If you recall from Ann Ann's birth story there were some complications with the placenta. That sucker was holding on for dear life. The doctor even snapped the umbilical cord while trying to get it out.
Once it was out the doctor carefully inspected it to make sure it was all out. She said it was. Who was I to doubt her?
She gave my antibiotics to avoid infection and some medication to contract my uterus quickly to avoid hemorrhaging. All seemed well...until...
Monday night Justin and I got to enjoy our first double date the the future Welbaums. I really enjoy those people. I stopped by the restroom before I left and had a weird cramping feeling when going to the bathroom, but it went away after a few seconds and everything seemed fine. Then when I stood up I felt a blood clot come out - it was about the size of a ping pong ball. The doctor said to look for clots bigger than a golf ball. This was not that big, so I just ignored it.
On the way home I was having some random cramping, but it was tolerable and that is not uncommon as my body squeezes itself back into shape. I ignored the minor cramping and went to bed.
At 12:03 AM I woke up in severe pain. I was cramping worse than ever and could barely make it to the bathroom. As I sat on the toilet the cramping got even worse. Every time I started to push to do my business the pain intensified. After 30 minutes of severe pain I began to feel light headed and nauseous. I called to Justin because I was worried I was about to pass out. At this point I was breaking into a hot sweat on top of everything else and wanted to get in the shower to cool off and hopefully keep me from fainting. Justin helped me get into the shower and then he called the Nurse Hotline to find out what they suggest for us to do.
I was not surprised to hear them say I needed to go to the ER right away. I was hoping that they would be like "she's fine, she just needs to sleep it off", but at this point I knew it was probably something more. So PRAISE JESUS that Amber (who babysat for us while we went out on our double date) stayed the night with us and was there to watch the kids as we headed to the ER at 1 AM.
Luckily we got in quickly and I got an IV within a few minutes of being there. The IV sucked because it was done right at my elbow so it hurt whenever I tried to move my arm, but they got me fluids, Zofran (for nausea), and Morphine for pain. I don't like Morphine. It makes you feel funny, and in this case it didn't do anything for the pain.
An ultrasound was done and they found that all of the placenta was NOT out. I was given 2 options. I could go home with some pills that would contract my uterus and flush out the remaining placenta (which would be painful) or I could get a D&C. Since I didn't want surgery I opted for the pills. So about 4 hours from arriving I was being sent home... in pain and on the verge of passing out every time I moved.
So I spent the entire day yesterday in bed. Every movement I made caused my pain level to shoot up from a resting 6 to an intense 8. I was given pain killers that took the edge off, but they made me so drowsy that I could barely keep my eyes open for more than an hour at a time all day. My daddy came by around lunch time with food and snacks which was awesome, because I hadn't been able to muster enough energy to get up and feed myself. And I spent the whole day waiting for the rest of the placenta to make its appearance (in the form of 2-3 more large blood clots according to the doctor).
Now we are at today. I'm still in pain, but now its between a 4 and a 6 so it is manageable. I still feel very lightheaded if I move around too much. But the worst part is... I still haven't had any blood clots. So does this mean that maybe it came out in smaller pieces so I didn't notice it? Or does it mean its still in there an I could develop an infection? Does this mean despite trying to avoid the surgery by taking the pills I'm going to end up needing a D&C anyway?
As of right now, I don't know. I have this last day to "wait" and then I'll talk to my doctor to find out
"what's next".
People have asked what they can do to help, and right now the best would be just to pray for me please. Pray my body does what it needs to do so that I do NOT need a D&C. You can pray the pain goes away too, but I'm more than willing to deal with that part if it means the remaining pieces of placenta come out on their own.
And now back to bed.
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