clear on up now
Well, I decided to go ahead and make that public blog I was talking about before. Here it is, with one post, a book review. I'm going to continue the whole "open secret" nature of this LJ, so I'm not going to link here from there, but I might occasionally link there from here. So, from this point forward, this LJ is going to be 99% personal life.
I've been wanting to write about a health problem I'm experiencing but I've been hesitant because it's a reproductive system problem. People still get fidgety hearing about problems with the gastrointestinal and reproductive system, especially if there's no fairly widely understood technical term (like "endometriosis") and you have to actually describe what's happening. But I want to let people know what's up and also get some prayer. So I'll put it behind a cut.
Soooo if you aren't aware, in the postpartum period, the mother has a bleeding called "lochia" which is a clearing out of all the stuff in the uterus. Usually it lasts four to six weeks and starts out heavy and bright red with clots, then gradually lightens, both in color and quantity, until it stops altogether.
I'm at 7w3d now and still having mostly bright red bleeding. It isn't very heavy (a light days pad will last all day) but it isn't stopping. Especially in conjunction with my postpartum hemorrhage, this is concerning, as it might indicate retained placenta or some other uterine issue. In addition to not at all helping with my low-iron (although I'm officially no longer anemic, yay), this has risks of infection and other not fun stuff.
The doctor has scheduled me for an ultrasound, but if it does find an issue, the usual treatment is a D&C, which has its own risks (such as Asherman's syndrome, which has a scary risk of 25% in postpartum D&Cs), plus the usual risks of general anesthesia. In addition, I'd have to be separated from Mary-Alice to have the procedure and at this age even a few hours is a lot.
So long story short, if this issue could clear itself up on its own before the diagnostic (on Monday), that'd be greaaaaat.
I've been wanting to write about a health problem I'm experiencing but I've been hesitant because it's a reproductive system problem. People still get fidgety hearing about problems with the gastrointestinal and reproductive system, especially if there's no fairly widely understood technical term (like "endometriosis") and you have to actually describe what's happening. But I want to let people know what's up and also get some prayer. So I'll put it behind a cut.
Soooo if you aren't aware, in the postpartum period, the mother has a bleeding called "lochia" which is a clearing out of all the stuff in the uterus. Usually it lasts four to six weeks and starts out heavy and bright red with clots, then gradually lightens, both in color and quantity, until it stops altogether.
I'm at 7w3d now and still having mostly bright red bleeding. It isn't very heavy (a light days pad will last all day) but it isn't stopping. Especially in conjunction with my postpartum hemorrhage, this is concerning, as it might indicate retained placenta or some other uterine issue. In addition to not at all helping with my low-iron (although I'm officially no longer anemic, yay), this has risks of infection and other not fun stuff.
The doctor has scheduled me for an ultrasound, but if it does find an issue, the usual treatment is a D&C, which has its own risks (such as Asherman's syndrome, which has a scary risk of 25% in postpartum D&Cs), plus the usual risks of general anesthesia. In addition, I'd have to be separated from Mary-Alice to have the procedure and at this age even a few hours is a lot.
So long story short, if this issue could clear itself up on its own before the diagnostic (on Monday), that'd be greaaaaat.