I had my D&C (dilatation and curettage) performed on Wednesday. I have been recovering at home since that time. Overall I feel pretty well. I think the option of surgery was the right choice and will be much easier to handle versus the alternative (natural miscarriage).
My pre-operative lab work showed that I am blood type A-. The negative stands for "missing the Rh factor". Essentially, it means that I have a rare blood type. Only 15% of the population is shown to be Rh negative. Now, the interesting thing is that Matt is Rh positive. If we do conceive, it is more than likely that the baby will be Rh positive. This can be a bad thing, because my body would recognize the Rh positive factor as a foreign body and would attack it (situation called Rh incompatibility). This situation can be avoided or mostly avoided given modern day science. A first pregnancy is not a risk, given that I wouldn't have produced any antibodies against the Rh positive baby yet. Anything after a first pregnancy can be dangerous, unless you are given an injection of RhoGAM. This injection kills off any Rh positive red blood cells in my body so that I do not create the antibodies to do this in the future. Confusing? Well, it is a bit confusing. Anyway...I was given an injection of RhoGAM after my D&C to help protect any future pregnancies. The one worry that we have at this point is that I was NOT given a RhoGAM injection after my ectopic pregnancy / miscarriage. My nurse at the fertility clinic is looking into this situation for me, as she believes that the injection is not necessary until you are at least 7 or 8 weeks into a pregnancy (which I was not at that time). I am hoping that this is the case so that we have not jeopardized future pregnancies with the possibility of Rh sensitization. Still confused? Sorry! The important thing is that I am not.
Outside of all of this, I am physically and emotionally starting to heal. Each day is a better day, and will continue to be so, I am sure. I have a surgical follow-up appointment with my OB next Friday. I have a follow-up and consult with my reproductive endocrinologist (RE) on September 15th. By that point in time we will be deciding if we are ready to proceed forward with any next steps (i.e. frozen embryo transfer) or not. If we do decide to move forward and jump into this again, I think it will be our last time. Hopefully everything will work out, as I continue to believe that everything happens for a reason.
