I seemed to be healing from Will's birth just fine. About a week later, I thought maybe I had some kind of infection. I woke up and didn't feel very well. I had a fever around 100 degrees. I was supposed to be home with both boys for the first time by myself. Jonny decided to take the day off and stay home with me. Thank God! I called the doctor and got an appointment for 3:30. I felt ok most of the day, thanks to ibuprofen. I headed to the doctor about 3:00 and took Will with me, since he would need to eat while I was there. Upon arriving at the doctor's office, I started bleeding quite heavily. I ended up having to wait a while since my doctor was delivering a baby. I have the most awesome mom, who came up to the doctor's office to be with me and help with Will. Once the doctor examined me, he said there was no infection, but that the bleeding was "new blood" and he needed to check it all out. He told me I needed a D and C and that he needed to do it that evening. And then, I started to panic. The only time I have been in the hospital is for giving birth! I had never been put under, which is what I was really scared about. But, it needed to be done if I didn't want to bleed to death!
So, my dad came to the rescue and spent the entire night with Wes. I was sent directly to the hospital to prepare for surgery. I was able to nurse Will before thankfully. I didn't have any milk stored up yet so they had to give him formula while I was in surgery. He did fine. :) While waiting for a wheel chair to take me up to the surgery floor, the bleeding became very heavy. They told me that I ended up losing over a liter of blood! Thankfully, I didn't need any blood transfusions.
I was so very scared and nervous to be put under, but it really wasn't bad at all. It happened very quickly. I remember feeling a little nauseous coming out of anesthesia, but never got sick. They then explained to me that the D and C did not stop the bleeding. Ugh. He had to place a balloon, filled with fluid, in my uterus. Basically like putting pressure on a wound to stop the bleeding. This immediately worked. I had to keep this balloon in for 24 hours and then they would slowly drain it and remove it. If this didn't stop the bleeding, I would need a hysterectomy. So, with lots of faithful and prayerful friends and family, we faced the days ahead. Due to a medication I was on, I was unable to nurse Will. So, I was pumping and dumping. So sad. If you've ever nursed before, you know that milk is like liquid gold! Will did great taking a bottle and I was able to keep my supply up. I stayed in the hospital 3 nights and Will was able to stay the whole time. Jonny stayed the first night with me. My mom stayed the next 2 nights with me, while Jonny stayed with Wes to give him a little bit of normalcy.
Praise God, the balloon thing worked! I went home still nervous that I could hemorrhage again, but happy to be home with all 3 of my boys. Unfortunately, I was on lifting restrictions, which was very hard for Wes and me. :( My dad came over to help a lot. I'm so thankful for him!
The best part of all of this, is that I was able to get 2 extra weeks leave! After a check-up 2 weeks after the surgery, the doctor said everything looked good. The sight where the placenta attaches to the uterus may not have healed correctly, which is what my doctor believes caused the hemorrhaging.
I'm incredibly thankful to all the friends and family who prayed for me, brought us food, and visited me at the hospital. I'm also thankful for God's protection and timing.
And here's a few pictures, just because they're cute!
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| my sweet boys |
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| bath buddies |
And the moral of the story is...Prayer is powerful!
So thankful you are okay! Your parents are awesome and I am so thankful Jonny decided to stay home that day! That was scary but the power of prayer is awesome! Love you!
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