I dont know if anyone here remembers my story, but I really value everyone on here's opinion and I really don't know anyone who has gone through something similiar to ask them.
The quick version: Back in January, after 3 hours of labor from start to finish (very quick) my youngest daughter was born at 1:15. Beautiful birth, all natural, in the water. At 1:30 I got out of the tub and moved to the bed to deliver the placenta. It came out pretty quick and my student midwife caught it in her hands. At 1:45 my doc came to my side to thank be for giving birth so quickly because she had to be in court by 2:30. So she hurried and left. Shortly after that, I became distressed, losing almost 40% of my blood volume. It took until midnight to get my first blood transfusion. They let me go home as normal after my 3 day stay. Upon getting home, I layed down and could not get back up, I was shaking, and couldn't feed my baby. My sister in law came to watch my newborn as my husband to me back to the hospital. My hematocrit was 7, so I received my second transfusion, which start with an anxiety attack that stopped it and they had to restart it. I went home the next day and tried to start enjoying my new baby, still feeling very weak and anxious. Everynight, my anxiety got worse and worse, i stayed up until all hours at night, thinking the other shoe was going to fall and I was going to start bleeding out again.
When she was a month old, it happened. Early sunday morning, i started losing blood like I had when she was born. I called my midwife and got whoever was on call. She said to call back if it happened again. That afternoon, it happened again, I called my doctor who told me it was just my postpartum period, to relax and it should subside. That night around midnight, it happened again, worse of all. I woke my husband feeling very woosey and told him we were just going to the ER. We got there at 11PM. 1AM I am still in the waiting room, bleeding through a blanket, hystrical that they were doing nothing to prevent me from dying, so they moved me to the standby waiting room to be by myself. At 2AM I got to a room, the doc did a quick exam, told me it appears to be my postpartum period and to go home and come back when I feel dizzy and am bleeding heavier. I asked, do you mean when I go into hypovolemic shock (I was a paramedic)? And he told me, yes. I went home crying, talking to my husband about what I want if I died from this.
First thing in the morning, I called my midwife and told her something had to be done. She ordered me an ultrasound for Friday. Friday I had my ultrasound and the tech said there was a blood clot, I would pass it over the weekend and be done with this. I spent all evening waiting, I couldnt relax, I couldnt sleep. I paged my doctor on saturday and told him I could not wait another day, something had to be done. He had be come to the hospital and performed another ultrasound and found a part of Madeline's placenta stuck in my uterus. I got a D&C and was out of the hospital within 4 hours. (WEEKS of pain and anxiety that was avoidable by listening to me that something was wrong and checking me out more thoroughly and doing a simple surgery!)
For weeks, I was anxious, feeling like there was something more that was going to happen. I felt chest pain every night. I was in the emergency room feeling like I was having a heart attack or a pulmonary embolism (That is a whole other story). The doctor prescribed me Zoloft for my anxiety and I began therapy. My therapist was not helpful at all, tried focusing on my childhood, not my trauma. I was on the zoloft for 8 months, before I felt safe to come off it and stopped having chest pains.
Now, all of this in consideration. (Which is more than I thought it would be.) Would you sue your doctor in this case? I don't know what to do. My statue of limitations is almost up. I'm scared I will go to have my yearly physical with my midwife and she will deny me as a patient. And therefore, I lost months of my baby's life being sick and I have lost a doctor I like. My midwife's student, emailed me for a few weeks after she was born, but my last few emails have gone unanswered and I feel like that is them cutting me off.
If you have made it through all of this, I really thank you. If you could tell me what you would do in this case, I would greatly appreciate it.
The quick version: Back in January, after 3 hours of labor from start to finish (very quick) my youngest daughter was born at 1:15. Beautiful birth, all natural, in the water. At 1:30 I got out of the tub and moved to the bed to deliver the placenta. It came out pretty quick and my student midwife caught it in her hands. At 1:45 my doc came to my side to thank be for giving birth so quickly because she had to be in court by 2:30. So she hurried and left. Shortly after that, I became distressed, losing almost 40% of my blood volume. It took until midnight to get my first blood transfusion. They let me go home as normal after my 3 day stay. Upon getting home, I layed down and could not get back up, I was shaking, and couldn't feed my baby. My sister in law came to watch my newborn as my husband to me back to the hospital. My hematocrit was 7, so I received my second transfusion, which start with an anxiety attack that stopped it and they had to restart it. I went home the next day and tried to start enjoying my new baby, still feeling very weak and anxious. Everynight, my anxiety got worse and worse, i stayed up until all hours at night, thinking the other shoe was going to fall and I was going to start bleeding out again.
When she was a month old, it happened. Early sunday morning, i started losing blood like I had when she was born. I called my midwife and got whoever was on call. She said to call back if it happened again. That afternoon, it happened again, I called my doctor who told me it was just my postpartum period, to relax and it should subside. That night around midnight, it happened again, worse of all. I woke my husband feeling very woosey and told him we were just going to the ER. We got there at 11PM. 1AM I am still in the waiting room, bleeding through a blanket, hystrical that they were doing nothing to prevent me from dying, so they moved me to the standby waiting room to be by myself. At 2AM I got to a room, the doc did a quick exam, told me it appears to be my postpartum period and to go home and come back when I feel dizzy and am bleeding heavier. I asked, do you mean when I go into hypovolemic shock (I was a paramedic)? And he told me, yes. I went home crying, talking to my husband about what I want if I died from this.
First thing in the morning, I called my midwife and told her something had to be done. She ordered me an ultrasound for Friday. Friday I had my ultrasound and the tech said there was a blood clot, I would pass it over the weekend and be done with this. I spent all evening waiting, I couldnt relax, I couldnt sleep. I paged my doctor on saturday and told him I could not wait another day, something had to be done. He had be come to the hospital and performed another ultrasound and found a part of Madeline's placenta stuck in my uterus. I got a D&C and was out of the hospital within 4 hours. (WEEKS of pain and anxiety that was avoidable by listening to me that something was wrong and checking me out more thoroughly and doing a simple surgery!)
For weeks, I was anxious, feeling like there was something more that was going to happen. I felt chest pain every night. I was in the emergency room feeling like I was having a heart attack or a pulmonary embolism (That is a whole other story). The doctor prescribed me Zoloft for my anxiety and I began therapy. My therapist was not helpful at all, tried focusing on my childhood, not my trauma. I was on the zoloft for 8 months, before I felt safe to come off it and stopped having chest pains.
Now, all of this in consideration. (Which is more than I thought it would be.) Would you sue your doctor in this case? I don't know what to do. My statue of limitations is almost up. I'm scared I will go to have my yearly physical with my midwife and she will deny me as a patient. And therefore, I lost months of my baby's life being sick and I have lost a doctor I like. My midwife's student, emailed me for a few weeks after she was born, but my last few emails have gone unanswered and I feel like that is them cutting me off.
If you have made it through all of this, I really thank you. If you could tell me what you would do in this case, I would greatly appreciate it.
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