Bleeding again

The fetal transfusion that was supposed to take place at 2pm was almost cancelled because I had another hemmorhaging episode at 1:30. One of the fellows (as in a doctor doing his fellowship) did a speculum exam (haven't had one of those in several months) to remove the clots and clean out the blood that had pooled in there so they would know if I was still actively bleeding or not. Then I was wheeled back down to L&D room 1 (where I was for the transfusion 2 weeks ago). They waited until the bleeding and contractions calmed down and wheeled me into the OR at 3:40pm. The anesthesiologist agreed to my plan this morning about not doing an epidural, but the MFM doctor didn't agree. He said last time they did an epidural, which has a much larger needle, and since that big needle went in too far, that's why I had the spinal headache. They opted this time to give me a spinal, which has a much smaller needle, and therefore the risk is MUCH less that I'll develop the headache. The doctor anticipates doing one more transfusion (in about 3 weeks), and then he said after that if Oliver is anemic again they'll just deliver him instead of giving him another transfusion. Right now I'm praying the bleeding and contractions will completely stop so I can go back up to the antepartum unit tomorrow. I didn't cry at all until I was in the OR, and they told me they were going to do a spinal instead of what I had requested. They were going on and on explaining it, and I said just do it. I don't want to talk about it (because it was making me cry). I cried a little more during the spinal, but altogether I shed FAR fewer tears this time than last time, which was one of my goals. I'm thankful for nurses who let me squeeze their hands when I'm scared or in pain.

 

I didn't get "my" dinner but at least they let me eat something around 5:15pm. Last time I was in the OR for an hour, but the bulk of the time was due to the epidural taking forever. This time I was in the OR an hour again, but it was because the transfusion took much longer in part because he wasn't in as good a position and in part because they couldn't operate the hemoglobin machine to check his blood after they retrieved a sample. Let me tell you the MFM doctor was not happy. He said it was a STAT order and the person had better run as fast as he/she could because he had a needle in the umbilical cord. Oliver didn't need quite as much blood this time. The doctor said the ultrasound tech was mistaken when she told me he was in the "severe" category yesterday. He was only in the "moderate" category, but they knew he'd be in the severe category soon so they went ahead and did it. I had to ask at least 4 times (yesterday and today) for a menu for tomorrow, and finally I got one around 1pm today. Hopefully I'll get "my" meals tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll ask for another week's worth of menus.

 

This morning I had said to Paul that I would ask the doctor on Saturday to reconsider whether I could go home as I was thinking at that point I would have gone 8 days without bleeding, and it should be about 3 weeks until the next transfusion, but then I had to go and bleed all over the place again. They told me today that this is typical with complete placenta previa that the bleeding episodes will become more and more frequent (I've now had 3 episodes in 8 days). So I am guessing I truly will be here until I deliever. Every time this happens they ask me if I want them to throw away my clothes (this time just underwear as I had already changed into my gown for the surgery). I can't believe how prone they are to wanting to throw away my maternity clothes and underwear! I asked them to put it in the sink, and Paul will take it and wash it tomorrow. So the second transfusion is done, and hopefully I'll only have to go through this one more time. I never thought I'd enter an OR so many times during a pregnancy!