Elizabeth K's Story

My future husband and I met in college marching band in 2010 and married in June 2017. After a few years, we decided it was time to start our family. I am considered high risk because I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in August 2013. We knew we wanted kids to be part of our journey, got pregnant right away and welcomed our daughter in November 2021.

When she was 1.5 years old we decided to expand our family. Again, got pregnant pretty quickly in July 2023 and a 10 week prenatal and ultrasound was scheduled. We told our closest friends and family and started planning for a new addition. At the first prenatal appointment, ultrasound revealed that it was an ectopic pregnancy in my left tube. I didn’t have any symptoms of an ectopic. I started Methotrexate the next day – we were devastated.

Being someone living with chronic illness for over a decade, I’ve been through the mourning process (and back) of my body. Ashamed and hating it for not “working right”, and eventually learning to love it for the life I do have. But this was new and I was right back in the middle of it.

I went to get my blood drawn every two days to watch my HcG level go back to zero. Everyday was hard, everyday I was reminded of my loss and going into the OB office was awful.

In December 2023, we were cleared to try again and quickly had another positive pregnancy test. I was hopeful but scared. Right away back to bloodwork to watch HcG levels, which were rising normally… we believed the worst was behind us. An early ultrasound was scheduled and the day before the appointment I experienced spotting and lower side pain. Again, ultrasound showed an ectopic pregnancy in my left tube. I was scheduled for surgery the next day to remove my tube.

I physically recovered in a week or two but my heart was shattered. I was convinced that one child was it for us. In the meantime, I consulted with doctors and fertility specialists about what went wrong, there was no answer. We did not qualify for IUI or IVF because all my hormones were normal and I only had two losses, not three.

By April, I needed a mental break from trying to understand it all. We stopped cycle tracking peeing on all the test strips. I wanted to get back to life in the moment, be grateful that I was alive and focus on my existing family.

In July, we got a positive pregnancy test. I was so scared. Early bloodwork came back positive but I didn’t believe it. Early ultrasound showed an embryo in the uterus… we were so relieved but I still had a hard time believing it. Ultrasound also showed that the egg was released by the left side (where there is no longer a tube) and picked up by the opposite right tube – absolutely wild.

We eventually felt comfortable enough to tell some family after the end of the first trimester. It was not until the anatomy scan at 20 weeks, we could breathe again.

So far, everything has been good. But I still feel uncomfortable when people say “congratulations”. Baby boy is due early March 2025.