I came back to the hospital on Tuesday to see the orthopedic doctor, and my knee was still very swollen. The doctor wanted to take out some of the fluid to help with my comfort level, and also to see whether it was clear fluid or blood. It turned out that the doctor took out about 40cc of blood from around my knee (trust me, there's even more left), which told him that I tore a ligament. The doctor scheduled an MRI for Wednesday to find out what I tore.
Wednesday night, we got a call from the doctor that I had completely torn both my ACL and MCL. (When I do things, I do them all the way.) I'm going to blame this on the fact that when you're pregnant, your body releases a hormone that relaxes a lot of your body to accommodate all of the growing you do. So I'm guessing the ligaments in my knee were probably already more lax than normal, because I have certainly never had any knee problems before.
So anyway, on Thursday morning, we went in to meet with the orthopedic doctor about surgery to reconstruct my knee. We then spent a lot of time on the phone with two different anesthetists, my OB doctor, and the orthopedic surgeon's nurse trying to weigh out our options and get reassurance that all of this would be safe for the baby. As someone who has majorly avoided caffeine, fake sugars, even Tylenol during her pregnancy, the thought of submitting the baby to general anesthesia and a 2 hour surgery is quite concerning.
According to all the people we talked to, however, at this point in the pregnancy the anesthesia should not harm the baby at all. The only risk is that the stress on my body of having surgery and/or being in a lot of pain could induce labor, but this is a very low risk. (The stress of my fall probably could have induced labor, as well.) The surgery is scheduled for Friday, and at that point I will be 36 weeks pregnant-- essentially full term. My OB doctor said she would be okay with him being born at that point if it happened. Of course, we definitely do not want the baby to come then, because I need to try to recover from surgery for a few weeks first. We're hoping the baby comes at least a couple of weeks after surgery so I could be off my crutches by then.
In the meantime, while I'm waiting for surgery, I'm trying to work as much as possible, crutches and all. My maternity leave substitute is co-teaching with me, because I can't handle it by myself right now-- can't exactly get around. There is a lot to do since Friday will be my last day.
Nate and I just ask for lots of prayers for a safe and successful surgery, and that the baby will in no way be harmed or stressed in the process.
