Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As some are aware, on the 20th of January I was diagnosed with PUL (pregnancy of unknown location). This was confirmed ectopic as no baby could be seen on screen and my HCG was rising but only very, very slowly. We were heartbroken. Shortly after diagnosis I began my first dose of methotrexate. This is a chemotherapy drug given to help the body reabsorb the pregnancy. It works by stopping the cells diving and multiplying, which due to the pregnancy being stuck in my tube, would cause it to rupture. The chemotherapy comes with lots of risks and disadvantages in its self’s so this was not an easy decision.

Sadly for me, the chemotherapy didn’t work and exactly 1 whole month after diagnosis, on the 20th of February, I was blue lighted to A&E experiencing the most excruciating stomach pain. I was heaving from feeling sick. I was screaming my entire building down, banging my head off the walls as the pain was so uncontrollable. We waited 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Upon arrival, I was given gas and air and very slowly, transported and taken to A&E. The call handler or paramedics weren’t understanding the pain I was in and how severe and life threatening this was. Me and my husband KNEW I had ruptured. However when we got to A&E, we were told I hadn’t. I stayed in hospital from Tuesday to Friday being told I was fine, my observations all normal and was fit for discharge. I wasn’t.

My haemaglobin was dropping significantly, me and my husband just knew that I was bleeding internally. As I was getting ready to leave, the pain came on strong again. I buzzed and waited for what felt like forever for a nurse to come see me, eventually my husband had to call the ward and tell someone to come assist me. I was given some dihydrocodeine and told to wait 20 minutes for the pain to settle. It never settled. Eventually the most amazing doctor came and saved my life. He took me for a scan and confirmed I had 500ml of blood in my stomach and seemed like I had been bleeding internally for quite some time. Nobody listened to me or took my pain seriously. I was rushed down to theatre where they discovered my insides, a mess. A huge clot surrounded my left tube that had gathered whilst I was resting in hospital after rupture. Then as I became more active ready for discharge, the clot separated, causing the pain to start again. I was going to be sent home that day, and if I had gone home, I’d of died.

There is no where near as much research or technology to help with ectopic pregnancies. Families are practically left in the lerch to research everything themselves as doctors and nurses really don’t know anything about it. Not only did I lose my baby that day, but I lost my left tube and the ability to trust the NHS ever again. We have been left extremely impacted and traumatised by the treatment I was given. The lack of remorse and respect shown by the staff.

My baby was a baby, not pregnancy tissue or dead cells. It was a baby we love and will cherish forever.

I hope by bringing awareness to the events that I suffered, more women will know what to look out for and to TRUST their body and demand further investigations. Ectopic pregnancies are life changing and life threatening.

When the doctor came and took my for my scan, from that point on he did everything in his power to make sure my husband was taking home my 3 children’s mummy.