A Night of Not-so-Fun Firsts

Three weeks ago I found out that I was carrying a non-viable fetus at my 10 week check-up. I decided to wait and let my body rid itself of the fetus rather than having a D&C right away. Ummm, wrong choice. For three weeks, I still felt and looked pregnant and wondered if every cramp meant the miscarriage was starting. Last night the real show began....

I was crampy and spotty all day, but didn't think much of it. I really wasn't thinking it was going to be a huge deal- a heavy period- I had been told. After Clint left for a church meeting, the pain and bleeding took a turn for the worst. He came home quickly and put the kids to bed while I talked to the on-call ob on the phone. He prescribed a med for me to take that would help speed the process along. Clint hopped in the car to pick up the prescription. Meanwhile, while talking to my mom on the phone, I started to feel really dizzy and felt like I was going to faint. I did not think this was such a good thing since I had lost so much blood. I called 911 since I was all alone and crawled down the stairs to unlock the front door to let them in. Clint, our neighbor and the firemen showed up at the same time and suggested I get to the hospital. My dad showed up to stay with the sleeping kids and my mom came with us to the hospital. Thank goodness for having family so close.

Luckily, it is only a 5 minute drive so we took our own car instead of having the drama of riding in an aid car. They got me in quickly and got me as comfortable as they could. I felt like I was birthing another child without an epidural. The ob (who I had talked to earlier on the phone- the one that said 9 out of 10 women can do this on their own at home :)) took one look at me and said we were going to the OR for a D&C. I lost a lot of blood , but they didn't have to do a transfusion. After a quick surgery and a much longer recovery, we finally headed home at 3 am.

I am feeling much better today- just really tired from lack of sleep. Clint stayed home and helped with the kids since I wasn't supposed to drive anywhere today.

I am just happy to have the whole ordeal over. It was difficult to have the emotional grieving happen first, then the anticipation of the physical pain, and then the actual physical pain. Luckily, I had the support of many friends and family members.

When I woke up from anesthesia, I was crying and telling the nurse how blessed I was. She probably thought I was crazy :). But, I do feel very blessed- I have family and good friends in the area to help with our kids, the hospital wasn't busy so everything moved quickly, the nurses and doctors were all very kind and capable, and I honestly felt the Lord's hand through this entire experience.

It was definitely a night of firsts though:

First miscarriage

First call to 911

First firetruck in front of our house (thankfully they didn't drive up with the lights and sirens)

First trip to the ER

First anesthesia

First surgery

First time losing 5 lbs in one night

However, I am hoping that these are firsts and lasts (except for the losing 5 lbs one- I didn't mind that one :))!

Sorry, no pictures to document the experience. I was thinking this morning how thrilled Jack would have been to see the firetruck in front of our house, seeing me rolled around in a huge bed with wheels all over the hospital, being loopy after waking up from surgery, etc.

The much happier patient today.