When Adam Was Born - Part 6

We slept like stones until 8:00 when Y, our wonderful nurse from the previous day, came into the room at the start of her shift. She asked how I was doing, and I mentioned to her that I had to pee and also that I might need a change of sheets as the bed was still kind of damp. She took one look at the lower half of the bed and leapt into action, suggesting I make my way to the restroom while she cleaned up.

I stood up, got about 2 steps, sat down on the end of the bed and said, “Uh, I think there is something coming out of me.” She glanced at the area in question which was - I am not kidding – just above my knees, and told me it was the umbilical cord that I was feeling. I resumed my journey and every step brought forth a splatter of bright red blood. After using the ladies room, my path back to the bed was marked by more splats (in all directions, and in areas of the room where I never even ventured) and I remarked to my husband that it appeared we had a scene from Discovery Channel going on. As I sat down on the bed I could see into the restroom, as well as the route I had traveled. It was a bit ugly. I told Y that I was sorry about the mess, and mentioned that it looked like someone had butchered a deer in our room. She saw what I was referring to and said she’d get a doctor to see about that bleeding.

(She did summon a doc – that part is coming.) Y came back a bit later telling me she’d just been paged and Genetics wanted to see the baby immediately - don’t know if she needed our permission or just wanted to keep us informed (since he wasn’t in the room with us.)

At about 9:00 Dr. P’s nurse came in to check on us. While visiting she mentioned that, during the 8 AM case conference, Dr P said she thought she’d end up doing a D&C on me. I have no idea what led Dr P to that conclusion at that point. I told her nurse that the D&C thing was okay with me since I’d been through it before, and besides, I’d be asleep - to which she responded that they don’t put you to sleep here, they just give you Versed (or something) and you don’t know what’s happening and she’s had several surgeries with Versed rather than being all the way asleep and its not a big deal and really it’s fine and I thought ‘… it’s fine like hell is fine, but I am not going to argue with her, because we really like her and I know she’s just telling me what she’s supposed to be telling me...lemme just make a mental note for later…’ so I said “Okay.” We finished chatting and she left the room.

Comments

[Erin]

Oh. My. God. That is just horrible. I cannot believe how idiotic the staff of the hospital is. My heart is just breaking for you, because this is just horrible. I'm so sorry.

[Amy]

What the eff???!!! How did they miss that? My Dr. told me that there was a chance that part of the placenta would get caught "up in there" and they may have to do a D&C but immediatley following the birth he massaged below my belly button and extruded it (extruded...yuck!). He said also that even though it appeared that it came out in one piece, there could still be some material left so I should watch for heavy bleeding in the days and weeks to come, not say, ummm, an umbilical cord. I am not writing this to make you feel inept or uncomfortable in any way because you did everything right from the beginning, but I would rethink this hospital when it comes time for the real deal (I'm optimistic it will happen). Between the drug thing, the epidural dilemma and the table incident this place should be blacklisted! Again, I'm so sorry the horrors were not over for you yet.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you so much for posting your story. You can't imagine how many people you help by writing, including the most important, yourself.

[Jenn / Duchess]

Okay somebody go and get me a soapbox...these people need to be friggin kicked in the head...oh wait they have no brain cells left to spare as they apparently are all operating on the SAME ONE. I am so so so so so so sorry that they made what was already a terrifying and sad experience that much more terrifying and sad. They should be more than blacklisted they should be banished.