New here- wanted to share my story. Still confused

carebear509 · March 2011

Hi! I wanted to share my story with you as I still feel very confused and I'm hoping to get some confirmation or any advice that you ladies can give me.

The second week in January, my husband and I found out we were pregnant, and two weeks later I started having dark brown spotting with very slight cramping. Some of my friends told me that this might be normal, but with it being my first pregnancy I didn't want to take any chances. We went to the ER {military hospital} that night where we were informed that I was measuring low on my HCG levels and they wanted to do some ultrasounds. [I apologize if I go into TMI here] As we were getting the ultrasound done, as well as a vaginal ultrasound, the tech was not able to give out any information though I could see something on the screen. About an hour later the dr came back and said that he had someone take a glance at the ultrasounds and a sac could be seen inside the uterus and was not concerned that it could be an ectopic pregnancy. However, he did have me leave with a packet of information on miscarriages and told me that I'll need to go in again in two days for more blood work to check my levels.

I went back two days later and my levels had dropped again and Women's Health scheduled me an appointment that Friday for another quant level and to be seen by the doctor. When I had gone in my levels had dropped again (In the span of 5 days they had gone from about 800 to about 620). The dr did another vaginal ultrasound and could see a sac in my uterus. She explained that she believes it is an ectopic pregnancy as my levels were decreasing and though there was a sac (she said it wasn't a perfect shape), there was no yok sack or fetal pole and at 6w5d, she said she should be able to see something, however the numbers are to low to do so. She continued to explain that this was a classic case of an ectopic pregnancy but she wasn't sure. She said that she wanted to give me the Methotrexate shot. She explained that she wouldn't be able to see anything in the tubes as my numbers were to low and that not all women are able to.

My husband and I went back on Monday for one more quant level and the numbers had dropped again and we decided that we would go through with the shot. We asked many questions before they gave us this shot, such as if she was positive this was an ectopic pregnancy (no, she wasn't) or maybe I already miscarried (a few days before going back in on Friday, I passed a small blood clot, but I didn't think anything of it at the time) and she said that it could have been a possibility.

After the shot, I had no bleeding at all. The only problem I had was being very sore in the location of shot and it was hard to walk. My numbers dropped fast and by day 14, I was at an HCG level of 1.

On 14Feb, I began bleeding and the doctor said that if it's around the time I would get AF (which is was) then it is most likely my period. I believe that it was as it lasted the usual amount of days, light bleeding, minimal cramping.

However, last week, I began to bleed again, very heavily and (tmi) soaked through a pair of pants and passed 7 huge [fist size] blood clots in about 40minutes. The doctors had no real explanation for and told me that it's my body regulating itself to get back on schedule and that I'll probably be experiencing irregular periods until I can get back on schedule.

I've tried my best to stay away from the internet, but that failed. I haven't been able to find anything online about having an empty gestational sac in the uterus while having an ectopic pregnancy. I'm hoping that some of you ladies can help ease my mind. They want me to go in for an HSG test next month to check my tubes, and I'm getting very anxious, worried, and my thoughts are not staying on the positive side. My best friend just told me she wants to start trying and my mind is going crazy. Any advice, thoughts, etc? Anything will help. TIA

p.s sorry for the length.

shootingstar0724 · March 2011

Were you being seen by military doctors this whole time? This seems all very confusing and NOT ectopic. I thought ectopic meant it was in your tubes, so if they could see a sac in ur uterus how can it be ectopic? It seems to me you had a blighted ovum which is not an ectopic pregnancy. Look it up. Basically an empty sac in your uterus with no baby having formed. Maybe I am just misinformed on ectopic, but I just went thru a blighted ovum.

However, I have not had good experiences with the accuracy of military doctors, so I could just be bias and not trusting. I'm sorry you are going thru this, but I would say with the larger clots, you were prolly passing everything and maybe it just took a little longer. But it def doesnt sound like it was ectopic if they saw a sac in your UTERUS. If you have to go back I would ask them about this being a blighted ovum. This is why I am glad our base refers out.

abadura · March 2011

I am definitely not an expert, but when I went in to the doctor at 8.5 weeks pregnant, the fetus was measuring at 5.5 weeks, and I miscarried shortly after, similar to your measurements not matching where you thought you were in the pregnancy.

