Scary Day

Yesterday did not go according to plan. Everything started out great: Got the Nadi-B off to preschool on time, cupcakes and all, spent the morning playing with the baby, and started a big pot of pintos for dinner that I was planning on pairing with some homemade flour tortillas. Then it started raining and I had to cancel plans for the kiddos to spend the afternoon with B's godparents.

I was supposed to go to the doctor yesterday afternoon for a check up and then on to the hospital for the triple screen blood test. Once it started raining, I decided I really didn't feel like spending the afternoon at the hospital and that I really wasn't feeling very much like having 5 tubes of blood drawn. I decided to reschedule the triple screen for next week and just do my check up since normally, I'm the only one in there and it takes like 10 minutes.

I went in. Weight was normal. Blood pressure was normal. Baby's heartbeat was normal. Then it was just the normal chit chat, Dr. told me everything looked great, and sent me to the front desk to make an appointment for my next ultrasound and my next month's appointment. As I'm standing at the counter waiting on the nurse to call the ultrasound people and set the appointment I feel ... a gush. Oh great, I think. I figured, considering that the waiting room was for once full of people, and considering my normal luck that I was having one of those embarrassing pregger's moments where you accidentally pee on yourself in public. As I'm thinking this, I feel another gush. Okay, I think. I'll just jot to the bathroom really quick while she's doing her thing.

As I'm walking to the bathroom, the gushes continue and get bigger. By the time I reach the toilet, I'm panicking. It was like my worst nightmare come true. I was bleeding. In gushes. So I FREAK. I start yelling for Melissa the nurse, and by the time she answers me I'm hysterical and sobbing and can barely unlock the door for her and Dr. Bowen to get in and see what's up. The nurse freaks. Dr. Bowen freaks. This has all transpired literally 2 minutes after I walked out of the examination room.

Dr. Bowen ushers me out the door and past the waiting room full of people. Let me just take a minute to say that I feel really sorry for those pregnant women. I'm sure when your sitting there thinking everything is normal and then someone who just had a normal happy checkup starts screaming about blood from the bathroom, that it has to be pretty darn disconcerting. He followed me the 1/4 of a mile to the hospital and escorted me into the emergency room.

By the time they get a nurse into the room to start an IV, the bleeding had slowed down considerably. So much for not spending the afternoon at the hospital. The rushed me to the ultrasound room where I had the pleasure of being probed by the SAME ultrasound tech who did my first rather unpleasant ultrasound. I just lay there, holding my breath while she probed and clicked away, peering at the sonar screen... just waiting for the one thing that was important to ME. After a few minutes, I finally breathed a sigh of relief when the baby's heartbeat started, loud and strong, and normal.

10 minutes later, she, Dr. Bowen, and some other doctor were huddled around the ultrasound screen taking turns wielding the sonar wand and babbling incoherently in medical terms I couldn't possibly follow. It didn't help that they all sounded flustered and not 100% sure of what had caused the bleeding, which by that point had just about stopped. There was some talk about how my placenta looked high, or that it had been pulled up, which I gathered was slightly better than it being low. (????)Dr. Bowen then explained that what appeared to have happened is that a part of the placenta had pulled away from the wall, causing the bleed and that it was already starting to clot. He admitted me for overnight observation and put me on strict bed rest. I was not allowed to eat or drink anything except for ice chips in case of any other emergencies.

The bleeding, thankfully didn't start up again, though I did have a small amount this morning while still at the hospital. The hope is that the blood will continue to clot and form scar tissue, and that as the placenta grows with the baby that it will reattach itself. Apparently, this is a more common issue later in pregnancies, but more rare in someone as early on as what I am.

I am now home, but on strict bed rest for the next 10 days. I am only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom. I may take showers no longer than 5 minutes. I am to move as little as possible. After which I will go back for another ultrasound. I will then be on moderate bed rest for the next 2 months. My activity will be limited to bathroom, showers, and occasionally walking around the house or sitting on the couch... but no lifting, no activity such as cleaning or bending... etc. I will be monitored closely with frequent dr.'s visits and will pretty much have to take it easy even after the 2 months bed rest. This is all of course, barring any other incidents which may result in more bed rest or trips to the hospital. (which we are of course, praying is not the case). The idea is to get me past the 22-25 week marker, before which the baby can't feasibly make it outside of the womb.

It has been a scary couple of days. I take back all the whining and such I did about the throwing up. I will take throwing up any day instead of bleeding. Yep. Bring on the vomit! *sighs* So for now, I am stranded in my bed with a busted laptop and not much else to do but wait. Times like these, I am so grateful that we have formed ourselves a community of friends and loved ones as offers to help with the kids, the house, dinners, etc. have come pouring in from all sides. I must say though, that that sister wife Heather was advertising for the other day would be awesome right now. I will keep you all posted at least as far as bed rest is interesting. In the meantime, I hope you all do a lot of posting because I'm going to be in desperate need of entertainment.