CB44

Thanks.. I am not asking for medical advice in the sense of replacing my doctor with this board.. Not at all. I am just wondering if the majority of people would see that as something that warrants a call to the OB. Thank you to MentalHealthRN for making me feel better about calling lol

Hello all.. I have a question and I don't know if it would be considered "urgent", so I don't want to stop whatever the staff at my hospital is doing to ask this.. Plus I had fantastic luck on this board before, so here goes.. This is probably going to skip around a little bit, because I will be adding things as I remember them Back Story: I gave birth to my 2nd son (lady partslly) on Tuesday, March 1st via Pitocin induction. He was born at 7:41pm, was 8.8lbs and the doctor said I tore on my previous episiotomy scar, so she had to stitch that up.. One stitch I believe. The site hasn't bothered me even a little bit. The day after I gave birth, I had a Bilateral Tubal Ligation, performed by another doctor from the same practice. I was under general anesthesia and as far as I know, I had no problems or complications with it. The hospital I gave birth in this time did not perform any fundal checks. My husband and I both thought that was strange, considering how many of those uncomfortable (and therefore memorable) fundal checks I got when I had my first son. We figured that maybe it was just that different hospitals do different things (and perhaps that is the case). Side note: My first was born at a hospital about 20 minutes away from this one, in a different hospital system. My son and I were discharged Friday morning around 11am, myself with a prescription for motrin and percocet. About an hour before discharge, I had a BM (first one since labor) and the force of it caused my belly button to start bleeding. I went to the Nurse station and asked for a bandaid. She gave me some gauze and told me to hold pressure on it for a few, then to put the bandaid on if I felt it was needed. It stopped bleeding pretty quickly and I didn't bother with the bandaid. Problem: It is now Saturday Evening. The entire area between my labia and belly button is becoming more discolored. It is turning sort of yellowish, which I am not worried too much about.. But it is painful inside.. The pain isn't letting up, which is the part that is worrying me. I know that I can't expect to be fully healed the day after discharge, but I did expect the pain to start to lessen gradually, and that isn't happening. The episiotomy site still isn't bothering me even a little bit (hooray!). My feet have both been swollen since after labor, as well. The RN who looked said that that is normal, and that it would go away pretty quickly. It is now 95 hours since labor ended and they are just as swollen, if not more, than they were on day 1. They are not discolored at all, and my legs don't seem swollen.. But my feet are starting to feel tingly (Sort of the way a limb feels when it is about to fall asleep), and they are painful to the touch. The pain in my stomach radiates across the entire "pelvic" area.. Where menstrual cramps would generally be (except all the way across, versus the side/side pain of menstrual cramps). The bleeding after labor has lessened significantly.. Sometimes I will go to change the pad and there will be no blood on the pad at all, and sometimes there will be a normal "period" amount. I had a couple large clots that came out in those first two days after labor.. And one "golf ball" sized clot the early morning before I was discharged.. She said if I had any more that size to let them know. Well right after we left the hospital, my husband decided THAT was the appropriate time to stop by the bank and add me onto the new account he opened.. So I went from sitting in the car for an hour long drive from the hospital, to the bank.. I had to go into the bank to sign a paper or two.. Then back into the car for about another 30 minutes while my husband took my prescription into the pharmacy to be filled. Once we finally got home, I was about to get out of the car, but before I did, I felt a significant sized clot slide out. (Gross, sorry) Anyhow I got out, went to the bathroom.. Prepped my Peri bottle and commenced changing the pads.. There were two clots there. One the size of about a quarter and the other the size of a half-dollar. I currently have had a headache all day (Pretty dull, but noticeable at times.) I don't know what all could be related, but I have tried to include everything I can think of here. I *think* that is everything.. But I could be forgetting something. If anyone has any further questions, feel free to ask.. What I am looking for is a bit of advice on what it could possibly be, whether this is all normal.. Whether it warrants an after hours call to my OB.. Or really what I can do to "fix" it all. I am resting as I was told to.. My husband has been taking care of the house and our 16 month old son.. I'm not lifting anything heavier than my newborn son.. I don't smoke, drink or do drugs.. I'm just unsure and could use some guidance. I appreciate any help that anyone can give me! Thanks to you all!! AND thank you ALL for what you do. My nurses were my angels in these last few days, and I could never thank them enough. Every one of you are so incredibly special for what you do, and I can never find the words to thank you all enough.

