Has anyone here had an ectopic pregnancy?

[AllyandJack]

Geez, I'm reading all I can online, but it's not telling me anything. I need to know first-hand. What were your symptoms? When did they start? Technically, I'm 5w1d today. I had my IVF retrieval on 2/10 and my transfer on 2/13, but they add that 2 weeks onto the dating of the pregnancy just to drive us crazy. My 1st beta was 15 (13 days post retrieval), one week later it was 75, 2 days after that (today) it's 312. It's doubling good, but my progesterone is low - probably from the IVF and bleeding I had before the pregnancy test. I stopped the supplements for a few days and started up again recently. Now, of course, I'm imagining all sorts of pain. I just don't know what to expect or when to expect it.

On the bright side, I feel terrible! I'm sick to my stomach all the time and tired like never before. I'm lovin' every minute of it. I just would like to stop making up symptoms and would like to know what other people's experiences were.

Thanks in advance....and, I'm sorry if you can answer this question - I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[JoenAdamnErinnSam]

My sister had 3 ectopics before her IVF -they did not sever her tubes cause the thought they were completely blocked and destroyed-not. She had a 4th tubal at about 4-5 weeks-she was in incredible pain the day it happened. She was pregnant with twins(we thought) at the time. The third egg got up in her tube and burst it-we almost lost all of them. The still weren't looking ectopic till it burst. She did maintain the rest of the babies-and delivered Sam and Erin 9 weeks early-Erin was injured during the ectopic surgery and suffers from Moebius Syndrome(she can't smile, has no nerves in her face) and Aspergers Syndrome-but we feel very lucky to have her at all. If you are at all in doubt about what you are feeling-get it checked out.The sooner the better, if it is a tubal, there is no way to save the pregnancy, and the longer you try to maintain it, the more damage is done. Good Luck, and let us know.

 

[AmyJ of Ca]

My first pregnancy was ectopic. They didn't figure it out for over a month because I had taken a home pg test and it came out negative. They thought I had a ruptured hemorghic cyst per ultrasound. After a month of bleeding I was going in for a D/C and they did a pre-op blood test and found it. They were waiting until my Dr got there to tell me but the anesthiologist walked up, opened my chart and announced I was pregnant. Having a pretty extensive knowledge of medicine, I knew what it was before they verified it with another ultrasound. I lost my right tube and was terrified I wouldn't ever get pregnant. Here I sit 9 years later with 4 kids aged 8-1. I felt some pretty intense pain on the side with the blocked/ruptured tube and it actually didn't hurt too much after it finally ruptured. I'm lucky it didn't kill me, walking around for a month with a ruptured tube....I know in my heart of hearts that it was a baby girl....Good luck with your pregnancy but no matter what happens don't give up. The goal in the long run is to become a parent. Amy

 

[AllyandJack]

Thank you both for sharing your experiences. I'm happy that healthy babies were born - even if there were some rough moments before.

I'm just sitting here waiting for some sort of pain to hit me. This is my 2nd IVF (first one was just a negative). My doctor is great and I'm being monitored closely, but I have the urge to call for every twinge because I'm thinking that this is it. I go back on Monday, so I'm trying to relax, but it's hard.

My doctor is concerned about ectopic, but tells me not to worry too much because it's only 2%-5% of pregnancies from IVF are ectopic. That's great, but what if I'm in that low percentage? It seems to me, especially from reading your stories, that doctors just seem to blow it off as an option until it's too late.

 

[phillybeth]

Since you conceived through IVF, you should be having an ultrasound somewhere around 6-7 weeks, to check for a fetal sac and heartbeat. If not, insist on one. They will be able to tell you then if the sac is in the uterus or in a tube. Before 6-7 weeks not much is visible on an ultrasound.

Some of the pain you are feeling is a luteal cyst- it's on your ovary and producing the hormones that are keeping you PG- you want it to be there!

 

[AllyandJack]

phillybeth: That's the problem I'm having. I had some complications after my retrieval and for my transfer (during the 2nd one - the 1st one was easy), so I'm so used to having pain in that area that I can't distinguish something that's normal from something I should be concerned about.

She said I'd get an ultrasound once the beta reached 1,000 or when I was 6-7 weeks which will be this Friday (6 weeks).

I've been thinking of calling my OB/GYN just to get another view of things, but I'm afraid my insurance will stop paying my RE since, technically, I'm still under her care for the pregnancy. I'd be OK if they denied the OB because I can pay for that consult, but I don't need to have my RE not getting paid in case I have to go skulking back for more IVF rounds.

I just have to calm down. Yapping about it helps, so I really appreciate everyone letting me talk about it.

 

[motherhen17404]

I had a ectopic pregnancy when I was 7 weeks. We knew I was going to miscarry because my numbers were falling. I had already had 5 miscarriages and 3 of those I had to have a D & C so my Dr. decided to take a wait and see approach on this one. But I woke up 2 days later with a very sharp pain in my right side. Nothing like any of my other miscarriage pain. Instead of being crampy it was a very sharp pain that was so bad I could not even walk. I called my Dr. and he said he could tell just by my voice that this was more then just a normal misscarriage. I went to his office and he did an ultrasound and then he sent me to the hospital. Not to scare you, but I found out later that he told my DH that he did not think I was going to live. I had a lot of internal bleeding and I had not even ruptured the tube. As soon as my Dr. touched the tube that was when it ruptured and I started to bleed out. But everything worked out.

Good luck with your pregnancy. I am sure everything will be fine.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

my wife lost both tubes due to ectopics. the last one was a rare double pregnancy. one in the womb and one ectopic at the same time. the ectopic ruptured but no one could understand why her blood pressure was dropping because they were concentrating on the embryo in the womb. the doctor finally caught on the sonogram and it was immediate surgery. her doctor told us she was about a half hour from death by the amount of internal bleeding. of course, the healthy embyo didn't make it. it was at that point I called off anymore fertility treatments, IVF included. we have one child, and the risk wasn't worth it. it's a dangerous condition, stay on top of it, and good luck.

 

[VSL]

I don't have any advice - just a and wishes of good luck!