Life was wonderful, I had a wonderful fiance and a gorgeous not quite 3 yr old daughter. My partner and I had been trying to concieve again for many months and finally it happened in October 2004. With the pregnancy came all the hopes and dreams we held for our

unborn child for the future.  Then the uncertainty began with slight bleeding here and there over a two week period. After consultation I was assured it was regular implantaion bleeding and was normal.

It happened on a Thursday morning at 7:48 am; I woke with a niggling lower back pain and could not get comfortable. Within an hour I was in quite an immense amount of pain both abdominally and rectally. I asked my partner to call the hospital and they said we better come in. I tried to sit in the car and was hit with a bolt of pain like nothing I have ever felt before. All I remember doing was screaming out in pain and saying I cant do this, I cant do this. My partner called an ambulance and I was taken to our local rural hospital half an hour away, there was no doctor on duty so the nurse was seeking advice over the phone.

It was decided that I be moved to a larger city hospital by ambulance as soon as possible. The closest major hospital was 1.5 hours away. On the journey to hospital my blood pressure plummeted twice to an incredible 70/40, I remember asking if I was going to die. The pain was not too bad at this stage as I was given morphine shots before departure. It was one of the longest trips of my life-with my partner following behind (scared beyond belief). Upon arrival at the hospital I was hit with the most intense pain I have ever experienced, it was like someone was stabbing my chest with a large knife. This was when emergency staff told me I had an ectopic pregnancy and would need immediate emergency surgery to save my life. From then on was a blur of staff rushing to prepare me for surgery as I tried to grip what was happening to me.

After 3 hours in surgery and 5 units of blood later I awoke to be told that I had lost my left fallopian tube, had an incision from hip to hip and had lost an immense amount of blood and that I was lucky to be alive. I remained in hospital for 1 week and had 6 weeks of recovery ahead of me. It is an overwhelming rollercoaster ride of emotions when you lose a child and also when you nearly lose your life. Thankfully I had a wonderful network of family and friends that helped me every step of the way, including the care of our daughter and the running of the household.

On a happy note, my fiance and I decided life was way too short and precious to take for granted and decided to marry 6 months later. Then in January 2006 we found out we were pregnant again - a happy but scary moment for us - what if it happened again? After a reassuring ultrasound and nearly trouble free pregnancy we had our beautiful baby boy in September 2006.

Please do not let what happened to me scare you but give you an understanding of how dangerous an ectopic pregnancy can be. If you have any worries whatsoever do not hesitate to seek medical advice - the only stupid question is the question not asked!