Tubal Pregnancy- Dec. 2016

We’ve gotten a lot of questions about our ectopic pregnancy these last couple of months. I actually wrote this a while back but I want to start writing Ren’s birth story and this is the last few years leading up to that. I wouldn’t say that I necessarily struggle with fertility yet but there have definitely been some obstacles in our journey to start a family. After talking about how Ren was too perfect for this world, my Mom said that we need to stop having such perfect babies now Tommy makes the joke that we need to start making imperfectly perfect babies so that we can raise one.

In 2016 we decided that we were going to expand our little family of three. After months of no luck, I decided that since I was already in love with health and fitness, I would step up my game and enter my first bikini bodybuilding show to take a break from trying and get my mind off of it. Come December I was having some interesting symptoms that didn’t correlate with the norm of my womanly cycle. In the beginning, I honestly thought it was no big deal. But with Tommy being the worry wart(which thank goodness) he is called my Mom to tell on me and she talked me into seeing a doctor. So we went to our local clinic to get things checked out just to be safe. They had me take a urine pregnancy test to rule out any possibility of pregnancy. We told the doctor that there was a chance, we suppose, but it’s very unlikely. Wellll to our complete surprise, our test was positive! Our next step was to get a blood test confirmation. Long story short we were pregnant BUT my HCG levels were not matching the five weeks along they expected me to be, they were a lot lower. So after that, they immediately sent us to get an ultrasound. The tech was showing us everything on the screen and kind of explaining all of the organs he was looking at and what the measurements should be. He got to my full bladder and showed us how full and round it looked. I noticed a ball looking thing right next to it almost like they were symmetrical. I proceeded to ask him what it was. He got quiet and told me our exam was finished and that he needs to call my doctor. We were a little weirded out but let him call while we waited in the waiting room for it seemed like hours. He finally came back to get us and said that we would need to see her that day to get our results. We immediately went back to the clinic to meet with our doctor. She proceeded to tell us that they had found an 8cm x 8cm cyst on my ovary. She went over the possibility with us that the pregnancy may not be viable, that it could be an ectopic pregnancy(tubal), or that the cyst could be “mimicking” a pregnancy causing the pregnancy hormones. She then suggested that since the OBGYN waiting list was two months out that we go to the ER. So that night we went into the ER explained our situation and went to see what they could do for me. After admitting me and putting me on an IV the doctor on call came in. He did a couple of different exams and had us get all the ultrasounds redone that we just previously had done that day. When all of that was said and done, he quickly explained that the OBYGN on call doesn’t think that there’s anything he can do and to basically come back only if the cyst erupts. He rushes out and then briefly poked his head in to say “oh I forgot to give you your risks. If your cyst does burst, there’s a possibility you can lose your ovary.” And then he pops out and nurses rush in to get our insurance info as quickly as possible so that we can give up our bed for the next ER patient. We called my doctor and explained to her what they had done. She made some phone calls and was able to get us into a great OBGYN about an hour in a half outside of town. Desperate, we took the appointment for the following Monday. Monday comes along and we got ready for the trip. We were about to head out with no problems, it was almost like I didn’t even have a cyst. I felt nothing at all. We got into the car to leave and I began to have what felt like extreme gas pains. Except they were so painful that I couldn’t uncurl my knees from the dash. I get awful periods that felt similar so I didn’t think a lot of it until about 20 min into our drive. I was leaning back and I couldn’t lift my head without losing all vision and seeing nothing but black. Tommy called my primary doctor to see what her thoughts were. She advised we just get to our appointment as soon as possible. We continued on the road and just got into Bakersfield, CA. where our appointment was at. At this point, we were still about 30 min out from the office that we were trying to get to. I had Tommy stop at the first gas station he could find because to be blunt, I felt like I was going to have explosive diarrhea the whole ride. And on top of this, I was blacking out and my stomach was turning and rumbling. So to make a long story short, as you could see I NEEDED a bathroom pronto. When we got to the gas station, Tommy basically had to carry me in because by this point I was completely blind. He got me in, sat me down, and I immediately had to throw up. He tried to grab the trash can but most of it went all over the floor. It was coming out both ends and I was completely helpless. Poor Tommy being such a great sport cleaned up the floor, myself, and then proceeded to carry me out. I’m sure the gas station workers were so confused! We finally arrived at my appointment. Tommy had to go in and leave me in the car to get me checked in. He was inside for about 5 min when I text him(the best I could) telling him I needed help immediately. I was so faint and weak and I knew things were getting worse. A nurse came running out with Tommy to pick me up with a wheelchair. I could hear everything going on and I could hear the nurses yelling at people to get out of the way. They were bumping me into walls and poles just trying to get me in as quickly as possible. The nurses were so kind and they got me into a private room where they were trying to cool me down and prevent me from passing out again. They shortly moved me into an exam room where the doctor came in quickly did an exam and asked me to meet him at the hospital next door and that he will need to perform surgery immediately. He called the ER and told them to have a bed ready for me and that we were all on our way. They loaded me back up and rushed me over. We got there and were checking in through the ER. They couldn’t find my blood pressure for the longest time. They finally got it on my leg and my blood pressure was 70/38. They were frantic to get an IV in me to bring it up but my veins were collapsing in, there were 2 different nurses trying to put an IV in each arm. If you know me, you know I’m terrified of needles(or at least was, I’m used to them now). At this point, I was so miserable and in pain that I didn’t care what they did to me. They were about to try the veins in my feet when one of the nurses finally got a vein in my arm. I could see the terror in Tommy’s eyes but I didn’t quite get the magnitude of the situation at the time. After they got fluids in me and brought my blood pressure back up, I was feeling much better. Before going under, I was able to see my aunt Terrie and cousin Mariah. They were able to fill in for my mom since she had just moved to Washington. And they were there when I woke up. After surgery, they were able to confirm that I had a pregnancy that started in one of my fallopian tubes and that it had indeed erupted and had over 2 liters of blood in my abdomen (hence why my blood pressure was so low). They were able to successfully remove the blood, the cyst, and the ectopic pregnancy safely. They were able to repair my tube and the doctor said that I shouldn’t have any problems with it. There was also a bit of endometriosis found but again that it shouldn’t be enough to cause any damage or issues. Thank the heavens because as bad as it all sounds, it couldn’t have had a better outcome. Another perfect baby was taken to Heaven.

Writing helps me get my feelings out so thank you for bearing with me through all the run on sentences and grammatical errors. We are still waiting to hear back from Ren’s autopsy results for those curious. We are forever thankful for every single person that reached out to us. You all truly touched our hearts more than you’ll ever know. Those reminding us that Ren will always be apart of them helps comfort us in every way. Thank you for being so kind and patient with us as we get back to you all. There’s not a single message that goes unnoticed or unread.