Dilation and Curettage Procedure: My Personal Experience

I don't know why, but pregnancy just doesn't agree with me. I have gon through four miscarriages since January 2006. A miscarriage is both emotionally and physically taxing. I can't believe that I've actually been through the process so many times.

I suppose my past experience with miscarriage made me think that I was made of steel; that I could handle any pain that came my way. When we found out that i was going to miscarry this time, I was already 6 weeks along. My doctor preferred that I go through the miscarriage "naturally" - letting everything pass on its own. She told me that I would feel some "slight" discomfort. She also said that it would be better for me to do it naturally than to have to have D&C surgery, especially since I don't do very well with anesthesia. So, I agreed.

The spotting started exactly at midnight on April 8 - The night before Easter. We were going to have a huge Easter meal at my mother's house. My sister was in from Chicago, my cousins were back from college, and everyone was excited. I nearly didn't go. The cramping was pretty bad, and I was pretty doped up on pain killers. But, I got through the day and I saw my family.

Throughout the week, the cramps got worse, but I never bled as much as I thought I was going to. I miscarried in July, and I hemmhoraged. I was actually rushed to the hospital back then because I was bleeding so much. Yet, I didn't have any cramps at all. This time, it was completely the opposite. I had massive cramps, and barely any bleeding.

The cramps were unbearable on Saturday, April 14. I was doubled over in pain, and I couldn't even walk upright. It was horrible. Absolutely NOTHING was helping either. I was taking Midol, Pamprin, Motrin, IBUprofen, even Percocet by the fistfuls, and nothing helped with my pain. I've had some gruesome accidents and surgeries in the past, and absolutely nothing compared to this.

After talking with my doctor a second time, she agreed that I needed to get down to Mather Hospital for a D&C. My mother was in Connecticut and my husband was at work, so my mom's best friend brought me to the hospital. (What a wonderful person she is, by the way.) I went through triage and registration, and then went right into a bed in the ER. After giving a urine specimin, I had to undress and put a gown on. Thankfully, they let me keep on my underwear until I was wheeled into the operating room.

The nurses at Mather were fantastic. They let Laine (mom's best friend) walk up to the operating room with me and wait until they wheeled me into the OR itself. By then, I had to take off my panties, and I was cramping big time. As I moved from the gurney to the operating table, I had a huge cramp, and felt a surge. I looked at the gurney I was just on, and there was this gross, purple wad of tissue the size of a kitchen sponge, surrounded by a puddle of blood. The doctor and nurses all said, "Well, there it is!" They bagged it and sent it to pathology for testing.

The last time I looked at the clock, it was 8:56pm and 41 seconds. I was told that the whole procedure would take maybe 10 minutes. When I awoke, I was in the recovery room with two wonderful nurses. It was 9:35pm. My mom and her best friend walked into the room. The surgery was a success! I had no complications. I also didn't have any cramping whatsoever, and I was barely bleeding.

From what i understand, all they did was knock me out under general anesthesia, give me a bladder catheter, do the D&C (by scraping the inside of my uterus), and then sent me to recovery. It was really a non-invasive procedure. If I had known that it was going to be this quick and painless, and that it would almost instantaneously stop my bleeding and cramping, I would have done it WEEKS ago. I never should have waited this long, nor should I have put myself through a week's worth of horrible cramping.

I don't know why I was so worried about the D&C. My Sister-in-Law told me that it took her 3 weeks to recover from it. Honestly, I don't know why it would take anyone 3 days, let alone 3 weeks, to recover from this simple procedure. I have had problems with anesthesia in the past, but there were absolutely no problems with this procedure at all. If you are going through a miscarriage, definitely look into your option of having a D&C. I wish I had done it weeks ago.