Red stuff

Sunday started out okay. We didn't go to church because we had some things to do that had to happen before services let out. The errands weren't a "huge" amount of running around. We DID go from one place to another, but it wasn't like I was out of breath, or anything. Later in the day, though, I started experiencing some severe cramping pain in the lower abdominal area. I chalked it up to just "pregnancy pain" and didn't pay it too much mind. I also thought maybe I should take a nap and just rest for a little while.

Later, after I took a half-hour nap, I went to the bathroom and noticed some blood had come out, probably while I was sleeping. I was alarmed and told Jason about it. Because it was only very little blood, he said it was normal to spot a little during the early months of pregnancy. I wouldn't have thought too much on it if I didn't still have the bad cramping going on. At this point, I alarm bells were going off. Normal or no, my instincts told me something was WRONG.

I did some checking on the Internet. One site said that any bleeding after 10 weeks can be a bad sign (I'm at 11 weeks). I struggled with this. Then, several hours after it all started, while I was cooking dinner, I went over to my neighbor's house to ask him about it (he is a nursing assistant). I told him about everything going on and how long the cramping had lasted (over 3 hours at this point). He said it didn't sound good and I should go to urgent care ASAP. So after we ate dinner, Jason drove us to Urgent Care. Urgent Care sent us to the ER because they didn't have an ultrasound machine.

By the time I got to the ER, I was in unbearable pain. I was walking like a penguin, gritting my teeth and clasping my stomach. What worried me more was a feeling of wetness down below.

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait in the ER for very long. But unfortunately, the doctor who saw us was a general practitioner, and didn't know how to use the ultrasound machine very well. He also used an outdated Doppler to listen for the baby's heartbeat, and I could feel the color draining from my face when he said he couldn't hear a heartbeat. He quickly assured me that the Doppler he was using was really old and that was probably why. I wanted to scream, "You just don't SAY you can't hear the baby's heartbeat to an expectant mother!!" I was frantic inside but I didn't say a word. I knew if I did, I'd be screaming or going nuts. He had a hard time finding the baby with the ultrasound and couldn't see the heartbeat. They took some blood for testing, a urine sample and did a pelvic exam. The doctor said there was some kind of a white mass on my cervix, and that my cervix was VERY red and very raw. When he poked it with the probe, blood squirted out. He said the bleeding was coming from OUTSIDE of my cervix, and not inside, so there was a good chance it wasn't related to the baby. (At this point, I was too stressed out to feel ANY relief. I could still see him AND my interpreter telling me they couldn't hear the heartbeat. That moment was, like, frozen in my mind.)

He took a culture of my cervix for running more tests. He said it looks like I had an infection but not sure what kind it could be. He asked if I wanted painkillers prescribed and I said no, I'll take Tylenol for the pain. (Actually, I'm taking Extra Strength Tylenol, and it's helping pretty well.) After they get the test results, they'll send them to my ob/gyn. He instructed me to call my ob/gyn at 8 a.m. that morning (at this point, it was after 2 a.m.) and make an appointment to go in for follow-up care.

When I called my ob/gyn's office, I spoke to a nurse. She asked if they'd given me a shot of RhoGAM and I said "no." They told me to come in at 2 p.m. that day. I had heard of RhoGAM before but wasn't too sure what it was. So, I checked the Internet and read up on it. My blood type is O-negative and I remembered how my first ob/gyn had explained something to me about subsequent pregnancies might have problems because of my blood type. When I had my daughter, I had to have two shots because of our blood type (I'm negative, she's positive). I asked Jason if he knew what his blood type was and if he was Rh-positive and he said he didn't know. Before Jason left for work that morning, he told me not to do too much housework and take it easy until we saw the doctor.

At the doctor's office, they did another urine sample and check my vitals. Everything looked fine. They didn't have the test results from the ER yet. My doctor used a better Doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat and I felt an INCREDIBLE weight lift off of me when she smiled and said she could hear it. I just wanted to cheer! WOO-HOO!! I told Jennifer that sound she was hearing was her little sister or brother's heartbeat. Next they did an ultrasound, and there was my little baby, bouncing around and waving his arms. (I use "he" because I'm hoping for a boy. LOL) He was SO ACTIVE!! I had a huge smile on my face as I watched him move around and my doctor pointed to the heartbeat. Jason pointed it out, too. We just stared at that image of our baby for a long time. It was the most precious thing for me to see in all that 24 hours. The baby was FINE! Thank you, God!

Next I had to have the RhoGAM shot. The doctor talked with Jason about his blood type and Jason had a blood test so they could check it. If his blood type turned out to be positive, I'd have to have another shot later on in the pregnancy. If it was negative, there was nothing more we had to do. It wouldn't harm the baby, or anything. The shot was mostly a precaution.

So we got all that taken care of. I told my neighbor the update and he said to keep a close eye out for ANY changes. If there was vomiting, fever, any bleeding or sickness, go back to the ER. He said the next 24 hours are critical and to take it easy, just to be safe. So that's pretty much what I'm doing today, even though I have a couple of errands to run (like getting milk and purchasing a money order from the post office). But I'll be extra careful and take it easy every chance I can.