Seven weeks and an emergency room visit

Warning: Do not read if easily made uncomfortable or grossed out.

I was meaning to post again sooner than this, but between school and work and being a wife and holiday family time, I just didn't make the time. I also don't have any updated "bump" photos yet, but I guarantee that if I took one right now, you'd just be looking at a whole lot of post-Thanksgiving weight gain - and who really want to see that?

Since I last posted, things had been going pretty smoothly: some slight nausea in the mornings, increased fatigue, unexplainable and often embarrassing mood swings (think standing in line at Subway and crying because you can't decide what sandwich to eat for lunch), and a couple of mornings with brown spotting, but nothing substantial. Today, though, was another story. I woke up around 6am and, for about the twelfth time, rushed to the bathroom to pee. When I sat down, I gasped in horror because I saw a huge puddle of burgundy-colored blood pooled in my underwear, but when I blinked, it was gone. It was early, and I had just leaped out of bed, so I guess my mind was playing tricks on me. My relief was enormous, though, and I remember laughing a little at myself for creating that image. Then I wiped, and the tissue was covered in burgundy blood, just like I'd imagined a minute before, and then I really got scared. I was sure I'd started my period and was losing the baby, so I sat there praying desperately for a moment, then I yelled for Felipe. When I told him what had happened, he hugged me tight and asked if I wanted to go to the emergency room, but I said that we could just call my obstetrician when her office opened at 8 to see if she'd be able to see me today instead of next Wednesday as we had scheduled. We both laid back down, and I again prayed for willingness to accept whatever God's purpose is in this situation. It was a strong reminder for me that the desires of my heart need to be led by a complete acceptance that God's will is best, and my thoughts are not His thoughts.

When I called my doctor's office, their line went to voice mail, so I left a message and then tried calling again several minutes later. Same thing. It occurred to me that they must have closed for a long weekend, but I was continuing to bleed, and we decided that going to the emergency room would at least give us some peace of mind. My mom agreed to accompany us, so we stopped to pick her up, and I was admitted around 9:30. After several extremely comedic interactions with various staff/nurses (which my mom used her notepad to jot down the hilarious details of), passing out after getting blood drawn and being hooked up to an IV, my first experience with a transvaginal ultrasound, and about four and a half hours of waiting, a doctor came in to tell me that the baby is indeed developing just fine, implanted nicely in my uterus with a perfectly good heartbeat, and the cause of my bleeding is Subchorionic Hematoma. Since I am still early in the first trimester, he said this is quite common and not really something to be concerned with. There is, I am sure, a lot of information about it online if you're interested in researching the condition more in depth, but I was surprised that all of the times I had Googled "bleeding in first trimester of pregnancy," it never once came up as a possible cause! Just another reason to be afraid of "Doctor Google" and his/her incorrect diagnosing abilities.

We toured the birthing center of our hospital after I was released, and we were quite impressed. It was built/redesigned three years ago, according to the secretary who gave us our tour, and it is so peaceful! One semi-superficial aspect that I wasn't aware of but which I really like is that their newborn photographs are taken by an extremely talented local photographer who travels to the hospital with her props and captures baby in a very natural, peaceful manner. If only I could travel back in time and destroy my own newborn pictures before they ever got leaked!

p.s. I'm pretty sure that I'm lucky I still have an arm. The EMT who drew my blood and attached the IV forgot to remove the band he had tied above my elbow, so for about two hours, I laid in bed with my right hand and forearm turning more and more purple, growing more and more swollen, and freezing -- oh, it was SO cold! I eventually pressed the "Call" button on the remote I'd been given, and the EMT walked straight in, ripped off the band in horror, and asked whether I'd had more blood drawn or if it had been there the whole time. His face definitely told us that this was a big deal, and he apologized sincerely. It's a good thing he'd won us over earlier, because if it had been frowny faced registration lady, she might not have gotten off quite so easily...