Telling family members and sharing the experience of my ongoing bleed has been a real source of strength for us both. It helped lift some of the burden to know that everyone was supporting us in our time of need and talking to others helped us to stop focusing solely on this problem.
And so I continued to bleed but was hopeful that all would be fine as the hospital had assured me. However, just five days after my hospital visit and on a regular trip to the bathroom, I passed a massive blood clot. I can’t say if I was lucky or not to not see it as it sunk quickly but I feared the worst and I was back to square one.
We did as we were advised and went to the hospital EPU first thing the following morning. My husband and I drove in silence once more to the ward and I wondered again if I had lost our baby. The doctors and nurses, now familiar to us in name, were once again kind and sympathetic as we prepared to check our fate. My husband, always the optimist, assured me that all would be fine and as I lay down for the third scan in less than a week, I hoped he was once again right.
The radiographer pointed the screen our way and there was baby with heartbeat wriggling around like a dancer. I was so relieved and choked back the tears. She told us the haematoma had decreased in width but not in length (5 cm) but this was a positive and reassuring sign. She told us that the bleed was not impacting on our baby in any way and the clot was obviously part of this horrible sac coming away. The radiographer added that the baby, at 15 weeks, was growing normally and had a strong heartbeat and we were advised not to worry.
We could keep our EPU appointment for the following week for further reassurance. I’m glad we got more good news this week but I’m finding it hard not to be worried all the time. It really hasn’t been an easy pregnancy so far, but this baby is surprising us at every turn and reminds me how strong it is already.
So it’s baby 1 – haematoma 0. I’m looking forward to kicking that thing out of my body once and for all.
Stay with us every week for more from ‘Big Belly’ as she continues her pregnancy adventure.
