Blood and Fear

Tuesday started out like any other day, more or less. My nausea had improved, but since I had had a meeting in the morning, I didn’t have a chance to eat anything other than an insure. I was still exhausted, and felt like I was wearing a weighted suite. And, of course, I had to work. Work was going well, and I had lots of time to chit chat with my coworkers about this pregnancy, my coworkers’ daughter being pregnant, and my other coworkers’ daughters pregnancy (she has a two month old now). All the information I was getting was making me feel more confident about this pregnancy. Meanwhile I started to feel wet. This isn’t anything new. I have more thin white CM now that I’m pregnant. I was ignoring it for a while and finally I decided I had to pee. I told the nurse next to me to watch my patient for a moment because I was going to run to the restroom. I sat down and immediately noticed dark brown blood had leaked all over my underwear and through to my scrub pants. I looked down and it was pouring out of me into the toilet. I actually said, “no, no, no” out loud. I didn’t know what to do. I shoved a bunch of toilet paper into my underwear and burst into tears. I walked over to my charge nurse and told him in needed to go to the ER right now, for myself. He said ok, and asked if I could call report first on my patient. I looked at my patient, looked at him, and nodded no. There was no way I could get through a report, crying and thinking about how I needed an OB. I walked past a friend who just had a miscarriage, and she asked me what was going on. I told her I was bleeding everywhere and didn’t know where to go. She told me to go to L&D. So I took the elevator up one floor , called the brain, and walked over to the nurses where I used to take pregnant patients for the last 5 years. My interactions with these nurses haven’t always been the best, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I could get out was, “I work in PACU, I’m pregnant, I just started bleeding.” One of the nurses took my badge so she could check me in, rather than having me walk over to the window to wait and register. A resident asked me a couple questions and walked me over to a table where she could examine me. Another nurse gave me a gown and put chucks down. They tried to do an abdominal ultrasound, and of course couldn’t. They did a vaginal ultrasound and I was sure they would find an empty uterus. Instead there it was, one little sac with a little heartbeat, beating at a rate of 95. They said it was slow but there. She checked my cervix and said it was closed. They asked me about my medical history, drew my blood, and triaged me. All the stuff they would normally do before the exam. This is when it helps to work at a hospital…there are a couple of benefits here…access to quick medical care when you’re having an emergency. These nurse were so kind to me and I really appreciated it. The doctor even exchanged my scrubs so that I wouldn’t have to put on my bloody scrubs. My coworker came up to check on me, and soon after the Brain and our friend who drove her there showed up. We waited on my unit for my blood results to see if I needed a rhogam shot. I used that time to text message my nurse who contacted my RE. The Brain took me home and put me to bed. It was the worst night. I felt so helpless. I was afraid every time I had to pee. I made her go with me into the bathroom. I made her site there with me while I put in the extra crinone. She tried to get me to hydrate, but I kept throwing everything up. I felt like the night would never end. I just wanted it to be Wednesday at 1pm so that I could be in my RE’s office getting another ultrasound. Wednesday afternoon finally came and I was so relieved to see my nurse and RE. I handed him the copy of my ultrasound and described what had happened. He checked me with the ultrasound and said I measured exactly 6 weeks, which is where they have me in their records. Then they focused on the heartbeat. It was so clear and loud and I finally cried some happy tears. Stupid us, we didn’t even ask what the rate was. We were all just so thrilled to hear such a reassuring heartbeat. Then he moves on and says I have a large subchorionic hemorrhage. He thinks there was a second pregnancy there and now I have that pocket of blood. Hopefully my body reabsorbs it. I know I may bleed again though and that frightens me. In the meantime, I’m using crinone twice a day now, and have started using two estrogen patches. I’m off work the rest of the week and am staying in bed except to go to the restroom. I’m trying not to worry too much about missing work, but I’m so new on the unit that it’s hard not to. I’m trying to hydrate as much as I can. Thankfully he gave me a prescription for zofran for my nausea because I told him I wasn’t holding much down and had lost 5 pounds. The Brain has been taking care of me, and even missed school yesterday…a week before finals. We’re thanking God there is a baby in there, and asking that it stay in there until it’s able to come out screaming and crying. We’ll go back for another ultrasound on Monday. Right now, we’re taking things one day at a time.