My Story

Ectopic pregnancy affects 1 in 80 pregnancies and can be simply defined as 'an out-of-place' pregnancy. In July last year I found out I was pregnant for the first time. We were delighted, but a few days later I experienced some bleeding and after a scan was told that the pregnancy might be ectopic. Weirdly enough, that was on August 1 - Ectopic Pregnancy Awareness Day. I’d never had cause to think about ectopic pregnancy, so had very little idea what it could or would entail. 

Last August ended up being one of the worst months of my life. The first week was a blur of blood tests and scans, as the pregnancy was confirmed to be in my left fallopian tube. My hCG levels were still rising, so I had an injection of methotrexate to stop the pregnancy growing. I made it to a family wedding, with blood tests every few days to check my hCG levels. I was told not to be more than half an hour from a hospital due to the risk of the ectopic pregnancy rupturing. 

The evening of August 19th I started to feel dizzy and the pain suddenly became excruciating - I knew pretty quickly that I’d had a rupture. Yet an ambulance call handler wouldn’t send an ambulance to me, and when I arrived at A&E after being driven there by my friend Liz I wasn’t seen by a doctor for nearly an hour. In the early hours of August 20th, as I was starting to go into shock due to internal bleeding, I had emergency surgery to remove my left fallopian tube and a blood transfusion. Ectopic pregnancy is the most frequent cause of maternal death in early pregnancy, and at one point I thought I was going to die. 

The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust is the only charity that focuses on ectopic pregnancy to provide general information and peer support for anyone that has experienced the condition, and was a valuable resource when I was going through treatment and recovering from surgery. They are also running the ‘Think Ectopic’ campaign to raise awareness of ectopic pregnancy among healthcare professionals who would be the first point of contact for women and people experiencing symptoms.

When I was recovering I saw people taking part in the 80 in 1 challenge to complete 80 miles in 1 month for EPT, and I vowed to do it next year. Since then I became pregnant again - finding out I was due the same week in August that I’d found out my first pregnancy was ectopic. Sadly that pregnancy ended in a missed miscarriage, so the month now has an added poignancy. Having just had a laparoscopy in July I’m not up to full fitness again, but my plan is to make it to 80 miles through a combination of running, cycling and swimming across August!