Well, I am sure that many of you have heard I'm in the hospital...and not to have the baby. I'll start at the beginning....
Last Friday I started getting some pain and swelling in my left leg. I thought at first that it was my sciatic nerve. Then by Saturday the swelling was worse and my leg was turning blue sometimes. We called the midwife on-call and she sent us to Labor and Delivery to do a non-stress test on the baby and get an ultrasound of my leg. She wanted to make sure there wasn't a blood clot. We got the ultrasound and everything looked fine. They sent us home with the sad news that I was entering my final weeks of pregnancy and weird stuff just happens.
My swelling continued but it stopped going blue. I went had court on Monday and Tuesday so I went to all of that. I ended up working about seven hours each day. In hindsight, maybe not the best idea. My leg was getting enormous! And it was extremely painful to walk. On Wednesday we went for our next prenatal appointment. The midwife was still concerned so she sent us in for another ultrasound. This time, they found a blood clot and they admitted us to the hospital. Here it is Saturday and we're still here. It's been a crazy ride so far, but at this point, things are looking okay.
On Thursday morning they took us in first thing in the morning to try to break up the clot. I was glad they hadn't told us ahead of time what was coming. It would have just kept me up all night. They wanted to go in through the back of my knee, insert a "egg beater" like thing that was supposed to break the clot up. The internal radiologist said there is a strong drug they use in conjunction with the "eg beater" but they can't use it on me because I'm pregnant. So they were going to try it without. The scary part was that they had to use radiation, taking X Rays throughout the procedure. I was worried for the baby but they promised I was far along enough that she would be fine. Then they said that they usually sedate people, not because of pain but because of nerves. For me, being pregnant, they would just use a local anesthetic but they thought they pain would be minimal. I was doing fine until they kicked Jon out and wouldn't let him be there during the procedure do to the radiation. I cried a little at that point but the aides and the nurse were great and they talked to me to calm me down. They had the baby hooked up to a monitor and continually gave me reports on how the baby was doing. She was such a trooper and did so great throughout the entire thing!
They had expected the whole to take maybe 45 minutes. It ended up taking 2 hours. The first procedure didn't work. The "egg beater" isn't as effective without the other drug, which they couldn't use. Then they tried ballooning the vein. Neither of these were very painful. It was the third procedure that took my breath away. Veins don't have pain receptors so that's not what was painful. It was some intense pressure in my knee. I cringed and cried but made it through. At that point, what choice do you have? They were suctioning the clot out with a long catheter. They felt fairly successful with this method and finished up. They weren't able to clear out the entire clot but they cleared a path through it so that at least the blood flow would improve. They hoped that the anti-coagulants would break the rest of the clot up. They showed us the pictures afterwards and we were both amazed at the size of the clot! It goes from high up in my pelvis, down to about midthigh. It's about foot in length. The Dr said it is really stuck onto the sides of the vein pretty tight.
So they decided to keep us overnight into Friday and would possibly let us go Friday. Well, Thursday night I thought my water broke. They tested it with the amniotic test strips and we were all a little confused about whether or not it had broken. So they sent us in for an ultrasound on the baby. The fluid levels were actually on the high side, so they decided it hadn't broken. While there they quickly checked the clot and first impressions: it looked bigger. So the doctor got these results and sent us back down for a more thorough look at the clot. It hadn't actually gotten bigger, but it wasn't smaller either. Also come to find out, the baby's bowels are a little larger than normal. So they were concerned about that. They moved us up to Labor and Delivery and I'm on constant monitoring. The baby's heart is doing great. We just finished up another ultrasound this morning on the baby and we're waiting to hear from the doctor regarding those results. The tech said the bowels still look a little large, the same as yesterday but the radiologist has to go over and he sends up the report.
From this point, we're just waiting to see what is going to happen. There is a risk in almost every route we take from this point so it's just deciding which route is the least risky. I'm not dilated at all, or else we probably would already have a baby. Induction isn't very favorable for me, because my body just doesn't seem ready to go into labor. He doesn't want it to end in a C section because that increases risk of blood clots and I'm on anti-coagulants. Oh, the other kicker is that I can't have any type of epidural or spinal blocks due to the anti-coagulants. I wasn't planning on getting an epidural and have ready TONS of natural childbirth books. The only problem is that when you're induced, labor is different, usually more painful, and harder to get through without pain relief. It could be interesting!
That's all the updates we have at this point. We're in good hands, the doctors are all communicating with each other and trying to decide the best course of action. They have been really good about explaining everything to us and keeping us in the loop. Thanks to all our wonderful family and friends too for all your prayers and fasting. We are so grateful to hear of all your concern for us and feel blessed to know such wonderful people! I'm sure your prayers are helping to guide the doctors and keep us safe! We'll keep you all updated as we know more (it seems to change frequently). Thanks for your faith and prayers!
