I really love reading blogs and started lovenicoleb.com to share my real life experiences. The good and the bad.
With pregnancy and motherhood, every single thing is new.
That being said, Friday, March 16th was a rough day in my first week of motherhood.
I have read hundreds of blogs from new mamas but never came across what we experienced… although I am sure many have gone through it, I just personally never read anyone’s story about it.
I like to think that if I would have read about it that I would have been a little calmer (I mean knowing me I actually wouldn’t have been any more calm).
We started our day taking Marina on her first little road trip to Grafton for her newborn pictures! Her pictures went great… besides the fact that our little naked model baby pooped in a bucket (sorry for embarrassing you my sweet little girl). When her pictures were done, I fed her and we packed her up in her car seat to head home. We stopped at a gas station down the road and I peeked in the back to check on Marina. She had blood coming out of her mouth (like a spit up looking blood). Our one week old little girl. I have never been so scared in my entire life. I took her out of her car seat and handed her to Jaime as I was hysterically crying. She was wide awake thank goodness and she wasn’t crying. She seemed completely fine. I called the pediatrician immediately and the first question they asked me was are you breastfeeding and did you just finish feeding her. I am breastfeeding and I just fed her about 15 minutes prior. They asked if my nipples were cracked and bleeding at all and said that most likely mixed with the milk she was getting which is why her spit up was bloody. I felt a small sense of relief but still needed to have my sweet baby checked out. Marina was completely healthy and it was just the milk. The bumps from the car ride made her burp and the blood from my cracked nipples was why it looked bloody.
Also, side note. Nobody prepares you for breastfeeding. I didn’t read up on anything breastfeeding and didn’t take any classes. I didn’t know how to hold my baby to feed her, how she should be latching, that I would be so engorged, that I would have cracked and bleeding nipples, how to pump. Breastfeeding is really hard. I finally feel comfortable with it one month later but I wish I would have been more prepared.
Back to the worst Friday ever.
We finally got home from the pediatrician (around 4pm) and relaxed at home and snuggled up on Marina. My parents were still in town and they cooked us dinner. Fair warning that this part gets a little gross but I really wanted to share my experience for any mamas out there reading this that may eventually go through this too.
I was still bleeding a normal amount post birth but out of no where I started bleeding a lot. On the discharge documents they give you at the hospital, it states that if you are bleeding through more than one pad an hour to contact your doctor. I was bleeding through about four pads in an hour. I wasn’t in any pain, but I couldn’t stop the bleeding. I tried showering and laying down and nothing was helping. I called my doctor and she told me that I should go to the emergency room and get checked out. My parents had planned to leave the next morning but thank goodness they were still in town to stay home with Marina.
We got to the ER around 9pm on Friday night and it was completely empty so they got us back right away. Who would have thought that on Marina’s one week birthday we would be back at the hospital. I am so thankful that it was for me though and not her!
Once we were back in the room I had an IV put in right away for fluids and the waiting game began. I was still bleeding so much (literally bleeding up through the blankets they were putting on me) and just had to lay in the hospital bed. Eventually a physician assistant came in and did an exam on me. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to see anything so I continued to wait. She ordered an ultrasound so they could get a better look. It took almost 2 hours for the ultrasound tech to arrive and he also wasn’t able to find anything that would be causing the bleeding. They called the on call OB from my regular office to see how she wanted to proceed. Once she arrived she did another exam and decided that I would need to be put under so they could perform a D&C surgery as they believed a piece of my placenta was still inside.
I was absolutely terrified. Even though the doctors told me over and over that it was a common surgery, I still had the worst fear that something could go wrong with me being put under. Around 12 am I went in for surgery. The surgery only lasted around 30 minutes and they discovered I had a retained placenta which was causing me to hemorrhage. They removed the placenta and my bleeding slowed down to a normal amount. We had talked with the doctor before my surgery and let her know that Marina was home with my parents and we would like to get home as soon as possible. They put me up in a recovery room until around 4 am and once my vitals were stable and I could stand without passing out, they let us go home.
It was the longest day/night of our lives but at the end of the day we were all home together and everyone was healthy.
I love my little family to pieces <3
Love,
Nicole B
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