{"id":791,"date":"2014-04-11T20:33:43","date_gmt":"2014-04-12T02:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/?p=791"},"modified":"2014-04-14T20:42:54","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T02:42:54","slug":"a-trip-to-the-er-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/11\/a-trip-to-the-er-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"A Trip to the ER (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okaayyyyy well I had a busy last few days and didn’t get to update.\u00a0 Already starting to forget some details (really, as much detail as I put in here, maybe that’s actually a good thing).\u00a0 And forgetting the updates I wanted to post after I finally finished my ER tale.\u00a0 So I better hurry up and get to typing.<\/p>\n

So I finally settled into my room.\u00a0 They gave me a lovely hospital gown and said to undress completely except I could keep panties on (for now).\u00a0 And socks…’cause I asked.<\/p>\n

It’s already getting fuzzy, but I think before we met any medical people, registration came in and got some info, then collected our copay.\u00a0 They get right to it. ;P\u00a0 Whatever, I was glad to get it over with.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Dr (Dr. Nelson) came in and introduced himself.\u00a0 Explained some of what we’d been doing.\u00a0 One of the things he talked about was how in the early stages of pregnancy, a beta is the best gauge of how the baby is doing, and I should go back for another in 3 days.\u00a0 I wondered if I’d really need one if the ultrasound looks fine, but whatever (later nurse at my obgyn’s office confirmed that I did not need another beta…which made sense because the baby measured almost bang on on the ultrasound, but more on that later).<\/p>\n

The Dr talked about some other things that I can’t remember, mostly about the tests that they’d be doing.\u00a0 And also about how, in general, [bad] things that happen in early pregnancy (basically, before viability) can’t be prevented (I know that).\u00a0 But I just needed to know that things were fine.\u00a0 In the waiting room, I was having occasional waves of guilt for even being there.\u00a0 Because, like he said, it’s not like anything changes the outcome.\u00a0 But Pete reassured me it was the right thing, and I reminded myself of what the on-call nurse told me over the phone about being seen.<\/p>\n

After the Dr stepped out, we waited a while.\u00a0 Then someone came to wheel me off (in my hospital bed) to radiology for the ultrasound.\u00a0 Under different circumstances, that might have been fun.\u00a0 I was a little bit nervous, but by this point, largely clinging to the hope that I had earlier in the week.\u00a0 I was weirdly optimistic.\u00a0 Or maybe just hopeful, I don’t know.\u00a0 I know Pete was nervous.<\/p>\n

The sonographer came in shortly after I got my room and put some warm (as in, they’d been in a warmer or a dryer or something; they weren’t especially warm by themselves) blankets over my legs.\u00a0 Which I very much appreciated.\u00a0 The person who took me to my room in the ER said he’d bring me blankets, but he apparently forgot–and I wasn’t bothered enough to ask for them.\u00a0 Anyway, the sonographer said she’d go over my belly first, then we’d do it vaginally.\u00a0 Yeyyyy.\u00a0 I fully expected to need to do the vaginal one, but thankfully!!! she said I was thin enough, plus my bladder was full enough (I felt like I might pop, but it turned out to be very fortunate that I waited to go), that she could get a good picture of everything she needed over my belly.\u00a0 They jelly was also warmed…amazing!\u00a0 I’m not sure I’ve had that before.\u00a0 It’s the little things.<\/p>\n

She immediately started measuring the baby.\u00a0 The monitor was kind of at an angle from my perspective at this point, but I could still see.\u00a0 This was the good machine, not the portable type in my obgyn’s office.\u00a0 She took a number of measurements and said (I think it was at this point that she told us) that the baby measured 8 weeks plus 4 days.\u00a0 Which sounded great to me because I was 8 weeks plus 5 days based on my LMP (last menstrual period).\u00a0 Then she looked for the heartbeat.\u00a0 I was pretty sure I saw it, and I’m pretty sure I was smiling (in that wide-eyed, “please let it be” kind of way).\u00a0 Then she turned the monitor to be a better viewing angle for Pete and me.\u00a0 Once she said “there’s the heartbeat,” Pete leaned into my shoulder and broke into tears.\u00a0 Then I couldn’t hold mine in anymore (that I didn’t even know I was still holding).\u00a0 I held onto his head from my hospital bed and watched that beautiful heartbeat while tears silently escaped down the sides of my face.\u00a0 She measured the heart rate by ultrasound, which was 171 bpm.\u00a0 It was a very touching moment that brought us lots of comfort.\u00a0 I hear from some mommas, like on the ttc\/pregnancy forums, about how their spouses aren’t as affected by their miscarriages.\u00a0 But mine affected us both deeply.\u00a0 Pete and I both love this baby sooo so much already.\u00a0 But it was a blessing to see it in my husband in a tangible way, even though the circumstances were far from ideal.<\/p>\n

After all that, we kind of wanted to snap a picture of the screen with the phone camera.\u00a0 Pete was too busy crying and being relieved at the time to take a picture.\u00a0 So the sonographer kindly went back and brought the baby back up on the screen so we could have a picture.\u00a0 (We wanted one partly because hey it’s our baby of course we want a keepsake.\u00a0 But also, as encouraged and relieved as we were, there is also this feeling of wanting a picture…just in case it turns out to be the only thing about our baby that we get to see and hold.)\u00a0 Anyway, here’s a picture. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The littlest Baby G at 8 weeks + 5 days<\/p><\/div>\n

