The Day I Had Two Labours

(Trigger warning to anyone sensitive to difficult births.) Hours after giving birth to my daughter, I could barely stand. The nurses asked if I had had a c-section (I hadn’t). They tried to figure out why I was in so much pain, crippled over, and barely walking. After a day of trying catheters and other unpleasant things, eventually, a CT scan showed that there was fluid in my abdomen. Right where the pain had been during labour, and still was. Plus, my right shoulder was pinching. It shook as I lifted my arms above my head. My doctor called us immediately. He said I needed surgery that night. He felt that the worst had happened - that my internal uterine scar had opened during labour, and i was bleeding out. The news was crushing. No redemptive VBAC. And now, the equivalent of a c-section. I was wheeled down to the operating theatre while my husband stayed with Bunny who was being a perfect, textbook newborn. I was awake for the surgery, feeling the familiar tugs and pulls of a c-section. I could hear suctioning. The anesthesiologist would pat my shoulder every now and then as my body got the shakes. I did my best to disassociate and stay in the sleepy dream state that would wash over me. Over an hour later, recovering under warm blankets and heaters, my doctor confirmed what he had found: my uterine scar was wide open during labour. What had saved me (and also likely caused the rupture) was the scar tissue and fibroids had formed a blood clot, stopping me from going into shock or losing too much blood. It was a miracle that Bunny was delivered safely that morning with a literal hole in my womb. She was already such a brave, strong girl. The next few days were spent recovering in hospital. I had developed a cough, probably from lying in bed so much. Bunny spent a night in the NICU to treat her jaundice, but it seemed like we were both good to go home, 5 days after the birth. Our first night home was like a dream. I got to hold my son TZ again, who felt so big, and Bunny was a perfect newborn - waking every 3 hours to feed and promptly going back to sleep without any issue. Now, it was time to enjoy newborn life. The next morning, though, I could barely stand straight. My abdomen was in so much pain, and then I saw my incision was leaking. I knew this meant an infection… again.