Update on Natalie

Natalie had a follow up appointment with her doctor this morning, but we really don’t have much  to report. The lab reports are not back yet. The doctor briefly checked Natalie, noticed a little bleeding, and said to come back in another week.

The doctor still seems optimistic that the uterine lining is just weak/thin, and that it will eventually heal on its own. The area he scraped six weeks ago is probably still very tender, and needs more time to heal. We envision it kind of like a scab, that needs to heal, and when picked, starts to bleed again. He says it’s possible the bleeding she had last weekend was even agitated by her menstrual cycle (this is only speculation).

The doctor who saw Natalie today is the one who delivered the baby and did the D&C six weeks ago. He is not the same one who was on call over the weekend and did Natalie's D&C last Saturday (that was his partner practitioner; they form a sort of tag-team and alternate shifts). Today, Natalie's doctor said there were two options of how last weekend could have been handled.

1. The first option was to perform a D&C and scrape/clean out the uterus again. This solved the immediate bleeding problem, but may have opened that “scab” up again and delayed healing. This is obviously the route the on-call doctor took in the ER last Saturday. Today, the doctor said that if Natalie were not his normal patient, and without knowing her history, he would have done the same thing. 
2. However, the second option would have been to try to control the bleeding in the hospital with more Methergen and Pitocin, helping the uterus push out remaining tissue, constricting the blood vessels, and permitting the “scab” to continue healing. The doctor said this is what he would have done if he was the one on call last weekend.

We’re thankful there is minimal bleeding at the moment, but the same thing occurred the first three weeks after Natalie’s first D&C. We realize that Natalie’s uterus might be slowly building up clots again and eventually gush, but there’s not much we can do right now but wait. We’re encouraged that there’s still a chance she will heal on her own, but it’s very hard to be in this constant state of limbo. We do appreciate that the doctor wants to see her in another week and is avoiding a surgery if at all possible.

Thanks for continuing to pray. When we pulled into the garage this afternoon, we immediately paused to pray and give this all to the Lord, asking for His strength and protection. "God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble, therefore we will not be afraid (Ps. 46:1-2). May that be true in our hearts every moment of the day.