My First D&C

For those of you who are curious about the whole experience, here's mine...


I went to the hospital on a Friday a couple hours before the procedure was scheduled to get all checked in and set up.  That was at 9:30 AM and with my increased hunger urges (pregnancy symptoms hadn't stopped) that was rather late to have nothing to eat or drink beforehand.  That's probably only if you're going to have anesthesia I guess, which I did.  This time I'm going in at 5:30 AM so that part should be easier...


The hospital was really efficient and friendly during the check-in process, so it went smoothly and I got to my room quickly. I changed into the hospital gown, got compression things put on my lower legs, and was settled into the bed within like 20 minutes.  Then the blood draw and IV... oh boy.  That was about the worst part of the whole thing, but I just had a bad experience.  First of all the nurse that came in to do it kept talking about how she wasn't supposed to be here today and they found her at the gym to make her come in.  She wasn't glad to be there and wasn't real friendly.  Earlier that week I had blood drawn for tests out of both arms, so each had a small bruise already.  It took quite awhile to get the blood she needed, and then she tried to put the IV in the same spot.  Evidently my blood congealed (don't know the exact medical terms) or something in the IV needle when she tried to put it in.  And evidently that has never happened to her before, according to my oh-so-happy-to-be-there nurse.  So she took it out of my forearm and stuck it up in the crook of my elbow.  Boy was THAT comfortable... Plus I had a bruise covering my entire forearm for the next few weeks, which is rather hard to discreetly cover up in August in our desert climate.  People get suspicious when you're at school setting up your classroom and sweating in long sleeves.


So the next hour or so was passed watching TV and trying not to bend my left arm or think about the discomfort in my elbow or get nervous for the surgery or think about being hungry.  Like I said, the whole IV thing was really the worst part, which certainly isn't any big deal in general.  Then I was moved to the "waiting room" which was kind of like a closet in my case, and met the doctor who was going to do the procedure.  My doctor was busy with a birth and had called me to ask if it was okay to have this other doctor she works with do it instead of waiting for her, because who knows how long that wait would be.  She had discussed my case (because of the threat of molar pregnancy) with him already so he was somewhat familiar with my story.  After that I was wheeled into the operating room, covered in lots of warm blankets, given a run-down of what would happen, and to sleep I went.


When I woke up everything was done and I just felt groggy. We had to stick around the hospital until I drank juice to make sure I could keep it down and used the bathroom.  I guess those are the signs that you're going to be alright.  Then I was wheeled down to the car and Luke drove me home.  I didn't have any pain until Luke was gone to the pharmacy to get my meds...of course.  Then I had some really intense pain that wouldn't stop.  I haven't given birth but it felt like what I imagine contractions feel like only not it waves, just constant.  There was no position I could find that would bring any relief - it was really miserable.  When Luke got back I took some pain meds and eventually got the pain down.  I must have misunderstood about the other medication I had to take.  I thought it was to make the uterus contract so it goes back to normal and that I might need to take the pain meds when I took that because of the cramps.  With that understanding I was reluctant to take it while already in so much pain, but it turned out that taking that medication is what really made me feel better.  I'll have to ask about that this time...


For the next 24 hours I just kept taking the pain meds every four hours or whatever just to make sure I didn't have that pain again.  All Saturday I stayed in bed and took it easy.  By Sunday morning I was feeling good enough to go to church and went without the pain meds later that day.  Monday was our first inservice day of the school year which meant mostly sitting in meetings so I was good to go.  Luke helped me set up my classroom the week before so I didn't have alot of big physical stuff left, thankfully.  


Sometime later that week we had a registration/back-to-school night.  During that evening I passed what was left of the tissue (I didn't know that was going to happen...) which was really inconvenient timing but wasn't painful or anything.  Just weird and kinda gross.  From then on I just had some light bleeding/spotting for a week maybe.


Two weeks later I had my follow-up appointment.  Everything checked out alright and the tissue sample came back clear of the pre-cancerous stuff so my doctor gave me a prescription for birth control pills to take until I had a normal cycle and we were ready to start trying again.


That was that.  I hope it all goes as smoothly this time as well - minus the IV troubles.