April Is Not Going as Planned

April was supposed to be a relaxing month. We figured after I had the baby we'd be able to spend some great family time together. After we got home from the hospital with Lincoln, he was readmitted 3 days later with jaundice. We spent 2 nights in the hospital and he's now doing great. When we got home I promised Matthew there would be no more hospital. My body decided different.

On Sunday it seemed I was almost back to normal after having the baby. Sunday night I had some heavy bleeding that was a little alarming. Monday I seemed to be back to normal. Monday night the same thing happened. I called my doctor first thing Tuesday morning. I wanted to see if what was happening was normal. Tuesday morning I seemed to be back to normal again but I wanted some reassurance from my doctor. While waiting to hear back from him, I started hemorrhaging and the blood wouldn't stop. The doctor called and said it sounded like there might be some placenta left inside. He wanted me to go to Bowman (45 miles away) to get an ultrasound. Bowman would then let him know what they found. We'd called my mom to come and help with the boys. They were loading them up and I was waiting until the last possible moment to get in the vehicle. At this point I'd been bleeding non-stop for almost an hour. I think I lost a minimum of 7 cups of blood. When they were ready I got up to go and I couldn't walk. I told Ken that I better just go to the emergency room here in Baker. Ken helped me to the car and I fought the whole time not to pass out.

At the emergency room the bleeding hadn't slowed down. The doctor here got a hold of an OB/GYN in Miles City (80 miles away). They started me on an IV and gave me a shot of something that would help slow the bleeding down. I was then taken by ambulance to Miles City. Ken rode with me. My mom and the boys followed along with my sister, her baby and my grandma. Once I got to the emergency room in Miles City the bleeding had slowed down. The doctor wanted me to be more stable before doing anything else. I got admitted and got a blood transfusion. I had 2 IV's in, a catheter, blood pressure cuff, and blood oxygen monitor on. I didn't get a very restful night of sleep. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink. I was also on IV antibiotic and pitocin to help my uterus contract. By Wednesday morning my blood count was back up. The doctor wanted to do a D&C to scrape out my uterus to see what was going on. I went into surgery Wednesday afternoon. The doctor didn't find any placenta left inside which was a good thing. He thinks there might have been some sort of infection. The tissue was sent to pathology to see what they can find. I got to leave the hospital about 3 hours after I was out of surgery. It was nice to sleep in my own bed last night.

I'm feeling better today. I'm pretty weak and nauseous. I go back next week for a follow-up. What I was most worried about the whole time was Lincoln. I'm nursing and I was afraid my milk would dry up. He's never taken a bottle and I don't want him to have to. Luckily they let me continue to feed him. Him and Ken stayed at the hospital with me and he didn't miss a beat. They wouldn't let me eat or drink for over 24 hours. The IV's that I was on gave me just enough to keep up my milk supply though.

Thank God for my mom and sister too. They've been there these last 3 weeks to help, especially with Matthew. Ken and I have been in and out of the hospital a lot and couldn't have done it without their help. My dad has been a great dog sitter too:)

Hopefully now everything will be back to normal. Matthew's doing great, Lincoln's a great baby, life is good! Here's some pictures from the last week.