I had to have a D&E on Feb 2, which is similar to a D&C, but different since you are in the second trimester so it's more complicated, and they have to dilate you for the procedure. They used Laminaria (Chinese herb) to dilate me. It was very painful to say the least. The doctor had a resident working with her and she attempted to place it, but she was having a hard time doing it so the regular doctor had to step in twice to help and finally took over. I was thinking this is NOT the time to practice...please let the regular doctor do this and HURRY UP. Craig was holding onto me and comforting me which was really nice. I'm not sure what I would have done without him. It was great having so much support from him, my friends, and family during this whole process.
For the next day and a half I had terrible cramping as I was dilating, but luckily I had some medicine to help. The next day we went to the hospital at 2:30 for a 4pm procedure, but of course they were backed up so it did not start until 6:30. I had to have general anesthesia because I was past 14 weeks so I was totally out and had a breathing tube as well. The procedure lasted about 30 minutes and it only took me about 30 minutes to wake up and I spent another hour in recovery. It was so nice to see Craig after it was all over. We were both very sad, but knew it was not meant to be. We finally left the hospital around 8:30 and stopped by Allison & Scott's house because they made us dinner. I had not eaten since midnight the night before so I was very hungry. The casserole was chicken and broccoli and it was DELICIOUS! Thanks Allison & Scott. We love you guys!
The next day I had a terrible sore throat and my neck and jaw were killing me thanks to the breathing tube. That was the only pain I had and it lasted for 3 days. On the 3rd day I woke up and was very excited that my neck, throat, and jaw felt back to normal, but then I noticed something was not right...my milk came in. I was in so much pain! It felt like a million bee stings. I read that milk normally does not come in until 20 weeks so I thought I was in the clear, but I was very wrong. I called the nurse and she told me to take 600 ibuprofen every 6 hours, wear two sports bras, and ice as much as I can. Luckily I was able to talk to Mindy who has been through this before and she coached me on what to do. Thanks, Mindy! You are the best. After 4 days I was finally feeling some relief and now it's almost back to normal. It's so hard that I have all of the negative things that come with being pregnant (big belly, hormonal changes, dilating, cellulite, bigger thighs, milk came in, but could not do anything about it) and NO BABY!!! I would go through all the pain in the world and not think twice if I had a baby at the end. I know my time will come some day. I can definitely say I will enjoy EVERY SINGLE SECOND of being a mother, even all the bad things that most people complain about. :) We are going to take some much needed time off. We do have three blastocysts frozen so whenever we decide we are ready we will do a frozen transfer.
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