14-11-2008 - So my incision exploded today...

My mood while writing this blog: tired, and a little sore. :(

okay, maybe 'exploded' isn't the best word, but I think it encompasses what happened....

Before I jumped in the shower this morning, I took off the dressing over my CS incision and it was *soaked*. This kind of freaked me out, because the only kind of drainage I've had since the very first day has been two tiny dots of blood...this was definitely not two tiny dots of blood. So I take a peek at my incision and...shit. It's open. It's not supposed to be open...it's been closed all this time and now right in the center of my little happy face incision is a hole the size of a pencil eraser. Not good. Not good at all.

I call my OB's office, and they want me to come in ASAP to be checked out, but I can't since I'm on my way to a different doctor's office for the babies' appt. My OB's office told me that they would hold an appt open for me at 3 p.m. and that if the drainage got worse or if I started hurting to come in right away.

We go to our babies' appt (they gained weight, YAY!) and then we're off to the hospital for my appt. My OB isn't in the office today (boo, I really hoped he would be there, he rocks SO MUCH, but I guess everyone deserves a day off...) so I get to see a doctor I don't even know. Super.

When we get there, all of the receptionists and MA's come out to ooh and ahh over the babies...I've been in and out of that office for the last 9 months so they were super excited to see the 'end result' as they call it. (Warning to the twin mommas out there..you will get so many people freaking out over your babies because they are twins...and everyone will look at you with a slightly pitying look and say things like "two babies! WOW! I don't know how you do it! I only have/had one, and I was tired all the time...you must be EXHAUSTED!!"...and since you will be exhausted, as all new moms are, it will be very difficult not to snap back with something like "really? YOU THINK SO??? What gave it away??" *sigh*)

Anyway...I digress. I get called in, jump up on the table (okay, slooooooowly climb on the table) and wait. The doctor comes in, introduces himself, asks me what's going on and then has me lay back so he can check out my incision. There's a lot of poking and prodding and a good amount of pain as he digs around. I was watching the whole thing in the reflection of the ceiling art (I love that ceiling art...gives you something to concentrate on during your PAP smears) and I saw a lot of blood/bloody drainage and I also saw that my incision was no longer open a little bit. My incision was now open about 5 cm across. Crap.

Apparently what had happened is I had a pocket of fluid below my incision site and it...erupted. (when fluid accumulates in your body, it's going to force its way out one way or another) but now I had this pocket below my incision...the doctor drained more fluid out of me, and measured how deep the pocket went (not very deep, thankfully!) and then informed me and Erik that we would have to pack my wound twice a day to let it heal. This was not too worrisome to me, I've packed many a wound at work, so I know my way around it, but...I can't pack this one, I can't reach it. That means Erik has to do it. Oh dear.

Erik is not a wuss. He's not squeamish about blood, guts, gore...none of that bothers him. He watches surgery shows with me and is just as enthralled as I am. He is however squeamish about (as he puts it) seeing inside of me and possibly causing me pain. He's also convinced that this is his fault because he 'made me do too much' which is ridiculous...he barely lets me change the babies diapers, he's always telling me to rest, he'll take care of it...he worries about me a lot. He's an awesome husband.

The doctor teaches Erik how to pack my wound, has the MA put together a care package of wound care supplies for us and we are on our way home. I'm kind of mad cause my incision finally stopped hurting all the time and now it's hurting again, but I'm happy because my incision is *not* infected and essentially I am okay.

Tomorrow will be our maiden voyage with Erik as my wound care nurse...it will be really weird to walk someone through how to pack a wound on my body...I'm used to walking people through how to do it to themselves or to other people...I hope that this bad boy heals up soon, I am already impatient to get back to 'normal'!