The Rest of the Story

****WARNING**** This post might have too much information for some people. And it's a long one.

Ok, so it all started back in mid-May when Scott and I found out we were expecting our 3rd child. We were so excited, especially me since I thought this was the last time I'd have to be pregnant. We always agreed that we want 3 children but I DO NOT enjoy being pregnant, so I was excited to welcome our last child to our family and be done having children. Anyway, our joy was short-lived when I started spotting a few days after I found out we were expecting. We decided to keep the pregnancy to ourselves just in case I had another miscarriage (I had one between Mister and Pumpkin). But the spotting was light and sometimes not there at all, so I was feeling optimistic.

Then last Monday (June 1st) night I noticed that the spotting had turned to bright red bleeding. Not as much as a period, but more than I was comfortable with, so I scheduled a doctor's appointment to be checked out the next morning. They did both an internal and external ultrasound but didn't see anything reassuring so they told me that I was probably having another miscarriage, but they still wanted me to have my blood tested for hcg (the pregnancy hormone) anyway to make sure that the levels were falling. I had to go back on Thursday for another blood test and much to everyone's surprise my hcg levels had nearly doubled since Tuesday's test. They were all baffled because my bleeding had increased and they didn't see a pregnancy on the ultrasound on Tuesday, so the scheduled me to have another (more high-tech) one on Monday (June 8th).

Over the weekend I really started bleeding and started passing things that looked like tissue. It was exactly like my first miscarriage and I was convinced that that's what was happening. I called the ultrasound people on Monday and said that I didn't need to come in, that I was sure I'd just miscarried over the weekend. Fortunately they told me to come in anyway since I already had it scheduled. Just to make sure. So I got there and they did another external and internal ultrasound and confirmed that they didn't see anything that looked like a normal pregnancy. Then toward the end they saw something in my fallopian tube. The ultrasound technician was baffled by it because it didn't look like a pregnancy and I kept telling her that I wasn't having any pains or cramps in my side. She decided that I needed to go up to OB/GYN to talk to the doctor about it.

So off I went to the doctor's office and he was confused by it all as well. He was confused about why there would be something there and I wouldn't be feeling any pain, but made me swear that if I felt any pain at all in my abdomen that I would rush to the emergency room. Then he sent me back down to the lab to have another blood test to see what my hormone levels were doing. They had stayed about the same - hadn't dropped since my "miscarriage". They wanted me to come back in again on Wednesday and Friday for more tests, but I never made it back in.

On Wednesday (June 10th) I was in the shower and feeling just fine until I propped my leg up to wash it and I felt a searing pain shoot through my pelvic area. I thought it must've been a random cramp but it wasn't gone by the time I got out of the shower and it had gotten worse. I barely made it to the bed and curled up before Scott came in and asked me what was wrong. Thank goodness he hadn't already left for work yet (he was just about to leave). I told him what happened and he drove me to the ER. My mom met us there and took care of the boys for us so Scott could stay with me. They did (yet another) ultrasound and saw that whatever was in my tube was still there so they got me ready for surgery. In the meantime they gave me an awful catheter and a lot of narcotics (I love fetanyl!) to keep me comfortable until the surgery, which seemed like it couldn't come soon enough. I remember them wheeling me into the operating room and transferring me to the table, but after that I don't remember a thing. They told me about it all after I woke up and apparently even showed me pictures, but I didn't remember any of that so I had to have Scott re-tell me everything after I got to my room.

Apparently I had been bleeding internally for a while because when they cut me open they couldn't see anything because of all the blood pooled up in my abdomen. All in all they took out about a pint of blood that I'd lost before they could continue the surgery. The doctor told us that I was really lucky in where the pregnancy ruptured(after they got in there they could see it was a pregnancy, which for some reason they couldn't see on the 6 ultrasounds I had leading up to it). They told us that if it had ruptured even 1 or 2 millimeters in another direction it would've ruptured my uterus and then I would've only had minutes to get to the hospital before I bled to death internally. I was really blessed in that regard.

Afterward I had lost so much blood that my blood pressure was really low and concerning the doctors. They kept 2 IV bags going in my arms to try to boost my blood pressure and kept testing the levels every hour or so. Finally after about 5 hours of not improving (and my blood pressure slipping down to a very low 80/42) they decided that I needed to have a blood transfusion. I always thought that I'd be grossed out by having to have someone else's blood put into my body, worried about possible diseases they had, etc. But at the time I was so lethargic and out of it that I didn't care. Of course it's all well-screened and there was nothing to worry about anyway, but at that time I was so incredibly grateful for whoever took the time to donate that blood that I needed. My blood type is A+, which isn't super common but not rare either, so I was glad that they had reserves of my blood type ready to help me. I'm very grateful for blood donors.

The nurses and doctors who took care of me couldn't have been more wonderful. I was truly blessed and protected during this whole process. I got to come home on Thursday evening and I've just been home taking my pain meds and trying to relax. My mother in law is here helping with the boys and different people from church have come over to bring us meals and to take the boys for play dates. I am so grateful for all the help we've received the past few days. I'm grateful for all the prayers and good wishes sent our way. I'm grateful for my faith and for Scott for being such a wonderful husband. I'm grateful for the blessing Scott gave me right before I went into surgery, for helping me to be less afraid. I was very afraid - the only reason I've ever been to a hospital before is to have babies. This was very overwhelming and scary for me and the rest of my family.

So what's the bottom line? I now only have one functioning ovary and fallopian tube. I can still have children (although I think I'll put that on the back burner for a little while) but my risk factors have gone up now. From now on any pregnancy I have has about triple the chance of being another ectopic pregnancy and the doctors will treat it as such until they can prove that it is a normal pregnancy. I'll have a higher risk of having another miscarriage because of scarring in the uterus. But many people I've talked to have told me that they know people who have gone on to have children after something like this, so I'm not worried. If it's meant to be, it will be. Looking back I'm really surprised that the doctors didn't send me to the hospital on Monday after they found something in my tube to begin with. That's not something you're supposed to take a chance with because when it ruptures it is life-threatening. When you wait until it hurts that means it's ruptured and it's a race against the clock to save them. I'm kind of shocked that it was handled the way it was. But in the end everything turned out ok and I'm going to be fine. My doctors and nurses were like angels from heaven - they took such wonderful care of me.

Anyway, that's my story. I hope you are all well and that you never have to go through something like this. I know I'll learn something from this, but I'm not exactly happy to have had this experience. I'm just taking it easy and taking all the help I can get. Thanks again for all your prayers and help. It really means the world to me and my family.