WHAT IS AN ECTOPIC PREGNANCY?

The office was supposed to be surprised by good news of a colleague just conceiving. However, after several agonizing visits to the doctor’s, my colleague was given the sad news that she may not be able to keep the baby. The final results are to come out in two days' time but essentially, the problem is that she has conceived, but the embryo is not at the right place.

This is known as an ectopic pregnancy.

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when an implantation has occurred but not on the uterine wall. This means that it could be anywhere else, in the Fallopian tube, in the ovary or even in the abdomen. An ectopic pregnancy usually will self-abort, in the form of a miscarriage due to the embryo not receiving a sufficient supply of blood, which it would have found had it been implanted on the uterine wall.

Tubal abortions may go unnoticed and can be left untreated. However, some ectopic pregnancies may cause ruptures in the Fallopian tubes and cause pain in the abdomen or vaginal bleeding. Excessive bleeding may endanger the mother’s life and the mother should seek medical attention immediately.

In my colleague’s case, the embryo is in around its 4th week. She has a history of irregular menstrual periods. Her last one was three month’s back.

When the doctor told her the possibility of her not being able to keep the baby, she was extremely sad. She sought medical opinions from two other doctors but they all told her the same story.

This is what the embryo would have looked like in another 4 weeks.

Early on in my pregnancy before it was confirmed I was experiencing pain in my left abdomen. I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time and my menstrual period was 12 days late. I had the feeling that I was pregnant although I didn’t act on the instinct by checking myself with a pregnancy kit or taking better care of my diet and drinking less coffee. I felt that I was already carrying a baby but I never dreamt that the feeling could be true.

If it wasn’t for that abdominal pain, I wouldn’t have read up on ectopic pregnancies or gone to see the doctor. Turns out, it was just gas, something I suffered severely from throughout the 9 months of pregnancy. Still, this experience carried two lessons: that you should always listen to your body and that you should always visit the doctor when your body tells you to.