Train Wreck

Let me just start off by saying the girls are wonderful. Mathilde, or Tilly as we're calling her lately, and Alexis (Lexi) are blossoming and flourishing as the days pass. They're gaining weight and interacting just a little bit more with their world. They've had an exciting week traveling back and forth from home to the hospital while Mom recovers from a massive infection. That's where I come in.
Monday night I awoke to find myself bleeding copious quantities of blood. Given the snow storm and the fact that we had the girls to contend with, we quickly called an ambulance and I was whisked away to the hospital by two diminutive but fit young women. Once in the hospital it was determined that I had an infection in my uterus, and an ultrasound revealed that huge clots had formed and were preventing my uterus from shrinking back to it's normal size. At first it was thought that a 10cm piece of placenta had been left over from my C-Section, but that proved likely not to be the case. In 10 percent of C-sections, this type of infection can result.
I had an emergency D&C to remove the clots and clean the uterus and then spent the next two days in the post delivery ward with Ivan and the girls. My hemoglobin test results revealed that it had slipped from 139 to 59 as a result of the massive blood loss I had suffered. I was offered a choice between a blood transfusion and iron therapy via intravenous delivery. I chose the iron therapy. In the mean time, Ivan had to pack the girls up twice a day to return to the house to feed River and let him out. I had made a deal with the hospital that I could keep the girls in with me since I was nursing, but I could never be left alone with them since the nurses would not be available to assist me. So they tagged along with Ivan wherever he went. They fared no worse for the experience though, and I pumped enough milk so that Ivan could take "meals" with him.
We're all home today, Christmas Eve and so grateful for it. I'm tired and weak and look like Casper, but I'll recover. And I have Ivan and the girls. I am so eternally grateful for my family and I look forward to a quiet time with them tomorrow. We will enjoy Kraft Dinner and a little bit of wine for our Christmas Supper, and probably sleep until noon. (If the girls will let us. Right!) . If you were looking for a reason this season to be grateful, think of us. We just might not have made it. Merry Christmas everyone.