A scary moment in my 2nd trimester...

pregnancy Nov 13, 2022

Doesn't Darius take the BEST photos of me?? 😂

 

Anyway, a scary thing happened during my 2nd trimester…

I had just wrapped up the What’s Off Masterclass call and I went straight to the bathroom to pee…

When I wiped, I noticed some blood on the toilet paper. But, just to be sure, I wiped again (this time with a wet wipe) and YUP…a little bit of blood 😥😳

Initially, I wasn’t too worried about it because I felt totally fine. No pain. No contractions. Everything else seemed normal. But, I took a photo of the bloody wipe and sent it to my midwife just in case.

In the meantime, Darius immediately got on his iPad and started googling shit. 

She responded within a few minutes…

“Hi Caitlin, bright red blood is certainly not normal for your stage of pregnancy. You should go in for an assessment at your nearest hospital which has OB care.”

We got on the phone as well and she asked me some questions, but I let her know I had no pain and I also hadn’t had sex in the last 24 hours (it’s common to experience light bleeding after sex due to changes in your cervix). 

After speaking with the midwife, I have to admit I started to get a little nervous because she literally told me this was “not typical” for my stage in pregnancy. But, I remained calm. 

By this time, it was about 7:30pm. I already had a full meal before hosting the masterclass, but I prepared myself some eggs and toast before heading to the hospital, just in case. We also prepared a backpack with snacks, Darius’s iPad, a change of clothes, and headphones. LOL. Gotta be prepared if we’re headed to the ER…🙄😒

 

The drive over is literally like 5 minutes and thank god for that because I was definitely feeling anxious. When we arrived, there was NO ONE at the front desk. Good thing I wasn’t REALLY in an emergency situation…Pffff 😑

We probably waited almost 15 minutes before we were finally helped by someone. About 5 minutes later, someone else came to pick me up and take me up to the OB ER in a wheelchair and that felt AWKWARD lol but I guess it was kind of a long walk.

Hospitals just have a way of making you really feel like a sick patient…I hate it 😒

We made it up to the OB ER and checked in. The nurse handed me a gown and a cup to pee in. I could not for the life of me figure out the gown 😂😂😂 She had me lay down in the bed and strapped 2 monitors around my belly (which I’m unfamiliar with because neither are used at the birth center). One monitors contractions and the other monitors the baby’s heartbeat which by the way, took her FOREVER to find. After she left, Darius was like “damn…way to make us more nervous taking all that time to find baby’s heartbeat…” 😆😬 

She proceeded to tell me I had no contractions, the baby’s heart rate was good, and that the doctor would be in to see me shortly. I was also asked to sign a consent form for a pelvic exam. 

Some time went by and we heard the OB asking the nurse some questions right behind the curtain before coming in to see me… 

Doc: ”does she have any pain?” 

Nurse: "No"

Doc: “is she having contractions?”

Nurse: "No"

And the way the conversation went made me feel like unless I was in pain or having contractions, he was not about to take this seriously… 

He came in, asked me a couple of questions (like if I had had sex within the past 24 hours), and proceeded to almost diagnose me before checking me at all. “It’s most likely an infection or yeast, but I’m going to do a pelvic exam to be sure.” 

He put his glove on, stuck his hand in my vagina, moved it around, pulled it out, and there were like 2 little baby clusters of discharge on it. He said “yup, looks like it’s probably yeast” 😒

 But, I literally had zero symptoms of a yeast infection or bacterial vaginosis. Sometimes, it’s possible not to have symptoms and still have the infection, but it’s unlikely. 

I responded: “So, what’s the treatment? Antibiotics?”  

Yupppp. It was.  

 

I was updating my midwife throughout the process. I let her know what the OB suggested and she asked “Are they doing testing there? An ultrasound?”

The only “testing” done was the pelvic exam, but why’d I pee in a cup then? Protocol? 

They sent me on my way with a prescription for antibiotics that I was NOT planning to take and that was it. 

How frustrating was that?!

Although, it’s pretty much what I was anticipating...sending me on my way with a prescription for something that wasn’t even confirmed. 

My midwife suggested I come in the following morning to actually be tested for yeast and BV and luckily, I already had an ultrasound scheduled for the following week. 

So, I drove to the birth center in the morning, peed in a cup, swabbed myself, and they sent it out for testing. Darius picked up the prescription (just in case) because we were traveling to Memphis that night. 

I received my results while we were on the trip and…

NADA. NEGATIVE for it ALL. 😑😑😑

wow…

 

THE TAKEAWAY

If I would’ve just listened to that doctor, I would’ve taken the antibiotics for no f*cking reason. 

For anyone wondering why I was so hesitant about taking them in the first place, it’s because exposure to antibiotics interferes with the health of your microbiome. By putting the health of my microbiome at risk, I’d also be putting the health of my baby’s microbiome at risk. 

All the organisms that make up your microbiome have a huge impact on your health – the way you absorb nutrients, your body’s ability to detox, the health of your gut lining, your mood, appetite, mental function, etc. When it’s out of balance, it can lead to inflammation, hormone issues, anxiety, and depression, and I JUST got to a place of healing my gut and rebalancing. 

There was no way I was jeopardizing that without knowing for sure that I needed to. 

I’m sharing this with you to stress the importance of being your own best health advocate. If I wouldn’t have known that about my gut health, I probably would've just done what the doctor recommended without questioning it. 

This is EXACTLY why I chose to have my prenatal care done at the birth center. This is EXACTLY why I plan to give birth at the birth center. 

Don’t get me wrong…I’m sure there are plenty of OB’s out there that would’ve handled the situation differently and my intention with this post is not to bash doctors or suggest that midwifery care is better. 

I’m sharing my personal experience with you because it’s a perfect example of what I stand for as a holistic health coach. I want my clients to feel just as empowered as I did in this situation. I want my clients to feel confident with the decisions they make about their health.

Knowledge is power. 

When I read the results back from my test, it felt SO GOOD. 

Don’t get me wrong, I was annoyed AF with that doctor lol, but I was also f*cking proud of myself for the decision I had made to wait for the results.

 

Mucho love 🤎

Cait

 

 

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