It does indeed seem like even though I don't have one written down, I do have a birth plan in my head! lol Thank you all so much for your advice.. I really appreciate all of it. I feel like the fog surrounding my pregnancy has been cleared! To the L&D nurses at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.. I am coming for youuuuuu! *cue Jaws music* lol

Aaaaahhh!!! The horror!!!! Hey I have another question.. It probably sounds stupid, but I would LOVE to know how to do this... How can I ensure that whatever nurses/doctors whomever is in the room doesn't stand next to my ear going "PUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSH!!!"? When I was in labor with my son, there were two nurses doing that.. And it drove me absolutely INSANE. I can't stand it when people repeat themselves.. And apparently my level of irritation with it goes WAY up during labor. I vaguely remember cussing at the nurse and saying something along the lines of "I KNOW!!! If you don't stop telling me to pushpushpush I am going to get up and kick your a$$! ONE time is ENOUGH!" I know I pulled her aside afterwards and apologized profusely.. She said she is used to it.. I'd like to avoid that this time if at all possible lol

Oh don't worry.. I laughed my butt off (no pun intended lol) The funniest part, IMO, was watching all the nurses at the desk try to look straight forward at their computer screens... They tried so hard to be professional.. But you could see a couple faces turning red with the effort not to laugh.. There was an OB standing there putting patient notes in for someone else, and her head ROCKETED forward to face her laptop screen.. Her bottom lip must be really swollen considering how hard she was biting it lol As for the retraction... I always thought, was always told and read in several places that you aren't supposed to force the foreskin to retract, that it happens naturally around age 4 or 5.. My husband rarely changes a poopy diaper.. But twice when he did, he was trying to make it retract (he is uncir'd as well).. He stopped and looked at me like I was nuts (again, no pun intended) because immediately both hands went over my face and I groaned really loud "OHMYGODPLEASESTOP.. Please please please stop. Just stop. Please. AHHH!! I can't take it STOP!!!" haha If you are not supposed to do something because it can have any negative effects, the forbidden action turns into nails on a chalkboard for me. He got all smart with me and was like "Well he poops all over the place. Are you going to try to tell me that when he poops inside there, I am supposed to just leave it there?!" I told him "He doesn't poop IN there. He may poop on his foreskin and at the tip.. But NEVER have I found poop in there. Just wipe it gently until everything looks clean.. But PLEASE don't retract his foreskin again." Yikes.. Just thinking about it makes me cringe lol As for being nipple happy.. My milk came in 2 days before I even had my first son.. I was engorged at 41 weeks.. I was induced with him, I didn't pop him out until over 48 hours after I checked into the hospital. Once I had him, I fed him about 10 times... Then I had to have some breathing treatments (I had pneumonia as well).. I was so exhausted and sleepy that when the nurses came in for me to feed him, I couldn't keep my eyes open at all. The nurse said "It is ok to rest, honey. If you think you are too tired to safely breastfeed your son, I can hold him to you while you sleep." She did, and he just wasn't having it. So she said "If you don't mind, I will feed him formula one time, just so you can get the rest you really need. I can promise that it will only be one time, and it will be me that feeds him, nobody else. But if that makes you uncomfortable at all, I won't do it. We are here for you. Tell me what you want." I let her feed him just that once, and I can't tell you how much of a difference that made for my state of exhaustion and also for my illness. Getting more than 2 hours of sleep in a row did WONDERS, and I was able to feed him normally after that.

