9:15 am February 15th
The next morning we find Neal up and dressed having made some coffee and toast for his breakfast he sits down in the living room and phone's Sarah
"Morning sweetheart how are you today?" he asks when Sarah answers her mobile (cell).
She smiles and tells him she is feeling fine if a little sore down below! Oh, and her boobs were hurting earlier but the nurse had given her some cream and showed her how to express her milk.
Neal pulls a face and wishes he hadn't asked! A little to much information for this time of the morning he feels! "OK, glad your feeling fine! I will be in soon I just need to make a few phone calls....is that OK with you?" Neal asks.
Sarah can't help but smile, this new ultra considerate Neal will take a bit of getting used to! Not that she was complaining but, well it was just a bit......strange!
"That's fine, you do what you need to do and we will see you later, I'll be going to see Dawn in a minute then Dr Walsh is coming to see me late morning." Sarah informs him.
"I'll be with you as soon as I can... kiss Dawn for me, I'll try and make it before the doctor arrives.... I want to know what she has to say!" Neal replies as he takes a sip of his coffee and scans the post!
After talking to Neal, Sarah makes her way upstairs to SCBU. After donning a apron and washing her hands she goes in to see Dawn.
"Good morning Mrs Hage, what good timing you have. I was about to change Dawn's nappy (diaper) but now you are here the pleasure is all yours!" The nurse smiles and steps away.
"Oh! I've never changed a nappy on such a small baby?" Sarah looks a little nervous.
The nurse smiles "It's OK, I'll help you" within minutes Dawn is changed and Sarah settles down to feed her, winding her afterwards as the nurse had shown her yesterday.
Then Dr Peters arrives and checks Dawn over. He turns to Sarah and tells her how well Dawn is doing "I would not be surprised if she will not be out of here soon and able to join you downstairs" he says with a smile.
"Oh, that would be wonderful!" Sarah feels so happy at the news and can't wait for Neal to arrive so she can tell him.
Just then the door opens and Neal walks in. "Good morning my beautiful girls!" he says as he walks across the room and kisses them both on there foreheads. "Good morning Dr Peters is every thing OK?" he asks turning to the doctor.
"Yes, very much so, I was just telling your wife that Dawn might be able to join her mummy downstairs soon!" the doctor replies.
"WOW!" that would be wonderful! How long before we can take her home?" Neal asks excitedly
The doctor smiles "It might be a while yet! One step at a time for now!"
"Yes! yes, of course!" Neal smiles and turns to Sarah "I guess we will need to buy a few bits for Dawn before we can bring her home anyway!"
With a smile Sarah nods her head "I was thinking the same, Kandy is going to bring in her laptop and I was going to ask you if you could go to the hospital shop and see if they have any baby magazines?"
"Yes, good idea! Do you want me to go now or after you've seen Dr Walsh?"
"I think after? Dr Walsh will be around soon, I guess we should go back to my room and wait for her?" Sarah looks down at the now sleeping baby. Looking up she sees the nurse hovering nearby. Seeing Sarah looking at her the nurse steps forward and helps put the sleeping Dawn back in her incubator.
Sarah and Neal arrive at Sarah's room just as Dr Walsh arrives. They all enter Sarah's room together along with a nurse and two student doctors. Dr Walsh asks if Sarah minds the students coming in and Sarah says she does not.
Dr Walsh starts by briefly stating the facts so far. The miscarriage last year and the discovery that Sarah did in fact have two wombs called uterus didelphys. "Adouble uterus, technically called a "uterus didelphys", is when the uterus has two inner cavities. Each cavity may lead to its own cervix and vagina, so the woman has two cervix's and two vagina's. Again, this is very rare." Dr Walsh then hands Sarah a leaflet about uterus didelphys and says that she will be around most of the day if Sarah or Neal have any questions. Otherwise she will come back tomorrow to check on Sarah.
The leaflet.....
