Emergency Room Adventures

I have really struggled this week with fear about this pregnancy. And just as I was using all my might to convince myself that everything would be okay, I started bleeding yesterday. I called my doctor's office, and because he was out of town and the other doctors' schedules, I was told just to go to the ER. It took until midnight last night for me to get up the nerve to go in. I just kept trying to pretend nothing was happening and like if I just ignored it, it would all go away.

I finally decided that rather than quietly freaking out all night long, I would get it over with and go in. I just couldn't face the same ER where I found out about Violet, and especially not that agonizing 2 hour wait between when they silently do the ultrasound, turned so you can't see, until the radiologist reads the results and someone comes to tell you. So I opted to go to the ER where I work, which is always kind of nice because they never make me wait - within about 20 minutes of walking in the door, I was talking to the doctor, and 5 minutes after that he had an ultrasound machine and was showing me a healthy baby heart beat. Phew!

My A+ friend Sarah met me there. We ended up being there until after 3 a.m., and she stayed with me the whole time which made the whole thing a billion times more bearable. After the doctor did a quickie ultrasound, he sent me upstairs to have a for-real ultrasound done, and let me just say... I have never, ever been probed like that before. Oh my word. It HURT. She just kept saying "I'm looking for your ovaries, I can't find them!" I was like "Lady, I have three kids, I KNOW I have ovaries." Also, I don't think I'll need them anymore, so I don't really care. But she pretty much stuck the ultrasound wand up into my lungs looking for them. You're welcome.

It turns out I have a subchorionic hemorrhage, which is just a pocket of blood outside the amniotic sac. It can increase the risk of miscarriage, but most often resolves on its own. I was told to take it easy, try to stay off my feet, not lift things, etc. I did see the OB today as well, who said as long as the bleeding was getting less (which it is) I could carry on like normal, just nothing jarring like running or other aerobic exercise and no heavy lifting (he said Henry was not "heavy" - yay!)

BUT the actually funny part about all of this (because mostly it was scary and exhausting), was that the whole time we were in the ER, after someone would leave my room, Sarah always said "they think we're a couple!" But I just laughed and didn't believe her. I was even joking in the ultrasound room, when I had to strip off my bottoms and Sarah offered to leave the room, "it's nothing you haven't seen before, honey!" because I thought NO WAY could anyone think we were lesbians.

Well, this morning, after the fear and blurriness of last night passed, I started thinking... it was really odd that the first question they asked me was whether this baby was conceived via IVF. I remember thinking why would you ask that? But it didn't click until this morning. And then the doctor kept asking me if I had questions, and then he'd look at Sarah, with that concerned look, and ask her if she had any questions. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! I called Sarah today and said, "oh my gosh, you were right!" We had a good laugh about it.

I am delirious, I got about 3 hours of sleep last night and had a long day of working and running around. As soon as I get the kids to bed (about 20 minutes), I'm OUT!

Stay tuned... new Vegetable of the Week post coming up soon!