I was told that you cannot get your menstrual cycle while breast feeding (or that it is extremely uncommon). Normal woman start to get their menstrual cycle when they start to ween their baby off of breast feeding. Well, on a Sunday afternoon I started bleeding and having really horrible cramps. I called the nurse at my Doctor's office and told her that I think I got my period. She said and I quote "well, it is possible to get your period while you are breast feeding but it's just really uncommon. If you are still bleeding in 2-3 weeks, call back". I got off the phone and literally said out loud, "I'll be dead by then". I just chalked it all up to being one of those freaks of nature that everything "uncommon" happens to. (One time in College I contracted a rash that only 1 in a million people can get!!! …true story!!). Immediately I start taking some medicine to subside the cramps. No matter how much or how often I took the medicine the cramps were almost unbearable. This goes on for 9 days. I was starting to get worried because before having Croix I would only have my period for 4 days…max! I know that "everything changes" once you have a baby, so I thought maybe it was going to be like this each month from here on out.
So, on the 9th day I had a friend over visiting with Croix. I was sitting on the couch and all of a sudden I felt this gush down below. It honestly felt like my water broke. Only…I'm not pregnant and I knew this was not good. I excused myself and went to the bathroom. And to my surprise--- BLOOD, EVERY WHERE. So much that it soaked my pad, went through my workout pants (no I'm not working out), and went through my robe! Holy cow. I got extremely scared and called John immediately. He told me that he would leave work and come home. It was about 4:50 PM at this point. Blood was everywhere. I could not stop it from coming. I had to change my clothes and walk out to let my friend know what was going on. I asked her if she could watch the baby while I figured out what to do. Meanwhile, I am bleeding uncontrollably everywhere. My bathroom looked like a murder scene. I kept thinking to myself- "I'm going to pass out…I'm loosing too much blood". Thank goodness my friend was here to watch the baby. I got in the shower because I didn't know what else to do. It was coming out, and coming out fast. I stayed in there for about 10 minutes. After a huge blood clot came out I knew I had to call the nurse. Only one problem- it was after 5:00!!
I called the emergency line. I told the call center that I was not pregnant but needed someone to call me back ASAP. Within a minute the on-call nurse returned my call. She told me to rush to the hospital. The golden rule for loosing too much blood is "if you fill a pad in an hour then you need to go in". Well, I was saturating a pad in less that 1 minute. I started to panic, a little.
My friend suggested that I feed the baby to contract my uterus. She said that may help. We agreed that she should leave while I feed the baby. I sat on the floor with a towel just in case I passed out. John came in minutes later.
I changed again and gathered extra clothes, towels, and frozen breast milk just in case John wasn't able to come into a room with me.
We rushed to the hospital. I wasn't too, too scared at this point. Just worried that I was going to pass out from loosing all the blood.
We arrived to the hospital. They wheeled me into the waiting room. I was so upset because we had Croix with us and I kept thinking he was going to get whatever these people have in the waiting room!! Hospitals are so gross. I didn't even want his car seat on the floor. Croix started crying because he was hungry. A lady asked me if I wanted to go into a private room to feed him. I said yes and was thankful that she offered. She wheeled me to a room. I was embarrassed to get up because I knew I made a mess in the seat. She looked at me and said "it's ok, you can get up. I will have someone come and clean that". I went into the room, fed Croix, made another mess on the couch and then another nurse came in.
She told me that she "thinks" I will need to have a D&C. And then my anxiety level went through the roof.
I was wheeled into a room. The ER doctor told me to go into the bathroom and change into a gown. I told him that I didn't think that was a good idea because I was just going to make a huge mess. He insisted. I came out of the bathroom, embarrassed as ever, and sat down on the bed. Once again, I left that bathroom looking like a murder scene.
The ER doctor began to examine me. He looked at me for about 5 seconds and started calling everyone into the room and I heard things like: "treat her for shock" and "prep her for emergency surgery". OOOOKKK. My heart was going about a mile a minute. Everything was happening so fast. I needed to talk to John to tell him how to feed the baby and who to call if he needs help. No one would give me a minute to do that. I was worrying like crazy that he was going to have a hard time with Croix while I was in surgery. It a was a horrible feeling. I didn't want him to have to figure everything out on his own and not have me around to ask for help. I then started to ask what all a D&C entailed and basically the nurse said "they will put you under and clean everything out". I stopped listening after "put you under". I have never been put under before and damn sure don't want to start when I have a brand new and nursing baby boy. I started
Long story short: I didn't need surgery, THANK THE LORD ABOVE (he must have known that I wouldn't be able to handle that). My doctor, Dr. L, was called into the hospital and he decided he wanted do an "old fashioned D&C". And let me explain what this consists of….he propped me open with what I refer to as the "jaws of pain". You know, the clamps they use at your annual check up?…Those. And then he proceeds to dig and I mean DIG inside of me with tiny forceps. This was extremelyyyy painful. I was screaming and asking the doctor when he was going to be finished and he was ignoring me!! Then finally, I yelled "DR. L- WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE FINISHED? I CANNOT HANDLE THIS!!". And he kindly responded "In a moment". However, the entire time I was thinking…it could be worse. I could be having surgery. So I was just breathing through the pain.
Now for the gross part---ya, I haven't even got to the gross part yet. Guess what was causing all that bleeding?? A. PIECE. OF. PLACENTA. Yes, you read that correct. Placenta. Apparently the doctor who delivered Croix didn't get out the entire placenta.
Blood clots and blood kept gushing out (not even kidding about the gushing part) even after he removed the piece of placenta and my hemoglobin levels were dropping. So, Dr. L decided it would be best if I stayed the night. They monitored me over night, coming in every hour to check on me. My hemoglobin levels dropped again over night but Dr. L let me go home in the morning. Thank goodness because staying the night in a hospital with a baby and your husband is not ideal (especially when you go in as an emergency because you have absolutely nothing!!).
Remember, I'm just keeping it real for ya! ;)
Anyways, I am better now and the medicine I was prescribed has stopped the bleeding. Whew. That was a doozy.
Your dose of cuteness:
I love this boy so much, it's just unreal.
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