The past week has easily been the worst week of my life. It all started on Monday November 3rd as I went in for my 20-week pregnancy check up. This is where we begin:
I met up with my beloved OB, Dr. Fox, at 8:45AM with my mother-in-law, Carol, in tow. She’s one of my best friends and such a great support system. Whenever I tell people my husband and I live 11 houses down from my in-laws, they give me the shocked/your life must be like “Everybody Loves Raymond” face, which is far from the truth. I have the in-laws that we willingly go see almost every night and openly steal “HBO Go” from. They’re great. That past Friday I woke up to a rush of blood, which was an almost identical episode from 1.5 weeks prior. I have a bicornuate uterus (a what?), yeah…a bicornuate uterus which is basically a uterus that is split into two (at least in my case). I affectionately refer to this as “my duplex” or “my muterus” (mutant uterus). Anyway, doctors initially thought that the other side of my muterus was responsible for the leakage. The baby appeared to be doing great and no need for concern. Dr. Fox decided that I should go on bed rest for at least two weeks since I had two episodes of bleeding and he wanted to see if that would help. At first, I couldn’t fathom being imprisoned to my bed for two weeks with my only luxury of freedom walking to the bathroom. My mother-in-law took me home and I created a plan of action for the next two weeks. I had to call my bosses about going on leave for the next two weeks because my doctor didn’t want any work stress affecting me. Fortunately I have the most supportive work environment and they told me to take as much time as I need. I’m an active duty Behavioral Health Officer (Social Worker) for the Army National Guard and I really do feel like my colleagues are my family. I called all my current soldiers and commanders I have been working with and told them I would be absent for the next couple of weeks but they were in the hands of 2LT Roberts, who is like a brother to me. I absolutely love my job and it was hard saying goodbye, even though it would only be a couple short weeks. Reluctantly, I had to get rid of those tickets we had to the Black Keys concert for the next night, I couldn’t go out to see the much anticipated Interstellar movie (we had awesome IMAX seats!), we had to cancel our trip to Michigan that weekend to see my husband’s extended family (it would be my first time meeting them and seeing Michigan), and sadly I had to cancel the gender reveal party we were having the next Saturday. As social workers like to do, I tried to reframe my situation. These two/possibly longer weeks weren’t going to be miserable, they were going to be my time to bond with baby, be present, finally get to those books I downloaded on my kindle, catch up on a couple HBO series, and start a new hobby. I just placed an order for a scarf knitting kit on Amazon when my husband called to tell me he was outside the house and ready to head to our 20-week ultrasound.
In the car we joked about my dramatic muterus and he asked if Dr. Fox could write him a note for bed rest because he had a couple shows he wanted to catch up on. The prius became a mini therapy session where we talked about things we can control and things we can’t control. We were sad about missing out on the upcoming adventures we had but would do anything to make sure the baby was safe. We anxiously walked to our anatomy scan where we would get to see the little one again. Watching your baby, the baby you have been harboring in your body for the last 5 months, on a screen makes you feel so connected to something you know exists but can’t hold yet. The ultrasound tech wasn’t speaking much but we got a look at our baby. The baby was crossing its legs so we weren’t able to see the sex. Casey and I joked that the baby must take after him because they both enjoy privacy. We went home and bed rest began.
I met up with my beloved OB, Dr. Fox, at 8:45AM with my mother-in-law, Carol, in tow. She’s one of my best friends and such a great support system. Whenever I tell people my husband and I live 11 houses down from my in-laws, they give me the shocked/your life must be like “Everybody Loves Raymond” face, which is far from the truth. I have the in-laws that we willingly go see almost every night and openly steal “HBO Go” from. They’re great. That past Friday I woke up to a rush of blood, which was an almost identical episode from 1.5 weeks prior. I have a bicornuate uterus (a what?), yeah…a bicornuate uterus which is basically a uterus that is split into two (at least in my case). I affectionately refer to this as “my duplex” or “my muterus” (mutant uterus). Anyway, doctors initially thought that the other side of my muterus was responsible for the leakage. The baby appeared to be doing great and no need for concern. Dr. Fox decided that I should go on bed rest for at least two weeks since I had two episodes of bleeding and he wanted to see if that would help. At first, I couldn’t fathom being imprisoned to my bed for two weeks with my only luxury of freedom walking to the bathroom. My mother-in-law took me home and I created a plan of action for the next two weeks. I had to call my bosses about going on leave for the next two weeks because my doctor didn’t want any work stress affecting me. Fortunately I have the most supportive work environment and they told me to take as much time as I need. I’m an active duty Behavioral Health Officer (Social Worker) for the Army National Guard and I really do feel like my colleagues are my family. I called all my current soldiers and commanders I have been working with and told them I would be absent for the next couple of weeks but they were in the hands of 2LT Roberts, who is like a brother to me. I absolutely love my job and it was hard saying goodbye, even though it would only be a couple short weeks. Reluctantly, I had to get rid of those tickets we had to the Black Keys concert for the next night, I couldn’t go out to see the much anticipated Interstellar movie (we had awesome IMAX seats!), we had to cancel our trip to Michigan that weekend to see my husband’s extended family (it would be my first time meeting them and seeing Michigan), and sadly I had to cancel the gender reveal party we were having the next Saturday. As social workers like to do, I tried to reframe my situation. These two/possibly longer weeks weren’t going to be miserable, they were going to be my time to bond with baby, be present, finally get to those books I downloaded on my kindle, catch up on a couple HBO series, and start a new hobby. I just placed an order for a scarf knitting kit on Amazon when my husband called to tell me he was outside the house and ready to head to our 20-week ultrasound.
In the car we joked about my dramatic muterus and he asked if Dr. Fox could write him a note for bed rest because he had a couple shows he wanted to catch up on. The prius became a mini therapy session where we talked about things we can control and things we can’t control. We were sad about missing out on the upcoming adventures we had but would do anything to make sure the baby was safe. We anxiously walked to our anatomy scan where we would get to see the little one again. Watching your baby, the baby you have been harboring in your body for the last 5 months, on a screen makes you feel so connected to something you know exists but can’t hold yet. The ultrasound tech wasn’t speaking much but we got a look at our baby. The baby was crossing its legs so we weren’t able to see the sex. Casey and I joked that the baby must take after him because they both enjoy privacy. We went home and bed rest began.