Uterus Didelphys, or a double uterus, is a rare condition that occurs in female foetuses as they develop in the womb. Normally, two tubes called Mullerian ducts are fused together to create a single uterus, but occasionally these two tubes fail to join. When this happens, two separate uteri form, usually with double cervix and double vagina's as well. They are both fully functioning uteri, and some women with this condition have given birth to twins who were each housed in a separate uterus. This means it is possible to deliver babies several days or weeks apart, though many with multiple births opt for scheduled caesarean sections.
The cause of this anomaly is not known and there are often no symptoms present, so many women never even know they have uterus didelphys. Other women may have abnormal pain during menstruation, and some will have reproductive and pregnancy issues. If uterus didelphys is suspected, a doctor will perform a pelvic exam. During this exam, if a double vagina and double cervix are present, doctors may order other tests to assess the condition of the uteri. Diagnostic procedures used to view the uterus include ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and hysterosalpingography, which is a cumbersome label for a procedure that involves injecting a dye into the uterus and taking special x-rays.
If no symptoms are present and there are no complications with fertility and pregnancy, then uterus didelphys does not require any treatment. Sometimes women with this condition will have pregnancy complications due to the smaller size each uterus. Miscarriage, infertility, and delivery issues are all possibilities. Breech births are especially common for women with uterus didelphys, and many end up having caesarean sections. Doctors are loathe to perform surgery to correct this condition, as the symptoms do not typically warrant the risk of surgery. However, if it's only a thin layer separating the uteri, and a foetus is at risk, doctors may remove the barrier.
The most important thing for pregnant women with uterus didelphys to remember is that the condition puts one in the high-risk pregnancy category. This means all the normal safety precautions associated with any pregnancy should be tightly adhered to, and doctor's orders should be closely followed to avoid miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, and premature birth. An incompetent cervix is one of the factors that contributes to premature labour, so it is essential that women have the cervix checked often in the latter portion of a pregnancy.
"Well!" Neal says when they have finished reading
"It looks like I did everything wrong! But we still ended up with Dawn so I guess we are very, very lucky!" Sarah interjects before Neal can say anything!
"I was going to say something along those lines" Neal replies "is there anything you want to ask the doctor? Do you want me to go and find her?"
Sarah thinks for a minute or two.......................... "No, I don't think so? Not at the moment? She said she would come back tomorrow.....I might then!" She turns to Neal "what about you? Do you have any questions?"
"Well, no? ..... not really! As you said we got the baby and it's not life threatening so I guess until we want another baby .....then we might need more information?" Neal pats his wife's hand reassuringly.
Sarah gulps and looks away. OK, so she's had Dawn but another baby? Her fears are still the same? After all her mother died giving birth to Kandy! Nothing has changed she still feels unable to go through with having another baby! So how can she tell Neal?.....She's never seen him so happy there is no way she can say anything at the moment. But then she has just given birth he won't be expecting another child any time soon she will leave things for now and in a year or so?......think about it then! She smiles up at Neal seeing concern on his face. He raises an eyebrow questioningly "I'm fine! Just thinking how lucky we are to have Dawn!" Sarah kisses him.
Just then there a knock on the door and Mrs Rose appears with lunch which Neal is happy to help Sarah eat. Then while she rests he takes a walk down to the hospital shop and buys a copy of every baby magazine they have.
Returning to Sarah's room he finds her sound asleep so he settles down to look through some of the baby magazines. He smiles to himself....he's always wanted a large family he wonders how long they have to wait before they can start on baby number two? They will need to be careful though Sarah will need to be monitored closely next time. They were so lucky this time, then he thinks with sadness they did lose one baby? Yes, Sarah will have to be careful next time especially if she ends up with twins again? Maybe he should get a private nurse? And a nanny for Dawn? Yes, that might be a good idea he does not want Sarah over doing it when she pregnant. He'll find the doctor later and have a chat with her!
Sarah stirs in her bed opens her eyes and sees Neal looking at her with a soppy grin on his face "What are you looking like that for? Oh, you got the baby magazines! Come on bring them over here then, lets have a look!"
Neal gets up and brings the magazines over to her. He sits on the edge of her bed and they start looking through pointing out items of interest and turning over the corners to mark the pages.
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