A WOMAN from Winchester, who endured two ectopic pregnancies and two miscarriages has written a book to help others going through the same feel less alone.

Monday, August 1, marks the first ever Ectopic Pregnancy Awareness Day, hosted by the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust to help educate the public on the condition.

Amelia McCloskey, a music executive from Alresford, had no idea she was pregnant until she was rushed to hospital and doctors discovered that an embryo had grown and ruptured outside the womb in a fallopian tube.

Ectopic pregnancies are when the embryo grows outside the womb and the baby can't be saved. Approximately one in 80 pregnancies are ectopic.

Amelia, 37, has written a book on her experience to help raise awareness and combat the stigma surrounding pregnancy issues.

The music industry worker underwent surgery unblock her fallopian tubes. Amelia was turned away without warning that the surgery could increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy.

After having two ectopic pregnancies, two miscarriages and both her fallopian tubes removed, Amelia began documenting her journey as a form of therapy.

The Alresford author said: “When I went into hospital I could barely stand, I started vomiting and they couldn’t work out what was wrong with me, they ran tests all night.

“Last thing they tested was a pregnancy test.

“I nearly lost my life, I lost a lot of blood- about five pints worth- I needed a blood transfusion. I was bleeding out internally and I was very nearly gone.

“They then removed the pregnancy, removed the tube and said you’ve got another tube left, you know the risks.

“I thought what do I do? I want kids. They say to try naturally but it was quite worrying after what happened.”

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Three months later Amelia had another ectopic pregnancy but due to being familiar with the symptoms, the embryo was detected and removed before it ruptured.

After Amelia’s second fallopian tube was removed, she was declared as infertile.

The company manager then had three rounds of IVF, two ending in miscarriage and one that failed.

A year and half on from her last miscarriage Amelia is set to release a book on her experience on August 21.

Hampshire Chronicle:

Amelia continued: “At the time devastating but it was the ectopic trust and speaking to other women who had been through something similar that helped me through and then I wrote a book about it and that’s what helped me heal.

“There’s still a stigma and a shame attached to it because as women without bodies this is what it’s meant to do so when it doesn’t do that for you, you feel like it has failed you.”

“Friends and family can be supportive but if they haven’t lived it they can’t truly understand what you’re going through. Even your partner, they went through it mentally but physically they didn’t.

“Reading other people’s journeys is what helped me get me through so that’s what I wanted to do for others.

“The trust was really supportive. I felt I had nowhere else to turn and I was in quite a dark place and someone who actually runs the trust phoned me personally to talk through it. The level of support I felt really helped.”

The new author hopes that her book Secret Fertility Club will encourage others to speak up and help raise awareness alongside Ectopic Pregnancy Awareness Day.

Secret Fertility Club will be available to purchase from Amazon and all digital online book stores from August 21.

Amelia has also set up an Instagram and Facebook page @secretfertilityclub as a space for people to share their stories.

Director of The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, Munira Oza said: “Each year in the UK, nearly 12,000 women are diagnosed with ectopic pregnancies, and from anecdotal evidence the number of cases may be more than 30,000.

“Sadly, the baby can never be saved, and the condition remains a leading cause of maternal death in the first trimester.

“We will be letting women and people know that, if they have recently been sexually active or are trying to conceive through fertility treatment, and they experience symptoms of ectopic pregnancy, such as unusual vaginal bleeding, spotting, abdominal pain or shoulder tip pain, to seek medical attention quickly.”

Awareness activity will be taking place throughout the day on the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust’s social media channels, via the media and in local communities and hospitals throughout the UK.

For more information go to ectopic.org.uk/.

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