I'm not going to circumcise.. I am going to vaccinate (personal preference).. BF is pretty much a must for me.. I never thought of making little cards like that! That is a great idea! On a side note.. I slid off of the exam table yesterday. I was so embarrassed to tell the CNP lol I have no idea how it happened. One minute I was sitting there bare bottomed with those annoying crinkly paper sheets covering my lower half.. Then WHOA! Slipped off.. Fell onto that foot stool drawer thingie.. I have a 10cm welt across my big ole butt.. She said it broke skin in 4 places.. Now I have a giant black and purple bruise across my butt.. My butt bone hurts.. But the NST showed no problems. If anything, my son is moving about 100x more now that that happened. Isn't that weird? My CNP had to run out to get the clinical supervisor to check me and write an incident report. I was making jokes like "Oh man that is just what I need. I am going to leave the office and you are all going to be making fin of the fat pregnant chick who fell off the exam table!" and "Oh man my DH is going to make so much fun of me." In reality, it still hurts pretty bad lol But as long as the baby is fine, I am a-ok with a sore butt.

Also.. Is there a way to get the message to the L&D nurses without sounding like a complete a$$hole that I prefer THEY (nurses) discuss any medical procedures with me? I always feel like the docs just spout all the medical jargon at my head and run off.. With nurses, they are always careful to explain everything thoroughly and answer all of my questions.

There are no midwives at my current OB office. I had a midwife all throughout this pregnancy up until 34 weeks, when she retired. We had actually gotten pretty close, too She took me outside and advised that I find a new OB office because, as she said (verbatim) "If this doctor sees you in the hospital for more than four hours and you are not ready to push, she will pull out that scalpel so fast it will make your head spin." (I wish I could recall what agency I got the info from, but it seems that my previous OB has a 75% C/S rate.) She recommended the OB office I have now. She said that even though there was no midwife there, they are a good practice and I could trust them. Which thinking back upon, makes a little sense. Every time I saw the OB walking through the office halls, she was wearing surgical scrubs and splash goggles for regular OB visits.. I guess that should have alerted me lol The breastfeeding thing is a huge relief. Thank you for your reply!!

I won't intrude past this post and any answers I might receive! :) (I am not a nurse) I have a 15 month old son, and I am expecting my 2nd son around March 1st. Not once have I ever thought of having a birth plan. I don't really want one. My husband joked, saying that we should get a piece of paper and (with a crayon) write "Get baby out safely" with a check box next to it. We are very easy going people... When I had my first son, I admit that I was very on-guard with nurses. Having never in my life been in the hospital before, or really dealt with nurses.. I had only (very false) preconceived notions of nurses and their abilities. I only found out after I left the hospital and did a lot of research (including getting my medical records and emailing the nurses that signed the "Congrats" card that was sent to my house) that the nurses were my guardians. My champions. They were the ones who stood up to the doctor for me when they realized she was taking unnecessary medical procedures and applying them to me as freely as a band-aid. To this day I love my nurses and on a side note, I would like to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for doing what you do every single day. Now before I get any more off topic! I guess my situation is this: I have a new OB/Gyn, a new hospital and a new city. Even though my previous OB performed many unnecessary procedures during my labor, I have not become soured to all doctors. I really like my new OB and her entire staff (especially the NP). They are a "teaching office" so sometimes during regular visits, they ask if a student can come in and observe. (Fine by me!) As I said, I don't really care to have a "birth plan" - I just want my baby to come out safe and sound. I am going to be having an elective BTL then as well.. When they asked about my birthing plan I said "All I ask is that I am not sent in for a Cesarean Section unless it is absolutely medically necessary." After several days (and 2 days before my appointment this coming Tuesday) I am now realizing that I should have been more thorough. Or does it matter? I plan to exclusively breast feed my son, as I did with my first son. Do I need to tell the doctor's office that, so that they note it? Will I be able to nurse him if I am having a BTL? Will they tell me he has to be formula fed? I guess I am just looking for some outside guidance here, without having to call my Hospital's L&D and harass the poor nurses there lol If it makes a difference to the replies/general procedures, I live in South Carolina. I know my post just jumped all over the place.. Sorry for that. I feel like I am just starting to get my head back on straight after this pregnancy lol Again, thank you to every last one of you. You make the world go 'round.:heartbeat