to the ER!
So last week we scheduled Brody's 2 week check up and my 2 week follow up on Thursday and Friday so Justin could help get us to and from appointments. Now normally after giving birth, you have a 6 week follow up with your OB/midwife, but Linda wanted to see me at 2 weeks to check on things because of my history of post partum depression and because of the severity of my tearing/stitching up process. We made the appointment early so that Justin could get to work at a decent time, 8:20 am.
We arrived a little bit early and were the only people there. We got called back (after I finished feeding Brody) and I got weighed before we went back to the room as usual. (Down 40 pounds, woohoo!! Only 40 more to go until my goal weight by next May.)
The four of us and the nurse, Ann, went back to the smallest room in the place. She took my BP and asked how everything was going. Linda came in and check my stitches and healing and said everything looked great, my blood pressure was good, etc. She asked Justin and me a few questions about how I was coping with everything and if I'm feeling overwhelmed, etc. At some point during this visit, I began to feel really crappy, very light-headed and dizzy and a little bit nauseous. Now, I know this is bad of me, but I didn't eat breakfast since Brody and Kayla were both still asleep at 7:30 when we wanted to leave at 7:50. So I took advantage of a little extra rest, so sue me.
Linda really didn't like the way I looked, I was pale and an "off" color. (This is the distinct advantage to having a care provider who knows you very well, and who you see on a consistent basis.) She took my blood pressure a couple more times, had Ann come in to draw blood, and brought me some water (I ate some of Kayla's graham cracker snacks.) After sitting for quite some time, I told Justin I think I needed him to stay home from work. Then when we tried to get up and get going, I still was feeling really light headed, so Linda had an OB from the practice come in a look at me. They both suggested they wanted me to go to the ER since they can do all the tests and get results faster there to make sure nothing big was wrong. Because I trust Linda, I agreed.
The problem here is that we have two kids with us and only enough diapers, clothes, food to last for the short appointment before going home. We quickly called my mom to see if we could leave Kayla with her. We kept Brody with us since we are exclusively breastfeeding and Mom wouldn't have anything to feed him. By the time we were on our way to the hospital I was starting to feel better.
We arrived at the ER, Linda had called to let them know we were coming so we got registered and checked in. They gave me a bed, inserted an IV, did an EKG and a chest x-ray and then we waited. A young resident MD came in to talk to me. She was clearly flustered by the whole situation as she was stuttering and repeated questions. I made the small mistake of mentioning a very mild case of shortness of breath which was fleeting on our way into the midwife appointment and that's what everyone was cuing in on. Everyone kept asking me if I had any chest pain. No. I have no pain whatsoever, I kept repeating to everyone. I also kept mentioning that shortness of breath really wasn't a major complaint of mine, it was the light headedness and nausea.
Finally, a female ER doctor came to talk to me. She said they were waiting for some blood work back. My hemoglobin levels were normal so it wasn't that I was anemic. There is a blood clotting test that came back positive so she said they would be worried about a pulmonary embolus (PE). She explained that they would normally do a CT scan but because I'm breastfeeding and because all my stats were perfectly normal, we could also do an ultrasound of my legs to check for clots there as that is likely where the PE would come from. Ok, I said, let's do that. After an hour, I finally get transported to the US, where the technician says something along the lines of "An hour later? I called three times!" I calmly joked to her, "I was wondering what was taking so long as well." :) She didn't laugh but she did say, "It's ridiculous." She did the scan, told me at the end there were no clots and I was back to the ER bed. Where we had to wait another hour for the "official" US results.
At some point during this hour a new ER MD (a male) was on duty. He came in to talk to me and basically told me doing the US was pointless since it wouldn't rule in or out a PE since those are in your chest (um duh, but I understood where the female doctor was coming from.) Male ER MD wants to do a CT scan anyways. Fine, I say, let's get this over with. What male ER MD fails to tell me or mention or even ASK is that I won't be able to breast feed for 24 hours because of the contrast they inject for the CT scan. The technician tells me this when I get transported down to CT. Um, I'm not comfortable with this as we haven't given Brody a bottle yet and I have no pumped milk as I hadn't started pumping yet. I get transported back and bitch to Justin about how I don't want the CT because of this fact and because I've been feeling completely normal since we arrived at the ER. AND shortness of breath wasn't a major complaint AND I have NO PAIN!
After a few hours and some other consultations between the ER MD and an OB at the hospital, he convinces me that I am at really high risk for a PE and they both agree I should do the scan. Justin also wants me to do the scan. Unfortunately, I'm the only one that doesn't want me to do the scan (for Brody's sake) and because I know I don't have a PE. But I cave. The finally transport me back to CT and I joke with the technician. At the end of the scan he says to me, "We only had to use 2/3 of the contrast!" And I said, "Does that mean I only have to wait 2/3 of 24 hours to breastfeed?" He laughed and told me that actually the studies are inconclusive and some say the dye passes into the breast milk and some say it doesn't, but the err on the side of caution. I get it.
We go back to my ER bed. The male MD finally comes back and tells me I was right the CT scan was negative but he's still glad we did it. P.S. I'm not. I knew it. I'm beyond pissed and upset. An OB from the hospital comes in to check me out, and I finally get discharged at like 5:30 pm. Why yes, we have been here all day.
We end up back at my parents to grab some dinner with my mom and pick up Kayla. My mom gave Brody a bottle of formula which he did drink but then proceeded to spit up the entire 2 ounces, no joke. When we got home that night at 7:50 pm (12 hours after we left), I found out from some friends in my Facebook group that they breastfed after their CT scans and they did all this research. So I did some research. Found that almost everything online I found says that the amount of dye that passes into the breast milk is minuscule and of that, the amount that the baby absorbs is also minuscule. So Justin and I called the Mother Baby Unit at the hospital where we delivered and eventually I spoke to an MD there who said he thought I should continue breastfeeding.
This was the best news I had received all day. When you are a no a breast feeding mom, you don't really understand how important this bond is. For me, it is even more so with Brody. Our breast feeding relationship is going SO much better than things went with Kayla and it's my way of bonding with Brody since it doesn't seem as easy this time around since I have Kayla to worry about still. It's hard to explain but I was really distraught about sort of feeling forced to have a CT scan which I knew would be negative and jeopardizing my breast feeding relationship with Brody. I'm glad everything turned out ok, and I know everyone will say to me that it was better to know for sure. But I truly believe unless you are in the position, please don't tell me how to feel.
Needless to say, Brody had a very busy 2 week birthday. I'm glad that's over. The good thing that came out of it is that since I was laying in bed literally all day, I think my own healing really turned a corner. I'm feeling much more like myself now! Sorry for the long, wordy post without pictures. I promise I will make up for it the next time I have time to post. The one took 3 days!!
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