Tracy's Story
Mccall192
It was June 19, 2000, our 7th wedding anniversary, and I got my period right on schedule. I had begun educating myself about my body and how it works when I wanted to become pregnant the first time. I had bought a wonderful book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, which explained the fertility awareness method. It worked like a charm, and Mckenzie Leigh was born 9/17/00. Now, my husband Mark and I were ready for number two. I knew my cycle so well by this point, that I felt I could get pregnant without all the charting I had done with the first. I was right! I was, in fact, so sure that I was pregnant that I started taking pregnancy tests even before my next period was to begin. Needless to say, the first few were false, but on July 22 it was positive. I told my daughter (now 22 months) that she was going to be a big sister, and my husband and I were thrilled! We told our families, who were also elated at the news.

On Tuesday, July 25th, I started spotting. Very light..."implantation," I thought. But it went on. I had decided to not tell anyone at work that I was pregnant until I had my first OB appt., which was not until August 3. By Friday, I called the OB office, and OF COURSE, I was told that the bleeding was most likely caused by implantation. But I knew something wasn't right. My family was sure everything was okay. "You bled with Mckenzie," they would say. True, in fact, I was told by an ER doctor that I was miscarrying her at 10 weeks. How wrong he was! "This is just different," I would say.

By the following Tuesday, I was bleeding heavily enough that my OB office gave me the go ahead to go the ER. My husband took me. I had not had ANY pain. By the time all the bloodwork and u/s were done it was late, and my OB (whom I had not yet met, but had carefully chosen) wanted me admitted. It seems that the radiologist "found no IUP, and couldn't rule out ectopic pregnancy." We were so sad. Either way, we had lost or were loosing our baby.

I met my OB the next morning. She examined me and told me that, in her opinion, I was having a normal miscarriage. You see, apparently if I had an ectopic pregnancy I would be "jumping off the table in pain" when she examined me...and I wasn't. She did give me the option of a laporoscopy (which I had never heard of before this), but why on earth would I OPT for it if she didn't seem to think it was necessary? This choice that she gave me could have proven fatal...read on.  I was released that morning.

As my luck would have it, my OB was on vacation for the next month! But she had ordered quantative HCG bloodwork and a follow up with another OB. My HCG levels had dropped...a good sign. But I wondered how long the bleeding would persist. I asked the "other" OB when he saw me on August 24-remember, I had started spotting on July 25! He examined me-still no pain. But he wanted me to have another quantative HCG workup and call to schedule an u/s. I assumed that I'd be called if my bloodwork was abnormal. You know what they say about assuming!

The u/s lab was booked until September 13th, so I called the OB office to have them schedule it for me, and they said they'd call, but never did. In the mean time, my husbands grandmother's health took a turn for the worse, and she passed away. I was too busy to think about calling the doctor. After all, I was not in pain (but still bleeding.) On September 6, I was at the mall with my Mom and was feeling what I described to myself as "ovulation" pain-one-sided and achy.  I did not tell my Mom, but decided that I would call my OB (now back from vacation) the next morning. They were able to schedule me an u/s for September 8th. Hurray! Easy! I'd been there, done that!

While laying on the table having a vaginal u/s, the tech. says, "I don't want to alarm you, but I think you should go immediately to your doctor's office. Oops! They're closed for lunch. Well, go have lunch and be at her office at 2:00." So I did just that. I had lunch at my mom's with my daughter. Did I forget to mention that I broke into tears in my car?

1:45 P.M....for the first time in my life I am early. I wait for approx. 30 minutes before the receptionist calls me over with a message from my OB-"She stops seeing patients at 12:15 on Fridays, but she wants you to go straight to the ER, and she'll meet you there." "Should I call my husband?" I ask. "I don't know." She says, and I'm out the door.

Now I'm getting really nervous...am I okay? Do I have cancer? Am I gonna live? What the hell is wrong with me? I check into the ER. What a joke! "What are we seeing you for today?" "Um...I don't know." I waited about an hour and a half before being seen. In the meantime, my Mom and husband are on alert. I say I'll call "when I know what's going on." Thankfully, my Mom doesn't wait (my poor husband is at work), and comes down just after I've been told that I'll be having a d&c, possible laporoscopy, possible laporotomy. The u/s revealed lots of fluid and a "mass." STILL, no pain, even when examined. Even though I had eaten lunch just 3-4 hours before, I was taken back and prepped for surgery. I can't say that I really understood what I was about to undergo, but I knew it was serious. My husband, daughter, dad, and sister made it just in time to tell me they loved me.

I could've left it at that, because, as they say: Ignorance really is bliss. But here I sit, eight staples in my belly, trying to grasp what happened to me six days ago. I had been bleeding for a month and a half from a "miscarriage" and had several HCG tests. Something just doesn't seem right to me...shouldn't this have been caught sooner? Like before my baby had a chance to develop arms and legs and have a heart beat, and look like a baby? This was my only solace after I had learned of my "miscarriage." Now...I have no solace.  Why did I have a D&C?

There are a multitude of questions; I'll ask my OB (soon to be EX-OB) at my appointment on Monday. I hope she has answers for me...I hope this wasn't really the big screw up that it seems to be...

THE BOTTOM LINE of my story (yes, I'm finally getting to it!) is this: I had an ectopic pregnancy WITHOUT PAIN, and it could have killed me. I didn't have the "classic symptoms." Now, if given the "option" for some medical treatment, I'll take it. (The "optional" lap. on August 1 would have revealed my ectopic.) You just never know...your doctor could be wrong.