Wendy’s D & C Procedure

Now I know.

The medical term for “raspa” is D & C (dilatation and curettage). I learned that in a very unfortunate way: when my wife had undergone that procedure.

As per the ob-gyne’s advice, I accompanied my wife to the hospital last May 20 for admittance. Due to a blighted ovum, her uterus will be scraped to remove the placenta and the fetal tissue. Kris Aquino had undergone a similar minor operation last April. (Haha, showbiz!)

We arrived at 10:00 AM at Notre Dame Hospital. Grrr… Kainis mga hospital dito sa amin, walang TV sa mga rooms. Suite room na nga actually ang kinuha namin. Ang init din kasi mahina at luma na ang aircon kaya nagrequest kami na magpalipat ng room sa annex building nila na mas bago. But you have to pay first a down payment of P5,000. WTF?! Buti na lang pinahiram kami ng pera ng mother ng wife ko.

 
So off we go to our new room. Lunch was served but since she was to undergo an operation, Wendy was not allowed to eat nor drink. At around 2:00 PM, Wendy’s ob-gyne arrived and she inserted a certain drug inside my wife’s private parts. It is supposed to allow her cervix to open and induce bleeding. When that happens, the D & C procedure begins. At around 5:00 PM, she was given another one. Then at around 8:00 PM, she was told by the nurses that she can eat as per the ob-gyne’s advice since she doesn’t think she will bleed anytime soon. It might still happen the next day or the day after next day. So my wife heartily ate away as she has been starving since the morning.

 
That was a mistake because at around 11:00 PM, she started vomiting and bleeding profusely. She was then wheeled away in her bed to the operating room (OR) and the D & C procedure began at 11:30 PM. It might only be just a minor operation but I still felt some fear for her well-being. I even texted my family and friends at that moment to help me pray that nothing untoward will happen during the operation. My brother Macoy called in a while to comfort me.

 
After one and a half hour of anxious waiting, the anesthesiologist came out and said, “Ok na siya, gawa na lang kayo ulit”. He smiled and left. Then, a nurse handed me the placenta and fetal tissue enclosed in a plastic bottle and instructed me to bring it to the laboratory for biopsy. As I look at it, I couldn’t help feel some sorrow. That mass of tissue I am holding is supposed to become our first baby. When I saw my wife being wheeled out of the operating room, still half-conscious from the effect of anesthesia, I felt so relieved. Thanks God, nothing bad happened to her. We came back to our room at 2:00 AM.

The next day was spent at the hospital since Wendy is still weak and can’t will her self to go home yet. The nurses had a good laugh at me when I asked them about the “checkout” procedure. “Sir, wala po kayo sa hotel, baka discharge ang ibig nio’ng sabihin?” Hehe, un nga ang ibig ko’ng sabihin.

 
So last May 22 at 2:00 PM, my wife was discharged 2 nights and 3 days later. She had filed for a two-month maternal leave of absence from work. Good for her, now, all she has to do is rest. The whole process of having a miscarriage has been too exhausting, physically and emotionally. She has more difficulty accepting the fact that her pregnancy failed than me. A blighted ovum it might be but we know God has better plans. We might be having more difficulty accepting it if her pregnancy continued but the baby was born with some kind of birth defect or abnormality.

 
On the positive side, some said that Wendy will not be having trouble bearing a child again as her uterus was already “cleaned”. I don’t know if there is any scientific basis for that. Anyway, we will try again. Wendy wants to do it as soon as possible. But I still want to stick to our original plan of having our children be born on a November just like ours. This has been a major setback but I’m still determined to continue our plan. Anyway, I do believe that if there’s a will, there’s a way.

 
What do you think?

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