Home again

As some of you know, Valerie gave us all a big scare yesterday. A golf ball sized piece of placenta had not detached during the after birth and caused significant bleeding yesterday afternoon. Valerie actually lost consciousness as we were being triaged at the ER, which got her a lot of necessary attention. After getting two IVs started, a sonogram diagnosed the problem and she was rushed to the operating room. To quote the ER doctor: "It is a good thing you came in when you did. This could have been very serious." From what I understand, Valerie could have easily bled to death. Her surgery was a "DNC," and I have no idea what that stands for, but it basically was a procedure to clear her uterus of anything that normally comes out during the after birth. While the condition is very serious, the surgery was very straightforward and only lasted 10-15 minutes (though she was in recovery for a good bit longer). We headed off to a hospital room, and over the course of the evening, color began to return to her face. She remained on an IV and managed to down a few Sprites. Her vital signs indicated that her body was handling the blood loss well (once the IVs were in at least), and she managed to get up on her own to use the restroom. She managed to get some good sleep overnight, and the nurses were nice enough to get a bassinet for Claire and a cot for me so that we could stay with Valerie. Our friends John and Christina came to stay with Valerie for a little while so that Claire and I could get some overnight supplies and make sure that Vinnie was taken care of. This morning Valerie was able to do a lap up and down the hall without any problems, which caused the doctor to give her the green light to go home. She has standing orders to take it very easy, but we are relieved to be home where we are much more comfortable and there aren't nurses checking vitals every hour. A very scary time, but she is on the recovery path.