still working normally. So instead of having only 15% chance of having an ectopic like it should be, I was having a 50% chance every time. I do have three kids and I will keep trying for the 4th but I am just heartbroken again.  I had two kids with no problems, then an ectopic, then my daughter, then a miscarriage in September, then another ectopic in November!  I would rather have miscarried-at least then you lose your baby which is hard enough. With us ectopic women we lose our baby and 1/2 of our fertility! It just is so unfair and I will never see the reason for me having these nightmares. Thank you for this site.  I really need it.