This Wednesday will mark 9 weeks since my daughter's birth.  I wrote her birth story on here shortly after coming home from the hospital.  It's an honest post - my labor was long and rough.  

Well let me tell you, recovering hasn't exactly been a walk in the park either.  A standard recovery period after giving birth is about 6 weeks.  Bleeding occurs for a couple weeks, tapers off to spotting, and usually stops by week 6.  Stitches from a tear or episiotomy are healed by this time, and the uterus has gone back down to its original pre-pregnancy size.  Besides the breastfeeding and baby weight, most moms are back to normal pre-pregnancy life.

Around the 5th week after giving birth, I started to worry about my healing as my bleeding had not slowed or changed.  I finally called the Doctor when I passed a blood clot and tissue.  He seemed unconcerned and said it could be a full 8 weeks to recover.  So I waited...

By week 7 my bleeding had not changed at all, and I again messaged the ObGyn department.  A different Doctor scheduled me for a blood test and ultrasound.  Blood results showed that the blood loss hadn't made me anemic, but the ultrasound showed retained placenta fragments.  I received a call to schedule a D&C surgery to basically 'clean me out'.

The surgery itself wasn't bad at all.  I was put to sleep, and so I have no memory of the procedure.  I was at the hospital a grand total of 5 hours, from 6:00am to 11:00am.  The Doctor was great, and said the surgery went well and she removed the retained tissue.

It has been 4 days since the surgery, and still the bleeding has not stopped or lessened.  I was told that it could take up to a week to stop, and two weeks to be completely healed.  And then what if I don't stop bleeding?  Then I think I go back for hormone tests and possibly go on the pill.

The only thing that keeps me smiling through all of this is my daughter. She constantly reminds me that it's worth it, and I lose myself in caring for her.  A good friend of mine once told me that having children is like killing selfishness. You put yourself last for your family.  Now that I am a mom, I couldn't agree more with her statement.  There are times I want to cry because I'm so frustrated, worn out and sad that I'm not fully healed yet... but perhaps this is a whole sub-lesson in patience (since children take the primary seat in patience-testing).

Anyway, there's still a week and a half to go until I should raise concern... but does anyone blame me for venting?  I mean jeez... no woman should have to endure a 9 week (or longer) period!!