I will continue to Praise God for the wonderful pregnancy that I had with Kwesi. Yes, during the first trimester I had to take it easy and I was on a load of medication... the injections being my favorite of course... but in my opinion, I didn't have a difficult pregnancy. I didn't have acne, morning sickness, or any of the little things that come with pregnancy. Towards the end of the pregnancy, I did have some swelling but I blame that on the 100+ degree temperatures that we were experiencing in May! And on top of that, I was able to have a natural childbirth which I'd been praying about for months. So, I say all of this to say that when the complications started coming after the baby was born I was caught a little off guard. The entire time you're pregnant I think that you forget that life goes on after the baby is actually born. I spent so much time thinking about labor that I didn't think about recovering from such an intense experience that my body would go through. Well I will tell you that I started to think about it pretty much as soon as I got the baby out and the stitches were going in... sorry, maybe a little TMI.
The evening I had Kwesi I was sore (meaning I couldn't even sit down normally on the hospital bed) but I thought it was normal because, well - hello?! I just pushed a baby out of my body! But the following days things kept getting worse and worse. After a few days I sought the advice of my expert nurse-sister and when she found out was going on she said I may want to call the doctor and she gave me some advice to help the pain. When 2 days later I was still VERY uncomfortable and confused about why I was feeling worse rather than better I called the doctor and asked if he could check me out just so I knew nothing was wrong. The doctor took one look at me when I got there and I could tell by the expression on his face that everything was not okay.
"That's a hematoma!" he says. "You were right to come in. We're going to have to cut this open and drain it. I'm sorry. You have to be in a lot of pain!"
A couple different things entered my mind at this time...
1. Um, a hema- what?!?
2. Um, cut and drain?!?!
3. I'm glad that I don't feel stupid for making this appointment and I'm not a wimp for thinking this thing hurts like a mother!
So after some more explanation he tells me that it's basically a huge blood clot - I had one on the outside of my.... birth canal... that was like the size of a hot dog (maybe half as long) and I had one on the inside that was bigger than a plum. The good news was that they weren't spreading and the bad news was that they were huge and not getting any smaller. If left alone they could spread, get infected and basically explode and cause hemorrhaging so it's a good thing we caught it when we did. He continued to say that he couldn't believe I'd been walking around like that and then looked at Edward and said, "Your wife is a beast!"
As soon as they left the room I burst into tears. I was operating (and still am) on a minimal amount of sleep and I was just completely overwhelmed by the whole situation. I knew something was wrong but I was not expecting to have a mini-surgical procedure done while I was there. I won't go into detail about how that went except to say that it didn't feel very good.
The next week I went back for a checkup and had been feeling VERY emotional and VERY anxious the entire week. I started feeling like this was going to be the end for me and asking Edward "if I die" questions. This may sound funny but it's a scary feeling. I now think after talking to my sister, the Dr., and another midwife, that I was suffering from Postpartum Anxiety - not depression - which I didn't even know existed. Anyway, just like I thought, the blood clot inside had grown again so he had to drain it again and put packing inside to stop it from growing. After my last checkup, which was yesterday, I've been cleared for the next couple weeks and finally got a good report - PRAISE THE LORD! He told me that I can actually start walking around so I was very happy about that too - I've already started cleaning up around the house a little. :)
I guess my point in posting this very personal experience comes with a piece of advice. I'm one of those people who does not like the doctor and who also does not like to ask for help - and I'm always scared that I'm making a big deal about something that I shouldn't -- well, in this case I'm glad I went with my gut and had things checked out. If you are one of those people who put things off and say you are sure everything will be fine, I advise you to go to the doctor or where ever would help - you may end up getting help and feeling a lot better.
P.S. My doctor also told me not to google hematoma as it may cause me to have a panic attack - and I listened. I advise you to do the same. :)
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