The last time I had written, I had miscarried at home and was waiting for a follow up appointment. About 4 days later, I had an ultrasound to see if I was able to miscarry everything on my own. I was worried I hadn't since I was still bleeding.
I was told the baby and sac were gone but my uterus lining was still thicker than they would like. My doctor almost scheduled a D&C but decided to prescribe me Misoprostol to help finish the process instead. I drove home from my appointment counting my blessings that I didn't have to deal with miscarrying at home in addition to recovering from a D&C.
Taking Misoprostol
The medicine made me cramp and contract for a few days and for the next week and a half I continued to bleed heavily. It had been almost 2 weeks since my actual miscarriage, so I was worried that I was bleeding too much.
During this time, I called my doctor's office to make sure my bleeding was normal and they essentially told me that it wasn't abnormal and I would probably have some breakthrough bleeding off and on until my next period came. That eased my mind a little, but I was still bleeding pretty heavily and didn't consider my bleeding to be "breakthrough bleeding" although it had slowed down a little bit.
The medical assistant I spoke to told me it would be a good idea to schedule a follow up visit to make sure everything was ok. I agreed and was hoping to be seen in the next few days but was told the earliest I could be seen was 2 weeks out, so I ended up taking that appointment.
A day or two later, my bleeding finally slowed down and I had just had some light spotting and even a day or two where I had hardly spotted at all. I thought it was finally over and I could start moving on!
No such luck.
After only lightly spotting for about 4-5 days, I woke up with cramps one morning and my bleeding started to pick up again. Over the next day or two, my cramps got worse and before I knew it, I was bleeding heavily again. I had the fleeting thought that this could already be my period making it's appearance, but from everything I had read, your period doesn't show up for at least 4-6 weeks after a miscarriage. By this point, it had been three weeks since my miscarriage (keep in mind, I had started spotting in my pregnancy on December 20th, so I was already going on SIX weeks total of bleeding by this point).
It was time to call my doctor's office again and let them know what was going on since my follow up visit was still a week away. The medical assistant told me it sounded like I had already gotten my period, but to come in for blood work. So, I went in that day.
My follow up appointment
At my appointment a week later (keep in mind I was still bleeding), they told me my HCG levels were still not back to zero so they ordered an ultrasound. During the ultrasound, they told me there were blood vessels in my uterus still, which meant there was still placenta tissue in there. They knew this because the ultrasound showed blood flow where the tissue was.
Here's Owen being such a good boy at my appointment. We had been there for almost 3 hours! Thank Goodness for Daniel Tiger.
Because this had been going on for so long, I had to schedule the D&C the next day. By this point, I would have already had been fourteen weeks pregnant. Keep in mind, I was told at my 9 week ultrasound there was no heartbeat, which means the baby probably stopped developing even before then. So, it was definitely way past due for everything to come out of me.
My surgery
I was scheduled for surgery the next afternoon (2.4.16). Thursday's are always one of Brad's busiest days in school and I didn't want him to get behind, so two of my great friends Janet Stone and Amy Keller came to the rescue. Can I just say how grateful I am for the amazing people I've met here? I know Glendale is where our family is supposed to be and I'm beyond grateful that Brad got into Midwestern for Dental School.
Janet had volunteered to watch Owen for me while I was at the hospital and came over with her sweet little Annabelle. She kept him entertained for almost 5 hours by playing with toys and taking the kids to the park. Can I just praise Janet for a minute? This girl is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. I am so happy we sat behind her family at church on our first Sunday in Arizona. She and her husband were the very first couple we met here! She was such a great support when I first miscarried and supplied me with dinner, treats, flowers, a great book to read and countless texts checking up on me. I am so grateful for her and for everyone who has helped me during this time!!
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Here's a little gem for ya. I'm smiling here but trust me, I was NOT looking forward to the surgery. The hair net is a nice touch though.
*Funny side note: My first nurse was named MaryAnn (my mom's name is Marian) and she said her daughter's name was Julianna. Random, right?
Once they finally started wheeling me back to surgery, my nerves started kicking in. They gave me a medicine that was the equivalent to having "one to two glasses of wine" on my way back. I was pretty pumped for this since I've never had wine. It worked like a charm and the last thing I remember is the nurse putting her hand on my shoulder saying, "Don't worry Julianna, we're going to take good care of you."
And then everything went black.
The next thing I remember was my nurse nudging my arm saying, "Julianna, it's time to wake up." And man, did I feel groggy! I vaguely remember asking "Am I done?", "What time is it?" and "Is my husband here yet?"
Apparently Dr. Erickson came over to tell me everything went well and that he cleaned everything out including a small blood clot I had. But I don't really remember that part.
After a few minutes, I started coming to. I remember trying to lift my head off the pillow but it feeling really heavy and dizzy and putting it back down. After some juice and crackers, they let Brad come back and I remember being so happy to see him. We eventually got taken back to recovery where I stayed for a very short time and decided I had had enough of the hospital and was ready to go home.
Post Surgery
Other than being a little wobbly the next couple of hours, I was feeling pretty good. Eventually, I started feeling the cramps everyone was telling me to expect. After surgery I was told to expect cramping/bleeding for the next week or two because, you know, I haven't bled NEARLY enough during this whole ordeal. So, that's what I have to look forward to! *sarcasm*
If I ever miscarry again (and I'm praying so hard that I won't!) I will be scheduling a D&C right away. I never want to go through this again but I'm so happy to say there's an end in sight. Finally. And maybe one day I'll look back on this and realize why I needed to go through it. But like I said before, time will heal and Heavenly Father has a plan for us all!
PS, I wrote this post on pain killers, so anything I've said or written can not be held against me.
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