Endometritis

Sadly my education levels are such that I know exactly what this disorder is and in what the potential complications can result. For those that don't know, this is a uterine infection, or more specifically an infection of the lining of the uterus, and it was what I was diagnosed as having a mere 4 days after the birth of my son. Now, i've kept this bit of information close because I don't want people trying to say it was a result of him being born at home. The truth is it could have happened regardless of his birth venue. Here's how it played out:

Friday: birth
Sunday afternoon: passed a small piece of placental tissue which had obviously been retained
Monday afternoon: began running very high fever, temps hovered around 101 or 102, but peaked at 103.7 in the late evening
Tuesday morning: called my regular doctor and set appointment for late afternoon
Tuesday afternoon: went to see the doctor and was basically told they couldn't help me, that I needed to go to the ER
Tusday evening: called ER and talked to doctor who said he'd arrange for home-based care
Wednesday morning: called back to first doctor from previous night and was told that hone care couldn't be setup until Friday or Saturday, which would be too late. He insisted I go to the ER. I then called around and around and around... finally found my former OB and made an appointment
Wednesday afternoon: saw OB as emergency visit, ultrasound performed to check for any lingering tissue in utero, she finally insisted I had to go into the hospital for treatment, but that she could make arrangements so I wouldn't have to sit in the ER, I could bring my baby with me
Wednesday night: I went into the hospital for an expected 24-48 hours IV antibiotic treatment, was told it was against hospital policy to allow the baby to stay with me in hospital. I told them flat out if he goes, I go. After several failed attempts, they finally got in an IV and began antibiotic treatment. Hospital policy staff allowed him to stay for that night.
Wednesday morning: still there, no one complaining about the baby, they continue treatment
Wednesday afternoon: I finally get to talk to a dr who wants to keep me another night, but I talk her into letting me leave that evening (full 24 hours treatment) with a script for oral antibiotics to continue treatment
Wednesday evening: I get to go home
Thursday morning: get prescription for gigantic horse-pills and take them religiously according to orders

It was a true and genuine nightmare. People have died from this particular type of infection before and trying to get through 2 subsequent nights of high fevers was the scariest thing I'd ever done. By the time I made it home, my head was killing me and I was utterly exhausted because I had barely slept for 4 nights (who really sleeps in a hospital... honestly?!). The funniest part of the whole thing was the irony of how hard it was for the doctors to get me into the hospital in the first place and how quick the policy staff was to try and make me leave. I actually think the doctors leaned on them pretty hard because it wouldn't have taken much for me to walk out of that place (I despise hospitals).

I'm also living proof that people *can* be pincushions. I think the staff/nurses were trying to see just how many times they could stick a needle in me. The back of my left hand was where the first doctor took blood for testing. Then in the hospital, even though I warned them that I'm a hard stick, they first tried the back of my right hand (you can see a vein there), no blood at all. Then a different person tried the middle back of my left arm (it's still black a week later!). Then a different person came in and tried the back of my right hand again, thought she had it but managed to get some blood for testing and it stopped bleeding. So she tried then on the inside of my right wrist, also no-go there. Then they switched off again and a man tried the upper part of my inner left elbow, even though no vein was visible, he managed to hit it (yay!), so that's where my IV went. The bad part is the blood they drew from my hand coagulated, so someone else came in and took blood (again) from the inside of my right elbow. So basically I was stuck 7 times for them to get what they needed. It's a good thing I've gotten over my fear of needles!

I also made an interesting statement that is very true... other than the occasional life-threating infection, I'm basically a healthy person. Go figure!

BTW, I'm doing much better now, except for the lingering bruises from the needles, I feel fine.