Love Island star says she blamed herself for ectopic pregnancy

Speaking exclusively to OK!, Emma revealed she was 18 years old and had no idea she was pregnant when symptoms began.

In fact, she was fresh off a night out when she started feeling extreme pains in her back.

"I got up on a Sunday after a night out, and I had really bad back pains. I told my mum I didn’t feel well and she just said I was hungover so I went back to bed,” she explained.

"It got really bad. I was screaming, so I went up to the hospital. They actually did an ultrasound on me and said I had appendicitis. They put me on a drip of antibiotics to bring the inflammation down in my appendix, because they were worried it could burst.

"I was in there for a day and a half and still complaining of a lot of pain. A specialist then came in, looked at my notes again and, 20 minutes later, he said: ‘I’m sorry, we’ve missed this: you’ve got an ectopic pregnancy.’”

Emma said her world was rocked – not only was she processing the news that she was pregnant, but also that this pregnancy wasn't go to last.

An ectopic pregnancy happens when your fertilised egg implants itself outside your womb (usually in one of your fallopian tubes), instead of inside it. It's not common – it's thought to happen 1 in 90 pregnancies.

Unfortunately, when it does happen, the pregnancy can't continue because the fertilised egg can't develop into a baby. Usually, it's removed either with medicine or in an operation– which is what happened to Emma – to prevent the risk of it causing a potentially life-threatening rupture to your fallopian tube

During her op, she lost her left fallopian tube, the ovary and some of the tissue around it.

Emma says she didn’t even know when she woke up from the procedure if she’d ever be able to have kids again.

(She can, as she and Jordan are expecting a baby boy in Jan 2018 ?)

And while she tried to move past what happened to her, she was also left with the nagging question: "I wasn’t trying to fall pregnant. I’d been going out a lot. And for a long time I was thinking ‘Oh God, was it that night that did it?'"

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Emma hopes that, by sharing her story, she can raise awareness of ectopic pregnancy.

"I didn’t know what it was," she says. "I had no idea what it meant. It’s something that should be spoken about more, ... just making people feel they’re not the only people it’s happened to. It's horrendous and a horrible thing to go through, but you’re not alone."

We really feel for Emma, and think she’s incredibly brave for sharing her story like this.

Ectopic pregnancy can be life-threatening, especially if it's diagnosed late (symptoms include tummy pain, like Emma had, vaginal bleeding, pain in the tip of your shoulder and discomfort when seeing or pooing). And dealing with the sudden loss can be a very complicated emotion. The whole process can make you feel so isolated…

We’re so glad she’s shared her story, to help those of us know that we’re not alone. In fact, it seems like more and more TV stars are opening up about their experiences.

Chloe Goodman, of Ex On The Beach and Celeb Big Brother fame, just yesterday shared a heartbreaking account of her missed miscarriage at 12 weeks.

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Image: Instagram/Emma-Jane Woodhams

Read more:

• Reality star’s devastating miscarriage on the motorway
• What you need to know about ectopic pregnancy
  
• Sober Jonathan Rhys Meyers turns to alcohol after wife Mara’s miscarriage