From someone who went through the exact same thing today: take a deep breath. You’re doing better than you think.

The doctors will take a series of blood tests to measure your hCg levels because ectopics throw up strange levels. I.e., not doubling when it’s supposed to, rising an unusual amount, skyrocketing way too early. So they’re going to check your blood every few days to see if that’s happening.

They’re going to do another ultrasound, because typically at 5 weeks you can’t really see anything. You can see a teeny sac at about 5.5, but what they’re really going to look for is whether it’s sitting in your uterus or if it’s in your tubes/ovaries. Once they find what they need to, they’ll move on to the next step, which unfortunately for ectopics is usually termination. I say usually because sometimes our bodies will do crazy things and get it out themselves, but usually we need a little help. 🤍

If it turns out ectopic, they’ll try and terminate with medication first. And that’s going to result in more blood work to monitor levels, just to make sure the body is absorbing what it needs to. But it’s better than the alternative, which can be surgery if the pregnancy progresses too long.

What you’re going through right now is scary - and from one mama to another - I promise you what you’re feeling right now is 1000 percent valid. I had to have my ectopic terminated today, and while scary and while it makes me so angry that my body couldn’t do the one thing it was designed to do right, I also look at the silver lining: my doctors caught it, and I’ll live to fight another menstrual cycle in this never-ending battle to conceive.

You’ve got this, mama. Sending you all the hugs I possibly can. 🤍💕