Not dead after all
My awesome midwife is awesome.
Want to know what happened to me? Of course you do. It's kind of icky though. If you are pregnant you probably shouldn't read it. If you are male, you REALLY shouldn't read it.
So for days and days, I felt like a truck had run me over. I figured this was normal. I'd just had a baby. Sure I felt worse than after Ben, but every birth is different right?
On Tuesday (a week after Allison's birth) I had severe cramps for about two hours. I called my midwife because they seemed really strong and painful, almost like contractions. She said not to worry too much because I had an appointment the next day, and it was probably just that I tried to do too much the day before.
Well, that evening, I was keeping an eye on my bleeding, which had changed back to bright red with a few tiny clots. And there was something weird going on.
(This is where it gets graphic guys)
There was something kind of purple there, something that wasn't there before. And it wasn't falling into the toilet like a clot. It looked like tissue.
Weird.
But I remembered that I had already called my midwife that day and had an appointment the next day and it seemed unlikely that I was going to die in the next 14 hours.
Cut to the next morning. I went to use the restroom and screamed. There was a ton of blood. Bright red. Everywhere. And if that wasn't enough, there was more of that purple tissue looking stuff hanging out of me. And it hurt. A lot. I thought OMG, it's a prolapsed uterus. (which the midwives had told me about when warning me not too do too much after the birth, such as try to lift ben) So I called Charlotte right away, and then when she didn't answer, debated calling 911, but decided to page her instead. When her assistant answered, she was like "what do you need suzanne?" (because I had just called the day before freaking out about small stuff) but this time I was crying and said "you need to tell me exactly what a prolapsed uterus is and what it looks like" and she was like "I'll get charlotte"
charlotte asked me about what i was seeing, had me prop my hips up on pillows and said she'd be right over. she said that if i started to feel shocky i needed to hang up and call 911. she kept me on the phone while she drove asking me questions about what i saw and how to get there, and basically just making sure i wasn't in shock. (later i realized this is how she knew that i was going to be ok)
she got there and assessed the amount of blood and mess and looked at the tissue and told me that i needed to stand up. so we put out some towels and walked me to the bathroom. she tugged and i screamed and she told me that she was 100 percent sure that this was NOT me, it was not a prolapsed uterus, it was foreign material and needed to come out.
I calmed down and let her do what she needed to do. And then I lived happily ever after.
What happened? Here's the rundown, according to Charlotte, who has been a midwife for 23 years.
Remember my waterbag of steel? That she couldn't tear open and had to cut with scissors? And even then, all it did was open enough of a hole for Allison to be born through, and not burst open and explode like a water balloon?
Well, apparently, it did burst. Just in the back, instead of in the front. So it left reminents of aniotic membrane behind in my uterus. Not something that they can really check for, you know? The placenta was complete ...
Anyway my uterus realized that there was foreign material in there, but my cervix had already closed. So the horrible after pains and then the cramps that felt like contractions, actually WERE contractions. My body was totally doing the right thing. My cervix had to diallate back open enough to pass everything out. BUT, to keep everything even trickier, it didn't open quite enough, hense the hanging material and why it hurt when Charlotte pulled. It was the tension/pressure on my cervix that I was feeling.
Thank god that Charlotte was smart enough and awesome enough not to just tell me the CYA statement of "call 911" and then let them deal with me. She said they probably would have given me a D&C and antibiotics, not to mention separating me from Allison for who knows how long.
And the best part? Ever since that nasty stuff came out of me, I've felt GREAT!!!!! Seriously, it's so nice to feel like myself again. :-)
Want to know what happened to me? Of course you do. It's kind of icky though. If you are pregnant you probably shouldn't read it. If you are male, you REALLY shouldn't read it.
So for days and days, I felt like a truck had run me over. I figured this was normal. I'd just had a baby. Sure I felt worse than after Ben, but every birth is different right?
On Tuesday (a week after Allison's birth) I had severe cramps for about two hours. I called my midwife because they seemed really strong and painful, almost like contractions. She said not to worry too much because I had an appointment the next day, and it was probably just that I tried to do too much the day before.
Well, that evening, I was keeping an eye on my bleeding, which had changed back to bright red with a few tiny clots. And there was something weird going on.
(This is where it gets graphic guys)
There was something kind of purple there, something that wasn't there before. And it wasn't falling into the toilet like a clot. It looked like tissue.
Weird.
But I remembered that I had already called my midwife that day and had an appointment the next day and it seemed unlikely that I was going to die in the next 14 hours.
Cut to the next morning. I went to use the restroom and screamed. There was a ton of blood. Bright red. Everywhere. And if that wasn't enough, there was more of that purple tissue looking stuff hanging out of me. And it hurt. A lot. I thought OMG, it's a prolapsed uterus. (which the midwives had told me about when warning me not too do too much after the birth, such as try to lift ben) So I called Charlotte right away, and then when she didn't answer, debated calling 911, but decided to page her instead. When her assistant answered, she was like "what do you need suzanne?" (because I had just called the day before freaking out about small stuff) but this time I was crying and said "you need to tell me exactly what a prolapsed uterus is and what it looks like" and she was like "I'll get charlotte"
charlotte asked me about what i was seeing, had me prop my hips up on pillows and said she'd be right over. she said that if i started to feel shocky i needed to hang up and call 911. she kept me on the phone while she drove asking me questions about what i saw and how to get there, and basically just making sure i wasn't in shock. (later i realized this is how she knew that i was going to be ok)
she got there and assessed the amount of blood and mess and looked at the tissue and told me that i needed to stand up. so we put out some towels and walked me to the bathroom. she tugged and i screamed and she told me that she was 100 percent sure that this was NOT me, it was not a prolapsed uterus, it was foreign material and needed to come out.
I calmed down and let her do what she needed to do. And then I lived happily ever after.
What happened? Here's the rundown, according to Charlotte, who has been a midwife for 23 years.
Remember my waterbag of steel? That she couldn't tear open and had to cut with scissors? And even then, all it did was open enough of a hole for Allison to be born through, and not burst open and explode like a water balloon?
Well, apparently, it did burst. Just in the back, instead of in the front. So it left reminents of aniotic membrane behind in my uterus. Not something that they can really check for, you know? The placenta was complete ...
Anyway my uterus realized that there was foreign material in there, but my cervix had already closed. So the horrible after pains and then the cramps that felt like contractions, actually WERE contractions. My body was totally doing the right thing. My cervix had to diallate back open enough to pass everything out. BUT, to keep everything even trickier, it didn't open quite enough, hense the hanging material and why it hurt when Charlotte pulled. It was the tension/pressure on my cervix that I was feeling.
Thank god that Charlotte was smart enough and awesome enough not to just tell me the CYA statement of "call 911" and then let them deal with me. She said they probably would have given me a D&C and antibiotics, not to mention separating me from Allison for who knows how long.
And the best part? Ever since that nasty stuff came out of me, I've felt GREAT!!!!! Seriously, it's so nice to feel like myself again. :-)