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Struggling to cope after ectopic.

3 replies

Jaydrives · 07/01/2024 18:24

This is a bit of a long one but I'm really struggling and i need to get it all out.

We had been ttc for 6 years and finally got our bfp 3 days before Christmas. We were so happy but i instantly felt like i instinctively knew something was wrong but i tried to calm myself and we had a lovely Christmas. In between Christmas and new year i started getting pains localised low on my left side and just knew it was ectopic. We got an appt at EPU and they confirmed left tubal ectopic, not ruptured but too far along for meds and I had to have surgery to remove the pregnancy and the tube at 7+5.

That was a week ago and I am completely broken. I'm grieving the pregnancy as well as the further loss to fertility as i would expect. But i also can't stop thinking about other things we've lost. If we ever manage to get pregnant again we will never be able to have a happy pregnancy, this loss will hang over me for the rest of my life.

I also can't help but feel betrayed once again by my body. I feel I'm looking at myself differently and don't see how my husband wouldn't be doing the same, so I'm also worrying about regaining our intimacy in the future when my body feels so alien to me.

Has anyone taken this situation as hard as I am? I feel like I'm drowning in it and just seem to keep reading people finding it sad but ultimately moving on.

I just feel broken and alone.

OP posts:
Fluorescentgem · 07/01/2024 21:53

Hi @Jaydrives I have never had an ectopic but I have had miscarriages and I can relate to the feeling of misery. Look after yourself and don't lose hope.

Triselly · 09/01/2024 08:38

Hey there, I had an ectopic pregnancy last year, our baby would have been due next week. It was an IVF baby, and the whole process along with losing the pregnancy very dramatically with emergency surgery, losing my right tube, everything just broke me. I understand how you’re feeling and can only send you a massive hug and tell you that whilst it hasn’t stopped hurting for me yet, things will get more manageable and life will look more positive again.

It is so early, it sounds like you really are in the thick of it right now- I would suggest trying not to think about how you will manage in the future and just take one day at a time at the moment. I found I just couldn’t stop crying for weeks afterwards, anywhere and everywhere and had to take a bit of time off work before I was able to function even remotely normally, even after I had healed from the surgery.

I don’t know exactly what will work for you, but maybe if I write down some of the things that helped me you might find some of them supportive:

I bought a really nice notebook and wrote down the entire story of our little one’s life and the whole experience. I wrote it to them and stuck in the early scan pics and things. I could only do this after a few weeks though as it was too hard to do straight away, but I was so worried about forgetting things I found it useful and cathartic to get it all down somewhere permanent.

There is a lot of online support from women who have been through the same experience - maybe check out Zoe Clarke-Coates Instagram @ zoeadelle and her books and charity Saying Goodbye. There’s also the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust and Tommys, the latter has help services where you can speak to or email a nurse. I did this and I got the loveliest email from them.

Let your husband know what’s going on with you and how much it’s affecting you. If you are able to, consider talking to someone professional like a grief counsellor.

I am so sorry this has happened to you, I understand it hurts like nothing else and it changes you forever. But you will get through this and be able to live normally again, eventually. But that’s not the same as getting over it and moving on, I think most women who experience this carry it with them always. I know it sounds trite but this is when we realise how strong we really are.

Please feel free to message me if you would like to, I’m here and I get it xxx

Lisa12345678910 · 09/01/2024 16:15

Hi, I have had an ectopic in 2022. I was devasted by the loss but what helped me get through was knowing that ectopic meant I could actually get pregnant. The ectopic was a natural pregnancy and prior to it I have had two failed IVF rounds. I was told to go the egg donor route at the time since I have never been pregnant and IVF with my own eggs was not working. After the ectopic the clinic agreed to offer me more IVF rounds and I could freeze a few embryos. I had another surgery to remove my other tube as it turned out to be not functional either and went into more IVF.

By the way if your other tube works well then it still can pick up eggs from either ovary so you can still get pregnant naturally.

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