You can see the little arms and legs just beginning to sprout. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Finally I was wheeled back to Emergency Room 15 where they had everything set out for my pelvic exam.\u00a0 Oh joy.\u00a0 I’d seen my baby on that screen doing fine, so I was feeling pretty fine and ready to go home–ha.\u00a0 But if I sat there and thought about it, I could start to count all the reasons why I still needed some other things checked out.<\/p>\n

First things first.\u00a0 I HAD TO PEE.\u00a0 No way was I going to survive a pelvic exam without first emptying my bladder.\u00a0 After reassuring the girl that it would be no trouble for me to walk there, I pulled my sweatpants back on, put my jacket on over my hospital gown…realized I did not want to be in a bathroom without shoes, so slid my shoes on….\u00a0 Then finally…finally….\u00a0 It felt like the first Austin Powers movie when he first came out of cryo.\u00a0 But it probably wasn’t really.\u00a0 Then I went back to my room.\u00a0 And undressed again.\u00a0 A nurse hooked me up to an automatic blood pressure cuff and a put a pulse monitor on my finger.\u00a0 These were disposable type ones, which I’d not seen before.\u00a0 The pulse monitor in particular was kind of fascinating because it was kinda like a band-aid, but it kinda made my finger glow like E.T.<\/p>\n

The monitor with my vitals was behind me, so I kinda craned my neck around to see it.\u00a0 My blood pressure was 111\/55…really????\u00a0 I’ve never had a reading that low.\u00a0 Maybe I was super chill after being in the hospital for a while and finally seeing that my baby is fine.\u00a0 Or maybe those disposable cuffs aren’t quite ideal.\u00a0 My pulse was steady around 80 bpm.<\/p>\n

At last the Dr came in and I really can’t remember now if we talked first or if he did the exam first.\u00a0 I think he did the exam first.\u00a0 Pete was alarmed because a lot of stuff had just been sitting out on a tray uncovered, including the lube for the pelvic exam.\u00a0 He asked the Dr, who reassured us that it is really fine.\u00a0 The speculum was wrapped also.\u00a0 There was a lot of stuff on that tray and honestly I didn’t know what a lot of it was for!\u00a0 I didn’t know what was going up where!\u00a0 Okay, I knew the where, but not the what.<\/p>\n

I had some weird feelings about having a pelvic exam by an ER doctor.\u00a0 I know it was silly, but it was strange.\u00a0 My new obgyn is the first male obgyn I’ve had.\u00a0 Which wasn’t my first pick at first, but I went with him because he came so highly recommended by so many people.\u00a0 But now here’s a male doctor who isn’t even an obgyn.\u00a0 It was fine though, about as fine as a pelvic exam can be.\u00a0 He checked my cervix, then did something else…I almost wonder if he did a pap?\u00a0 Felt a couple of small pinches like he was getting samples.\u00a0 I haven’t heard for sure what that was yet.\u00a0 (I actually just messaged my obgyn’s office to ask since I was supposed to update them anyway on how I’m doing.)<\/p>\n

After, the doctor said he had about the best news he could offer me, since baby was looking fine.\u00a0 My urine culture was negative, which I was halfway disappointed about since I almost hoped it was all a sneaky UTI.\u00a0 My cervix was closed also, so another good sign.\u00a0 The diagnosis was a “small” subchorionic hemorrhage.\u00a0 Basically some bleeding in there that may turn out fine, but he reminded me that before 22 weeks, there’s nothing they can do.\u00a0 I guess I know they have to say this stuff, but it’s kind of annoying to keep hearing when it’s not like I don’t already know.\u00a0 The doctor pretty much said no strenuous exercise, like no Crossfit (ha!), no weightlifting, and really no lifting anything over 25 lbs (a certain cute 31-pound 3 year-old comes to mind).<\/p>\n

I joked to the Dr how it’s hard to believe I don’t do any weightlifting with “these guns” (pointing to my biceps).\u00a0 He said, “yeah, I thought I might have to go and get some bandages . . . because you’re so cut up.” LOLOLOL<\/p>\n

Of course, even though I know better, I had to consult “Dr Google” about my diagnosis.\u00a0 The thing about consulting Dr. Google is, if you’re not careful, you’ll wind up sure you’re dying.\u00a0 I try to use my brain filter, which helps to a point, but I am ignorant enough about this specific topic, I wasn’t totally sure how concerned I should be.\u00a0 Some stuff said it doesn’t increase the risk of miscarriage, it just either passes or reabsorbs.\u00a0 Other stuff says it can increase the risk of miscarriage depending on the size of the hematoma, maternal age, and such.\u00a0 And other stuff goes on how it can cause things like pre-term birth and placental abruption.\u00a0 Still, I got the sense that those are probably not likely scenarios, and the Dr did say mine was small…but I didn’t know how small.<\/p>\n

We left the ER approximately 5 hours after we got there.\u00a0 Feeling very blessed and reassured, but also a bit scared and uncertain.<\/p>\n

I got a chance to talk to the nurse at my Dr’s office the following Monday afternoon, where I’ll pick up on my next post (a belated 9 weeks post).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okaayyyyy well I had a busy last few days and didn’t get to update.\u00a0 Already starting to forget some details (really, as much detail as I put in here, maybe that’s actually a good thing).\u00a0 And forgetting the updates I wanted to post after I finally finished my ER tale.\u00a0 So I better hurry up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,4,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":808,"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/babyg.brainstormwarning.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}