Is it possible that you had a blighted ovum and miscarried when you passed the large clots more recently? You might want to look that up on the internet along with "missed miscarriage".

It definitely doesn't sound at all like an ectopic pregnancy, more like a natural miscarriage that would have happened WITH OR WITHOUT the shot. The fact that no fetus was seen in 2 ultrasounds and that your blood levels dropped kind of indicates that your body was miscarrying.

I am so sorry you are going through this. My thoughts are with you.

carebear509 · March 2011

Both times were by a military doctor, and I'm not much of a fan of them. I've had problems with them in the past. I'm still having a hard time accepting that it was ectopic as I still don't understand how I could have something in my uterus. The doctor was trying to say that it's my bodies natural way of telling me I'm pregnant even though the fetus is somewhere else and that I most likely have a sac where the actual fetus is. I'm thankful that my husband was there to ask the questions I wanted to, but couldn't gather the words through the tears.

Thank you for the suggestion of the blighted ovum. I googled some images and some information, and although I'm no doctor, the symptoms are very similar to what I experienced and the images that showed of the ultrasound look almost identical to what I saw on mine.

As we continued to see the levels drop, I had prepared myself to accept that the pregnancy was not viable and my body was trying to tell me something, but I have yet to fully accept that it was an ectopic pregnancy, for many reasons. After what happened last week with the heavy bleeding, I feel and believe that I had finally passed it out of my system. Would my levels still read not pregnant if I hadn't passed them yet? I'm gonna go for an HSG test to ease my mind, but at the same time I'm very nervous for the outcome.

MegMeg0913 · March 2011

I am so sorry about your loss.

I agree with the PP about this. It might not be an ectopic. Seeing a sac in the uterus and having and ectopic is something I have personally never heard of. I would defiantly ask about this because I had an ectopic that was caught very very early and they were able to see something fairly easily with the vaginal ultrasound. I was only 3-4 weeks along.

Also your levels can drop quite a bit before you start to pass everything out. (sorry for the awkward wording)

carebear509 · March 2011

It's okay, I understood. I've been trying to connect the dots, but I haven't been able to, so I figured posting about I might be able to make more sense of what had happened. I'm still replaying at how the doctor said it was classic ectopic, but everything I've read, I haven't been able to find any information about a sac in the uterus being part of an ectopic pregnancy. The way doctor put it, she made it seem like I had 2 sacs inside my body. One around the fetus, and one in my uterus as my body was telling me I am pregnant. As mentioned, with the levels dropping, I had already prepared for a miscarriage as there seemed to be nothing to be able to increase the levels

If you don't mind me asking, when they did the vaginal ultrasound for you, where were they able to see the pregnancy? Was it visible in a tube?

MegMeg0913 · March 2011

They were able to find it. It took her a couple minutes, but they were able to tell exactly where in the tube it was.

I know that you are brain storming right now and I don't mean to add more to this, but if they made it seem like 2 sacs maybe that it what it was. I mean like a blighted ovum and an ectopic. It could explain the two sets of bleeding. I am not sure that is even possible though. It is just a thought.

RovinChick · March 2011

I'm so sorry for your loss. Since the doctor saw a sac in the uterus, I would say it was a blighted ovum and not an ectopic. My doctor said once a sac is located (usually around 5 weeks), it is classified as an IUP - intrauterine pregnancy, as opposed to an ectopic. I guess it's possible you ovulated 2 eggs and there was an additional pregnancy in the tubes, but I don't know how the doctor determined that if she didn't see anything in the tube.

I think the bleeding you had in February was the miscarriage of the empty gestational sac, as it can take a few weeks for the body to recognize it is empty ( and it continues to grow during that time). I would still go for the HSG test, as it will tell you if your uterus is a good shape/size, and if the tubes are open. My doctor also told me you are more fertile the first 3 cycles after an HSG, so it could help you out if you want to TTC soon. Best of luck!

carebear509 · March 2011

Thanks! I'm not sure if it's possible for the two sacs at all. Her reasoning was that since [i'll try and paraphrase] "i'm pregnant, my body formed a sac in the uterus, although I'm pregnant somewhere else" which I kinda understand what she's saying, but at the same time I don't.

I didn't know about the more fertile after the HSG, we definitely want to try again, so hopefully I can schedule the test soon to find some answers. When the time comes, I have to make sure I'm going to be seen by a different doctor.

