Thought my period was back 3-6 months postpartum…ended up being an ectopic pregnancy.
Just looking to vent because I honestly feel like I haven’t fully processed any of this yet and don’t really have anyone to talk to about it.
I had my first baby this past October. Pregnancy was brutal. I gained 80 lbs, ended up needing a C-section, and recovery was really hard. We live across the country from family, so it’s just been my husband and me trying to survive newborn life on our own. I started walking 12-20 miles a week around 3 months postpartum because I was desperate to feel like myself again and lose the weight. I saw changes at first, then my weight completely plateaued all through March no matter how hard I was trying. I was so hard on myself and blamed breastfeeding, hormones, lack of sleep, everything.
I was using Oura + Natural Cycles and was shocked my period came back around 3 months postpartum. We weren’t really using protection besides pullout. One stupid drunken night at the end of February we didn’t do that, so I assume that’s when I got pregnant, but honestly now I don’t even know what bleeding was a real period vs ectopic pregnancy bleeding.
Timeline:
October 16: my son was born
January 16: had protected sex
January 18: had protected sex
January 22: got my first period postpartum
January 30: had protected sex
February 7: spotted for 3 days
February 13: had protected sex
February 20: had unprotected sex
February 28: got my second “period”
March 25: got my third “period”
April 7: bled again for 4 days
April 18: bleeding started again
April 21: horrifying cramps started that night. Woke up at 2 AM in the worst pain of my life.
April 22: OB found 9 cm of blood pooled internally, pregnancy test was positive, but there was no pregnancy in my uterus. I was rushed into emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy and lost my left fallopian tube.
Looking back now, I realize so many things suddenly make sense. The weight plateau, the random bleeding, the severe hip pain I was having for weeks before surgery…all of it.
I think I’m struggling because my brain still can’t process that I was pregnant again while taking care of a newborn, and that it almost became life-threatening without me realizing it. I also feel really down for not “catching” it sooner even though I know logically I couldn’t have known.
If anyone has gone through something similar postpartum, especially with confusing bleeding or an ectopic after getting what seemed like regular periods again, I’d really appreciate hearing from you. I just feel really alone in this right now. It was all just so much to hear and happen at once.