by Jennifer Moore

Created on: September 23, 2011   Last Updated: September 25, 2011

Finding out you’re pregnant is a joyful experience whether it’s your first child or not. The feelings are overwhelming, excitement and love rolled into one. Often times those feelings, hope and joy turns tragic when the women discovers it’s an ectopic pregnancy. There are signs that lead to knowing if the pregnancy is viable, so what are the signs of an ectopic pregnancy?

What’s an Ectopic Pregnancy

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when fertilized eggs implant outside the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies happen more often than women realize, usually 1 in 50 pregnancies end this way. As much as the mother and father wish, there’s no way to transplant this pregnancy, which means there’s no option, but to terminate the pregnancy. It’s a dangerous for women to have tubal pregnancies. 

How Ectopic Pregnancies Occur

When a woman’s tube has damages or blockages, the fertilized egg implants itself inside the tube instead of traveling to the uterus. Another familiar name for this type of implantation is tubal pregnancy. If this type of pregnancy isn’t discovered the women’s life becomes at risk. The embryo grows until the tube ruptures causing severe pain and bleeding. This is why it’s so important to know the signs and symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy.

What Are the Signs of an Ectopic Pregnancy

Signs vary woman to woman but most occur early in the pregnancy. However, there’s been numerous women that had no idea the pregnancy was ectopic until the rupture occurs. Visiting a doctor early in your pregnancy helps to discover whether the pregnancy is viable.

A missed period is the first sign of pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy produces the same signs as normal pregnancies with only a few differences. Abdominal tenderness, pain and bleeding are the different experiences a woman feel when a pregnancy isn’t right.

The first prenatal visit helps determine ectopic pregnancies because if there’s pain during the pelvic or abdominal exam that’s the first indicator something’s wrong. If doesn’t go away and gets worse during activities see a doctor immediately.  Pain may occur on one side or radiate across the entire abdomen.

Take vaginal bleeding seriously. Bleeding may start out light, become heavy, and resemble a normal menstrual period. The color may look brown, red or look like dried blood.

When a woman lies down because she’s bleeding and there’s pain in her shoulder this means the tube is most likely ruptured and medical attention is required immediately. The internal bleeding triggers nerves leading to the pain felt.

Signs of a ruptured fallopian tube are dizziness, weakness, racing pulse and fainting. Receiving help early on means the difference between life and death of the mother. It’s devastating for the mother and father to lose a child but it’s more devastating to lose them both because help wasn’t in time.

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