I appreciate all the responses as it has eased my mind a little and have learned new information, though I don't think I'll ever fully understand what happened.

mork · March 2011

I agree with pp, in that there are many other possibilities. However, I wanted to tell you I was told by three separate docs (2 OBs and 1ER doc) and two u/s techs that it IS common to see a pseudo-sac in the uterus with ectopics. (There was nothing to be found in my uterus, or tubes or anywhere else for that matter, but that's another story.) Just wanted to throw that out there.

akl0506 · March 2011

Ugh, so sorry you are going thru this. Sounds like you had a blighted ovum. Which, I just had. Not that this makes me an expoert. I hope to never be a miscarriage expert and hope no one else is either. The odd thing about this is that blighted ovum is VERY common and even a not so great doc would know what that looked like. Hell! I've only seen mine and I could tell you what it looked like.

I bled and cramped for 4 hours & also passed lots of blood, threw up, lots of clots, etc. Fun times. But, then, it was pretty much done. When I went back for a follow up u/s the next day, they said I had a little more to pass which passed the next day with very minimal pain. I think you might be done with the worst of it. My OB told me it is the sac that makes a test positive your hormone levels seem ok. I thought that was rather interesting. I haven't taken a test since and its been 2 weeks. But, I would imagine that it would be negative now.

carebear509 · March 2011

Thanks for the info about the pseudo sac and the ectopic. There is a part of me that wants to accept the ectopic and part of me that doesn't want to. I'm just trying to find some clarification to allow me to fully accept having an ectopic pregnancy. My dr wasn't very nice and she kept asking me if I had any of these symptoms which would cause an ectopic and when I said no, she kinda just pushed it aside and kept asking me again, making me feel as if I had done something. I could be biased when i say that as my emotions were very high and as much as I was trying to understand what she was saying, but it all just sounded like "blah blah blah, ectopic, blah blah blah, methotrexate." thankfully DH understood what she was saying and I'll have to re-ask what she had explained.

DH and I want to start TTC and I'm nervous, hopefully I'll have some good news after my HSG test next month.

vszyman · March 2011

1. Uh, who is your friend? Does she not know what you're going through? I mean, it's one thing to tell you if she's pregnant (as that might be hard) but that she's trying??? Find another friend (or keep posting here) to talk to.

2.Like the rest, I don't think it sounds ectopic... but then again, I'm not a doctor. Are you still bleeding?

My advice:

1. Keep notes of your bleeding (you seem to already be doing that). Texture, heaviness, etc as you track your periods as well. My sister in law is an RN and suggested this (and made me feel like I had some control over my situation at the very least).

2. Keep busy- as this might be crazy and scary now, find something to keep your mind above it so you don't drive yourself crazy with these message boards... whether it's work, or working out, or knitting, or whatever... it's so easy to fall into self wallowing (BE STRONG WOMAN!)

3. Find a different friend to confide in. Maybe even someone who is far from the 'having kids' stage.... I have a couple of friends like that, and it's kinda nice that they don't try to give the "pregnancy advice" that all mothers tend to feel the right to give (even if they haven't been thru this situation).

Thinking of you!

carebear509 · March 2011

1) The friend has been a friend since forever ago. I've been starting to re-evaluate everything b/c this is the same friend that when I told her what I was going through asked simply "And you didn't tell me?" (meaning that I had known I was expecting) and though I tried explaining to her I wasn't going to tell anyone until we were "in the clear" but that with everything going on, I wanted to let my friends know what I was going through so they might try and understand my emotions, behavior, etc.

2) Thankfully I'm not bleeding anymore. I found myself downloading several period apps to help keep track of the bleeding, heaviness, and other symptoms. Though with bleeding early in Feb (as what i thought was AF) and at the end of the month, the apps aren't doing much help as it's saying AF will be here the entire month of March, but it's still a helpful way to keep track of the other symptoms.

Thankfully my boss has been able to help keep me busy by giving me extra hours and I've been in a cleaning mood as the sun is finally starting to shine here in Alaska! So I'm coming out of hibernation.

These boards have helped, and though I'm not on it as often as I might want to be, I've been less stressed and I've made some great friends here that have been through similar experiences and others that pregnancy isn't even conversation topic.

Thank you for the information and advice!

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