Infections

So, having a baby was my very first experience with going to the hospital. It was my first surgery too, unless you count a mouth surgery I had when I was younger. So it was a lot of firsts for me and I was really nervous about it.

Having a baby the natural way is a piece of cake compared to the crap I've been through. I mean, the "natural" way, you just pop it out and yeah it hurts during the process and is sore afterwards but then you are all better and go about your life. A c-section however, puts you basically on bedrest for at least a week and takes several weeks to heal.

It's been 7 weeks for me and I'm still not healed. After the first full week at home, I noticed an area around my incision was kind of lumpy and there was stuff oozing from it. I got Allen to look at it and he was concerned so we called the doctor. She said to put a heating pad on it and see if that made it go down any. It didn't so they made an appointment for me to come in.

At the doctor, I discovered I was on the verge of an infection. Had I waited another day or two, it would have been really bad. So, the doctor takes this giant Q-tip and pokes it in my incision, in the area where it was oozing. It basically opened up in a little hole. It HURT really bad! She then cleaned it and put gauze INSIDE of the incision. That hurt too. Then we put gauze outside to cover it up. I had to go every other day to the doctor to have the packing inside changed. I did this for probably 2 weeks. The first week, the discharge was horrible and it would leak right through the outside gauze. It was disgusting. Allen had to change it quite often and it was enough to make you throw up. Luckily, I couldn't really see it so I couldn't get sick.

After four weeks, it had healed enough where they stopped packing it. I was sent home and told I didn't have to come back, except for my 6 week checkup. The hole was about 1.5 inches at that point.

It's been 3 weeks since then and the hole has still not healed. It's about a half inch big now and it's starting to hurt and bleed a little. So now, I'm worried the infection is coming back or the hold isn't healing property. So I have to go to the doctor again and get it checked out.

So for a first time experience, it has not been too great. Of course, the end result was a beautiful baby and that was worth it but this whole experience has been awful and I'm still in a lot of pain. I just want to feel better, to be able to move around and not hurt and to not have a stinking hole in my stomach.