Well, I went to the bathroom a handful of times during the first hour of my shift, and it got to the point where I was just dry-heaving. But being the stubborn jackass that I am, I stayed. And stayed....and stayed. I decided to take an extended lunch and go home for a bit. I ate pho, which I was able to keep down. After I was done eating, I was seriously considering just calling Marissa and telling her that I needed to stay home and rest. Did I? HAHAHA. 10 minutes later, I was back in my car, heading to work. And like a good employee, I toughed it out till the end. I think I actually did every kind of procedure today too: vasectomy, prostate biopsy, cystoscopy, urodynamics, and Botox. Phew.
Once I got home, Ralph started to get ready to go to his jiu jitsu class; and when he left, I went to the bathroom...to go #2. Now, I've always had issues with constipation, and my pre-natal vitamins have been no help at all. The additional iron has me on the toilet for longer periods of time, and this time was no exception. When I was done, I noticed a drop (or two) of blood hit the water in the toilet, and my heart dropped. I wiped my vaginal area - and to my horror, there was a dark bloody clot. I lost my mind at that point and started to cry.
Once I cleaned myself up, I called Ralph - luckily, he hadn't gotten to class yet, so he turned his car around to go home. While I was waiting for him, I did the worst thing anyone could do - I went online and Google'd miscarriage stories/photos/etc. Needless to say, none of the posts made me feel better. When Ralph got home, we called an advice nurse from Kaiser. Her name was Jenna, and she told us to make a same-day appointment with my OBGYN the next day. I didn't want to wait, so she suggested we go to the ER at the Irvine Kaiser (they had ultrasound capabilities). Ralph and I were out the door in less than 5 minutes.
Once there, an RN greeted us (I didn't get his name), but he admitted me, took my vitals, then had us wait in the waiting room. 10 minutes hadn't gone by, and an RN by the name of Jung (nice Korean lady in pink scrubs) called my name and took me to my room - A10. I was instructed to leave a urine sample and strip down to my underwear, and then I put on a hospital gown. She took several vials of blood (according to Ralph, it was 6), then she hooked me up to an IV to get some fluids in me. While she was doing all of that, Dr. Hwang (the ER doc) came in and basically told me what the plan was - they were going to run some blood tests and also order an ultrasound. Once I was done with the ultrasound, he'd explain the results to me.
Dr. Hwang left, and Jung was still fidgeting with my IV line/bag. She was barely finished hanging the bag before the ultrasound technician came in. His name was Jason, and he was wearing a camo scrub top. He was very energetic, and he wheeled me away to the ultrasound room in no time at all. It was FREEZING in this room, by the way. He performed two ultrasounds - externally and internally. The external ultrasound was pretty quick, but the internal one felt like it took forever. After he was done, he said he was going to type up the report then take me back to my room.
This seemed to take forever...but it was only 15 minutes, and I'll never forget what he said to me when he came back.
"I wrote a book about you. And it looks like it's going to have a happy ending."
I didn't respond right away because I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, or he was just saying that to make me feel better. Now, I know technicians and nurses aren't allowed to diagnose, but I couldn't help myself - I asked him if he really thought everything was okay. He said he couldn't say but hinted that the results were in our favor.
As he pushed my gurney back to my room, I finally began to calm down - but I wasn't going to celebrate until Dr. Hwang gave me the final word.
And the final word(s) was (were) amazing.
Dr. Hwang said the baby is where it needs to be, and that the baby's heart is beating (100 bpm, to be exact). THANK YOU, GOD.
Regarding the clot, Dr. Hwang suspects that it was just a hemorrhage near the embryonic sac that got dislodged and was discharged through the vaginal canal. I was all-smiles at this point. He answered all my questions (regarding constipation, taking it easy at work, what to expect if I was having a miscarriage, etc.), then discharged me...but not before letting Ralph take a picture of an ultrasound screenshot of our baby. The doctor said I was also really low on potassium, so he sent in a nurse to give me Klor-Con (it's not as disgusting as everyone says). After that, we went home.
The whole thing was a blur, but I am so grateful that my baby is safe. God-willing, the rest of this pregnancy will go on without anymore scares. :)
But before I sign off, here's the very first picture of our little tadpole:
No Comments Yet, Leave Yours!