We like to call this little episode "When TJ broke mommy"
9 days post partum - June 18th - I felt a little off. I called my mom to come over that afternoon to watch TJ so I could take a nap. I woke up a couple hours later, around 3pm, and just started gushing blood when I got out of bed. I made it to the bathroom and screamed for my mom or Jim (who luckily was working from home). We called the emergency line at my OB's office and spoke with a nurse. She said to sit on a bad and see if it soaked through within 30 minutes, she would call me back. It soaked through almost immediately. I was feeling light headed, dizzy and hot and my mom and Jim tried to get me to eat something. After about an hour there was no stopping in sight so we decided I needed to go to the hospital. When I stood up huge blood clots just fell out of me. This happened twice more. On the third attempt of me getting up to get downstairs in the car I passed out completely, taking my mom down with me on the bathroom floor. I was out about a minute and woke up to Jim on the phone with 911.
The ambulance showed up shortly there after and loaded me. The entire way to the hospital I still have these huge blood clots (about the size of a dinner plate) coming out. In the emergency room they check me out and call the doctor on call at my office which happened to be the doctor that delivered me. The started an ultrasound to see if they could see where the bleeding was coming from about the time my doctor came. She dove into action demanding blood be sent down and calling for the OR to be prepped. I was taken into surgery for an emergency D&C. Unfortunately, I had eaten shortly before so had to be intubated. Luckily, I came through with all the parts I went in with - my biggest fear was losing them.
I was in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. I had 2 IVs, one in each arm pumping me with antibiotics and fluids. I had 3 units of blood during and just after my surgery. The hospital was wonderful and watched me like a hawk. I had a little setback on Saturday with an allergic reaction when they tried to give me plasma. Funny, considering how much of that I donated in college for beer money. :-)
The worst part of the ordeal was being away from my new baby and leaving poor Jim in such a state with a newborn at home by himself and almost losing his wife. Everyone I talked to commented on what a close call it was. That if I was home by myself I probably wouldn't have been able to get to a phone and would have bled out and died. We thank God that both Jim and my mom were home with me!
Jim's mom came back to town to help out at home and Jim did bring TJ to visit me each day. Luckily, I was able to pump at the hospital and send milk home for him so he was only on formula for about a day. Even one day on that stuff made him stink though! Yuck! lol
Everything is perfectly fine with me now. The doctors aren't sure if this was a fluke since most post postpartum hemorrhaging happens within 48 hours of giving birth. I could also have Von Willebrand's disease, a blood clotting disorder that only appears during pregnancy. They're running tests now to find out if I have that but I haven't heard back with the results yet. I'll worry and cross that bridge when we're ready for our next child.
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