Poor Katy...

I'm feeling a little guilty. Katy, my rock, my angel, the unstoppable cleaning machine, mother of my gorgeous boys, has been complaining of tiredness over recent nights. I attributed it to the toll of looking after 2 boys, of which, Tom is cutting his last four teeth, and consequently thoroughly miserable, and Ben is, well, 9 weeks old, and communicates with cries and screams!! She's been so tired, that she's been hitting the sack before me, something in 5 years + of marriage we've never done. If we're home together, we go to bed together. Simple. So anyway, I've been stomping around, because I don't enjoy sitting by myself in the evening (in hindsight, I could have just gone up early with her, but Ben needed feeding, and I'm far too addicted to the TV to feed him upstairs, looking at the walls). I also complained that I am coping with the tiredness, so why can't she...

Well pass me a slice of that humble pie!

A trip to the hospital today has revealed that she has retained some of the placenta from Ben's birth. After 9 weeks, she is still losing blood, and a test has revealed that her blood count is very low. Hence the tiredness! How bad do I feel?

When the scan revealed it this afternoon, there were a few hours when we thought Katy may have to have a D&C. I've heard the term many times, I also know that Katy's mum had one after each of her 3 children were born - but only today did I learn that D&C stands for Dilation and Curettage. It sounds horrific, and probably feels it too, but is usually performed under General Anaesthetic. What scared us both the most, is that it can result in irreparable damage to the uterus. It wasn't until Katy told me this was a possibility, that I fully realised how much I want more children. I'll be honest, I love my children, and would do anything for them. But sometimes the stress of two made me question whether I wanted any more. I didn't cope with either Tom or Ben's early weeks very well. The crying, the sleepless nights, the projectile vomiting. But all the stress evaporates in their first smile, or their first sleep-filled night. I wouldn't want the chance to experience it all again taken away from me. From us.

As it stands the D&C isn't currently required. They've prescribed antibiotics to protect the uterus from infection, along with iron tablets and something to control the blood flow. We are praying that this course will solve the problem, and that the operation won't be needed. James, I know we can always count on your prayers.

Of all this, I suppose my biggest cause for debate is that Katy's notes after Ben's birth stated that the placenta was "incomplete", so why did nobody warn us to the possibility of retention and ask Katy to monitor the bleeding? I'd love to hear if anybody else has experienced similar problems.