A Visit to the ER

Although I don't generally use my blog for journal entries, I had to write this one. I have pictures but they aren't so cute! We found out that we were pregnant in May, only to have me start a period 5 days later. Although I assumed I had miscarried at that time, I didn't. It was a chronic ectopic pregnancy that was growing very slowly in my right fallopian tube. It raised my HCG levels enough to turn a pregnancy test positive, but not enough to stop me from having normal periods. At some point it died, but it just hung out. I would have been over 16 weeks pregnant when it finally sent me to the ER on August 1st at 1:30 in the morning. Don't ever just take yourself to the ER! I had no idea I was still pregnant and I assumed the terrible pain was appendicitis, as did the ER doctor. The ER moved really slowly and ignored me pretty good until I had an ultrasound. In between the external and internal ultrasounds I used the bathroom and passed out cold on my way back to the table. My room became like the ER rooms you see on TV. I suddenly had about 8 people in there helping me come back around, putting in an IV, drawing blood, hooking monitors to my chest, doing an internal ultrasound, and others just yelling for things to happen. I was bleeding and clotting so bad internally that all they could tell through the ultrasound was that something had ruptured. An OB doctor got there quick and I was put into surgery as soon as the room was ready. Thank heavens my dad, mom, and Scott made it before I went into surgery! The doctors couldn't get my fallopian tube to quit bleeding and ended up removing it, but the surgery went great. I went home to my mom's house for 2 days before I dared go back home. I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people for calling me, bringing flowers and creative gifts, tending my kids, cleaning my house, making my meals, and even sharing (or giving up) their bed. It made me realize how fragile life is, how grateful I am for modern day surgeries, and how many people I am surrounded by that are so wonderful!