Is anyone pregnant after an ectopic?

Jennifer Lorenz

Hello. I was trying to find a discussion about pregnancy following an ectopic but had trouble finding one.  Decided to start my own.  I had an ectopic pregnancy in late October and ended up having methotrexate injections and eventually surgery.  Three months later I am now 5 weeks 4 days pregnant.  I feel grateful to be pregnant again so quickly but I am nervous and at times extremely anxious.  I was 7 weeks along when I found out about my ectopic pregnancy and it was devastating.  Although I would never want to go through that again, the experience made me stronger and hopeful that I could get pregnant again.  I grieved a little while recovering from surgery but for the most part I felt at peace and ready to move on.  Now that I'm pregnant, all of the anxious feelings and sleepless nights are back again.  I find myself crying for the baby I lost months ago and scared that this baby will not be viable.  I spent every day last week worrying that the baby was growing outside of my uterus.  In my mind, I figured it would just be a matter of time before I'd find myself in surgery again.  This morning I had my first ultrasound and almost passed out in the waiting room.  I'm sure the elderly woman scanning Reader's Digest across from me could sense the fear I was emitting... The tech called my name and grabbed my husband from the other waiting room.  Within five minutes, the tech was able to locate the yolk sac in my uterus and did some measurements.  She couldn't see anything besides the yolk sac but explained that it was normal considering how early I was.  That was reassuring and I was on top of the moon.  My hGC looks good and my doctor is bringing me back March 12th to check for the heartbeat.  Any symptom of pregnancy that I feel makes me happy... the fatigue, the sore boobs, the peeing and even the gas (sorry).  Even with the happy feelings that come and go, for the most part I am feeling like I'm in purgatory.  Somewhere in between total elation and complete distress.  I haven't told many people about this pregnancy.  My cousin, my best friend and a coworker.  They are very supportive but I still feel like no one can truly understand with how I'm feeling.  Does anyone else out there feel this way with their current pregnancy? Or have felt this way in the past?

KateLouise

I haven't had an ectopic pregnancy, but had a miscarriage last year where I hemorrhaged badly and came reasonably close to dying.

I spent a lot of the earlier weeks of this pregnancy just assuming it would all end, and waiting for the bleeding to start. As times gone on I've gotten more confident, but as we didn't find out until the 12 week scan that the baby had stopped developing between 8-9 weeks, I feel like that could happen again.

I'm also embracing the morning sickness. I had morning sickness last time but not as intense. This time it's pretty horrible.

I guess my point is, I think what you're feeling is completely normal, and that I wish you all the best for a h&h 9mths.

ETA: this last week I've been having difficulty getting to sleep, and waking up in a panic in the middle of the night. I think it's anxiety as we approach the 12 week scan.

Tomkat8403

I had an ectopic last February. I had an emergency surgery because they found tons of blood in my pelvic cavity and thought my left tube had ruptured. But the tube hadn't ruptured and they couldn't find th epregnancy because it was too small. The blood was from a massive blood cyst that ruptured. So they did a D&C to clear out any possibility of a pregnancy.

Three days later, to everyone's surprise, my HcG rose again, and they still couldn't locate the pregnancy on ultrasound. So they gave me two methotrexate injections.

This pregnancy is completely viable and in the right place. But I know exactly what you're feeling. All that fear and anxiety came right back when I got that positive test. This is my third child, and even though I had two healthy pregnancies before, I can't seem to grasp that this one is okay.

Before the ectopic, I truly had no idea how horrible ectopic pregnancies can be. The fear of feeling like you're a ticking time bomb waiting to rupture, the MONTH LONG blood tests every two days, constantly being poked and prodded. It was like I could just never be done with it and grieve. It just kept going on and on and on.

3JTMom

It sounds normal. You are still dealing with the trauma of loosing your first. Give yourself permission to feel and to move through those feelings friend. Congratulations on your pregnancy! - Hugs! - Cookin'Quiltin

jordansinks

I know exactly how you feel. I didn't have an ectopic preg. but I had a complete miscarriage back in Oct. and it took me a while to get over it. I am now 9W2D pregnant and am constantly worrying something is wrong....I want to have all of the pregnancy symptoms so I can be re-assured everything is going OK even though symptoms can come and go.....I have been told I need to seek medical advice for my anxiety and I probably should.....instead I love reading blogs and creating discussions to get my voice out there.....hope all goes well for you this time around...

Jennifer Lorenz

Thank you everyone for the feedback.  It makes me feel better knowing that I have support from people that have had similar experiences.  These discussions are really helping me to stay positive!  It's encouraging to see that no matter how difficult of an experience we have all endured...the fear doesn't stop us from continuing to build a family and be resilient.  Go us

els831

I had a presumed ectopic in November at 7 weeks. My official diagnosis was pregnancy of unknown location because they couldn't find anything on ultrasound but hcg was rising. I had methotrexate over Thanksgiving weekend, followed my hcg down to 0, waited one cycle, then conceived at the end of December. I feel incredibly blessed bc I know how bad the outcomes could have been . Baby is now 10w4d but we got to see baby on ultrasound at 6w3d to make sure it was in uterus. My doctor has been really attentive this time around and its been really helpful!