A Scary Thursday

Just when we thought all of the pregnancy issues were over, I ended up back at the hospital Thursday night.  I had just gone down to lay in bed around 7:45 pm while Joel took a turn with Miles.  I was in bed when I felt a big gushing feeling.  I got up and ran into the bathroom - getting blood EVERYWHERE.  Our bathroom looked like a murder scene!

Joel called Leah to come get me to take me to the hospital since he needed to stay home with Miles and Hailey.  Luckily, Hailey was sound asleep.  I fed Miles while sitting in the bathroom bleeding....  I called our neighbor out of panic too to sit at the house so Joel and Miles could follow since he had been fussing all night and wanting to eat every half hour or so and I didn't want to give him a bottle.  Joel said he would figure out the plan once I got down to the hospital and that his mom was already on the way too.  We headed to Southdale since Dr. E was on call. 

Leah and I got to the hospital and went to the ER, but they sent me to the other door for labor and delivery.  When I stood up to get out of the car, blood and clots came gushing out of my pants leg - there was a gentleman in scrubs standing outside that was very worried about me.  We got up to Maternal Assessment Center and one of the nurses wheeled me back down to the ER.  We finally got checked in and through triage and I got an ultrasound ordered.  Leah was an absolute rockstar and stayed with me the whole time.  Luckily, the UCLA softball game was on TV so that gave me something to be distracted with.  I also greatly appreciated the ER doctor and nurse who understood my concern about losing my supply and brought me down a pump.  They also made sure that my milk was stored on ice and ready to go home to Miles.  Sheri and Joel were able to get Miles some of the milk I had been storing from the Haaka and found some samples of formula to feed him while I was gone. 

I went back to ultrasound and they found what looked to be retained placenta that was causing the bleeding.  When they finally brought me back to my room, Dr. E was there waiting for me and told me she wanted to do a D&C to control the bleeding and get the retained placenta out.  She had to go through the risks of the procedure, including a possible hysterectomy if the placenta was too embedded.  I was able to pump one more time before heading to pre-op.  Not long after pumping, my blood pressure tanked.  I got super hot and nauseas and thought I was going to throw up.  They gave me some meds to help with that and got me wheeled back to pre-op (after a nasal swab for COVID).  Leah was able to come back with me and Joel took off from home to come down.  I was SO HOT in pre-op, I kept taking all of the blankets and gown off of me while they waited to assemble the surgery team.  Joel got down there right as they were wheeling me into surgery right around midnight, so I got so see him before going.  I was really scared.... I watch way too much Grey's Anatomy so had way too many worst case scenarios going through my head.  

The procedure took about 45 minutes and I woke up in recovery.  I was adamant about Joel going to get Miles so I could feed him... Thankfully I finally stopped asking, Joel was absolutely right that he shouldn't drive home at 2am to get him, but at the time that's all I was worried about.  I was so concerned I wouldn't be able to breast feed Miles anymore after being gone and him taking a bottle.  While in surgery and with the bleeding throughout the night, Dr. E ordered a blood transfusion.  She estimated I lost about 3 liters of blood.  They brought down 2 units of blood and I had to be admitted up to the postpartum floor we had just left the week before.  The room we were in was so small, it didn't even have a couch for Joel to sleep on.  It just had a chair that pulled out into a bed-like thing.  Joel slept like a log though :) I pumped when I got settled into the room and then again 3 hours later.  They were in about every hour checking my vitals. 

I ordered some food around 6:30 am and Dr. E came in around 7:00am to check on me.  I had labs ordered for 8am that needed to come back okay before I would be allowed to leave.  I was able to get up and walk by myself so they could remove the catheter.  They gave me a new gown to put on - and since I hadn't been through enough, I had a weird allergic reaction to it and had itchy rashes all over my skin where it touched me... They got me a Benadryl (just what I needed when I was already tired) and that helped.  They came and got labs and about an hour later, things came back normal so I was discharged and sent home.  The best thing was getting home and Miles feeding like nothing had even happened!  Joel took a long nap and then took a turn with Miles so I could nap.  We were definitely zombies....

I am blown away with the support and love we have from friends and family that got us through this:

• Leah came to take me to the hospital and stayed with me so I was never alone, she was such a rock solid support person - ignoring my stubbornness telling her she should just head home and having such a calm head while I was the opposite of calm; she brought my pumped milk home so Miles could eat
• Our neighbor who came over in an instant when I called her out of panic to see if she would sit at the house in case Joel was going to follow me and Leah in his car with Miles (I was definitely obsessed with making sure he was fed)
• Joel's mom for being an absolute saint - she came and helped clean up everything and stayed with both kids so that Joel could be at the hospital with me.  She did night feedings with Miles and juggled both kids in the morning by herself - which is a feat, Hailey is a little monkey right now
• My running friend Kristen took Hailey to daycare Friday morning so that Joel's mom could stay with Miles and not have to load everyone into the car
• The texts of support from everyone <3

Things have calmed down now and I am so truly thankful for everyone and that we're on the road to recovery.  This is a great reminder to donate blood!