Backwards

**The following contains details of my hospital visit, which may fall into the "TMI" category, read at your own discretion.

It was about 3 in the morning on Saturday, February 27 when I woke to intense head and neck pain. I was 8 days postpartum and had had this headache for a day or two. I took my pain medicine and as I laid in bed trying to get comfortable I realized I was bleeding. I went into the shower and quickly realized that the amount of blood I was seeing was not normal. I tried to convince myself that I was okay and waiting around a few hours hoping the bleeding would stop, but around 8:00 I told Jordan that we needed to go to the ER. We dropped the older girls off with my mom and took Lydia with us. I was absolutely miserable. I had been crying all morning, and an ER is no place for a postpartum mother.

After a couple hours and an ultrasound, one of my OBs came in and told me what was going on. There were clots and what he speculated was a piece of placenta or membrane stuck in my uterus which was causing the heavy bleeding. He told me I would need a D&C to take care of it. Usually that is a fairly simple procedure, but he warned me that because of my recent c-section the risks of my uterus being punctured went up. If that happened I would have to be opened back up. That's when I really began to panic. I did not want to have another surgery. I was worried about Lydia, also, because she's exclusively breastfed and we didn't have any spare milk in case the D&C went long. And I was so happy that I had never had to give her formula. All my others needed formula to get through the first couple days until my milk came in, but Lydia didn't. And we didn't even have formula. As they were wheeling me away I asked if we could get some formula from the family birthplace, and they happily obliged.

It was 1:00 when I went into the OR, and when I came out from the anesthesia I saw that the clock said 1:35 and realized that the procedure went well and there were no complications. The first thing I did was thank God. They kept me in recovery for an hour and a half, and I eventually had to tell the nurses that I had a newborn that would need to eat soon. Lydia usually eats every 1-2 hours, and it was approaching 2 1/2 hours since I had last fed her. They took me up to my room where Jordan was waiting and he told me Lydia slept the whole time and had just started to get fussy. We made it without having to use formula.

My OB told me in recovery that while the D&C went well, I had lost a lot of blood and my hemoglobin was low. He gave me the option of going home or receiving a blood transfusion. I needed blood after my c-section and only took one unit when they offered two because I wanted to go home. I decided that this time I would take the blood and hopefully feel better when I did get home.

Lydia was perfect the entire day. She slept and nursed and snuggled and didn't make a peep. Jordan took over most of her care for the day and I think he enjoyed the extra bonding. He remained calm through the whole ordeal, which is good, because I most certainly did not.

We went home after the blood transfusion was finished, which unfortunately wasn't until 1:00 in the morning. I was sent home with a few more prescriptions and that was that.

It certainly set me back a couple steps, but I am so grateful that things went as smoothly as they did. I'm also incredibly glad that I didn't send my husband to his grandfather's funeral that happened to be that same day. It is all over now, and I truly hope the rest of my recovery goes without a hiccup.