" I didn't have a miscarriage, I had an ectopic pregnancy.I nearly died."
Its hard being in a little niche of our own, it means that if you like me are suffering from a lot of things post ectopic pregnancy that people including general practitioners cant make sense of then you are left in the dark.
I think the main difference for me boils down to the extent of the physical trauma. Not only do ectopic pregnancy sufferers have to deal with the loss of their baby, they quite often have to deal with the loss of a tube, sometimes a part or all of their uterus,an ovary,their blood and ultimately their life. The damage can severely effect their future fertility (this decreases at least 30% ...minimum) and that's if they intend to ever risk putting their bodies through this again because they will now have a 10% chance of having it happen again. Which is a massive hurdle to overcome, understandably.
I have lost our baby.
I have lost my right tube.
I have lost all of my blood.
I have lost my hair
I have lost my beautiful skin.
I have lost my right to wear bikinis
I have lost touch with friends who don't understand
I have lost the ability to make a quick decision
I have lost a fair chunk of my fertility.
I have lost trust in our health facilities.
I have lost all desire for sexual intercourse.
I have lost most of my confidence in myself.
I'm trying to think what I have gained from this, other than weight and a ginormous scar. I have gained awareness, of the lack of awareness for ectopic pregnancy.
I was playing around with some stuff and whipped this little beauty up earlier. I was thinking that if ectopic pregnancy were to get an awareness ribbon it should look something like this. Upside down for a start,out of place, with the foetus up there in no mans land (literally) with the baby loss colours, to signify the loss and a little purple section to signify purpose,my intention to create awareness.
Let me know what you think? Should ectopic pregnancy survivors be grouped in with early baby loss groups? Am I just being silly thinking like this?
If there was somewhere in Australia that we could turn to for specific ectopic pregnancy support would we utilise it? If you are from another country did you use any support method offered to you? did it help?
Think pink
Janey
Hi Janey,
ReplyDeleteI came across your blog whilst I was trying to find out if there is any awareness ribbons for Ectopic Pregnancies - and it lead me to this blog post.. I love your idea of the awareness ribbon that you created, I too hoped to spread the awareness of Ectopic Pregnancies, but I was constantly moaned at and made to feel bad about myself because I was told "Everyone Goes Through It" - but at the time I hadn't known that it was fairly common.. :(
I myself had an Ectopic Pregnancy, I lost my left tube, my baby, and had to have a blood transfusion too due to the internal bleeding, and almost lost my life due to this too :(
If you ever need or want to talk then please feel free to find me on facebook - http://www.facebook.com/seosman.
I also have a blog on here about my experience following the Ectopic Pregnancy I had in March 2010, you may find it here - http://myectopicpregnancy.blogspot.com.
I would also like to state that I am from the United Kingdom.
Thanks for taking your time to read this, Samantha.
I luv the ribbon i am 5 weeks pregnant n it looks like an ectopic pregnancy diz would b my second ive lookd for one the first timebit happed i luv it n for sure amma tatt diz one for my 2 loses
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry for your loss. I had 4 ectopic pregnancies before my tubes were removed with no live births.
ReplyDeleteI do agree, it is nothing like a miscarriage.