Terrifying Two Weeks....

On Monday 28 Jan I started the day as per normal but during my lunch break I was rushing around trying to get too many jobs done in limited time. I knew I had over done it a little bit as I was feeling a bit yuck and puffed out so before I went to eat my lunch (good old roast veges & gravy!) I went to the toilet. I noticed a small patch of old blood on my underwear and as I wiped there was pink on the toilet paper. I stayed calm putting it down to the rushing around and thinking it would settle back once I relaxed. Had my lunch and checked again and it seemed to be getting worse. By 3pm it was definitely red new blood and I fell to pieces at work. Rang Miles and Mum and then St Georges Hospital as were were due to have our regular NT scan on Wed anyway. They managed to fit me in at 5pm so Miles met me at work and a friend from work dropped us off at the car. Then we went to the hospital but they said they needed a referral which of course was at home as we weren't due to have the scan till Wed. After calling the midwife and having no luck I remembered the Fertility Centre. Miles ran over and managed to get one from them thank goodness. They took us slightly early and all I can say really was that it was the most amazing experience in my life to see this little being wriggling around inside me. Pickle was alive and well - Very active. We even saw her/him opening and closing their mouth and doing lots of stretches and even hiccuping! It was just so beautiful - we'd both gone in with pretty negative views but came out ecstatic.
They couldn't see any reason for the bleeding so sent us home.
I'd love to say it ended there.......
But - the bleeding did stop that night but the following night I got extreme cramps, I felt awful. I had a hot water bottle all night but this didn't ease the pain much. The next afternoon I started bleeding again and once again it got steadily heavier. I ended up going to the Doctor on Wed who referred me to the Gynecology Assessment Unit in Christchurch Womens Hospital (CWH). Firstly we had a scan and once again - there was Pickle swimming around the screen. The scanners were so much clearer at CWH and we had some fantastic close up views. They managed to find a Hematoma outside the baby sac at the fundus end close to the Placenta. They said it was small but does slightly raise the chance of miscarriage but there's nothing we can do to stop it. Pretty scary really.
The bleeding stopped that day and I didn't have any problem until the following Wed 06 Feb. I woke up and sensed something was wrong. I felt very wet and when I pulled the sheets back there was a large amount of blood. When I stood up it gushed down my legs and onto the carpet. I yelled to Miles and then went to the toilet where more blood came out onto the floor and all over the toilet. This was way more terrifying than the earlier episodes. I called the midwife and once again we were referred immediately to the Gyn unit at CWH. They had skeleton staff on as it was Waitangi Day. We had a nurse use a Doppler to find the heartbeat which was nice and strong. Then we waited for another couple of Doctors to do a scan. It was just a mobile little push around scanner so we didn't see great detail or get any pictures but it was reassuring to see little Pickle all snug in her water balloon. They weren't able to give us any more information on the bleeding or whether the expelled blood was the remaining part of the Hematoma so we have to wait till our next scheduled scan at 19 or 20 weeks.
I'm still spotting now (Sun 10 Feb) and I'm just a little over it.... I hate this not knowing what is going on or what the end result will be.

Ultrasound Photos at 11 Weeks 6 Days.

These photos were taken on Mon 28 Jan 2008 at St Georges Hospital during our NT scan.

Ultrasound Photos at 12 Weeks 2 Days.

These photos were taken on 31 Jan 2008 at Christchurch Womens Hospital. The first one is a profile pickle shot and the second is a tiny foot. The whole foot measured 1cm !! Pickle is measuring approx 8.5cm at 12weeks 2 days.