Ectopic pregnancy, Do you know its consequences?
In a small village of Nepal, stayed a 24-year-old Durga. Durga wasn’t educated like other girls of her age. She got married when she was just 20 and had just finished high school. She wasn’t as bright as her classmates and could not only complete her SEE after 3 years. Her parents decided to marry her soon because she was already of marriageable age then. Today, Durga is 24 and lives in her husband’s house with her husband, mother-in-law and father-in-law.
Durga realises that she had been missing periods and soon found out that she was pregnant. It was her first child. She is thrilled and glad that her journey of motherhood has finally begun. But the joy of motherhood was accompanied with a certain abdominal pain that also radiated through her shoulders. The pain started to become worse and replace most of her joy. She was really disturbed and couldn’t do her chores properly. And it was just 2 months of her pregnancy journey. She was also having the pain while peeing and spotted certain vaginal discharge too. She was anxious and somehow gathered all the courage to share with her mother in law and seek medical help with the family. But her mother-in-law told her that it could happen to some first-time mothers and she was panicking out of nothing. She also told Durga that she had given birth to 7 children in the home. It wasn’t essential to even go to the health post. But since now everyone goes, it wouldn’t really be necessary to seek any medical help in pregnancy in the first trimester. It was just an absolute waste of time. She could just do some home remedies and stay inside the house.
Durga was helpless. The pain had now started to get worse every day. And one day, she couldn’t tolerate it anymore. She experienced immense pain and slowly started losing pulse sign. Her Blood pressure was also lowered, and she lost her consciousness. Durga was rushed to the hospital immediately in the emergency room. After taking her history, an ultrasound test was done. Soon she got diagnosed with Ectopic pregnancy, a type of pregnancy in which the fertilized egg (fusion of ova and sperm got attached to the reproductive parts other than the uterus) was implanted on one of her fallopian tubes. The situation got really severe, and after a long time, the tube had already burst. It cannot be treated with medicine anymore, and she has to now undergo surgery and get her fallopian tube removed. Durga went through a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally and her family members really regret now that they didn’t really care about her before. They had told Durga that it was really normal and she doesn’t need medical help. Her mother-in-law really regrets her words now. And decides not to take these issues lightly the next time.
After a few days, Durga underwent surgery and is now perfectly fine. She really needs some rest. Her chances of getting pregnant have certainly declined with the removal of one of her fallopian tubes, but she can still get pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby. But she could try conceiving at least 3 months later when she gets better. Her family is really supportive of what has happened and decides not to repeat the ignorance in the future. Durga is emotionally supported very well.
This was just a story of Durga. There are many Durgas in the rural parts of Nepal who don’t really know about ectopic pregnancy. They are compelled to ignore all the signs with the myth that complications in pregnancy are a normal thing. But the fact is ectopic pregnancy occurs in 1–2% of total pregnancies. When diagnosed earlier, treatment with medication is possible, and the risk of bursting of the fallopian tube also decreases. This could lead to safe termination and a lot less pain in the mother.
Durga(hypothetical character) in the story is just a representative of many women, who do not get proper medical facilities during their pregnancies. Durga is just a representative of women who are compelled to tolerate all the pain because the superior in the family do not really think it’s a good idea to let know other people about the pregnancy. Durga is just a representative of thousands of women of rural parts of Nepal who still lack knowledge of basic reproductive health care facilities and services. Durga could be among us. Durga could be anywhere.
Only awareness in both formal and informal manners from the government, community and family level needs to be encouraged not to let the story of Durga repeat. Also, emotional support from the family members really helps in getting the mother and her spouse away from a difficult time.
