What a crazy few months!  Now that the baby is here our lives have calmed down a little.  It is funny to say I know.  When I don’t feel well, am in pain, or upset, I like to be alone.  The last month of the pregnancy I was incredibly anti-social and hardly went anywhere other than the doctor’s or hospital.  I was on a high dose of steroids to further suppress my immune system, I had 2 bags of IVIG (which took about 12 hours at the hospital) instead of just one, I had to sleep on the couch at an incline, and I was just plain miserable.

Then d-day came on May 8th.  After a discussion with Dr Tomlinson, we decided to forgo the cordasentesis and go for the c-section instead of a VBAC.  I wasn’t nervous for the actual procedure, however, the recover had me a little weary.  I had no idea how my body would heal after the 2nd c-section.  I’m glad I was ok with the procedure because of all that happened.  I was hoping it would be a routine, I would stay for 4 days, go home, and all would be good.  Well, the hospital recovery kept in theme with the craziness of the pregnancy.  It started in the operating room.  The nurse almost forgot to call Kevin in the room and he just about missed the actual birth (thanks to Dr Wentross who caught it, I love her!)  After she started cutting, the anesthesiologist started putting an IV in me.  I was NOT happy and almost started crying.  I felt like all control was lost because of my spinal and now this.  I guess if I needed a transfusion, they didn’t want to do it through my PICC line.  The birth just seemed so chaotic.  Then, I was wheeled back to my room for recovery.  Things just got worse.

Kevin left to get some dinner with his folks in the cafeteria.  At that point my recovery was text book.  Soon after he left I went down hill.  The nurse checked me and saw I was bleeding more than I should have been.  A few minutes later she checked me again and became concerned.  She pressed really hard on my uterus.  Talk about some serious pain!  It hurt so bad I was moaning and cried.  This process continued for about an hour.  In the middle of this, she was just about to call Kevin when he came through the door.  He said it looked like a war zone with blood everywhere, all over the floor and the bed.  The nurse kept injecting medicine in my leg and gave me pitocin in my IV trying to get the bleeding to stop.  She then called the doctor because all of her attempts weren’t working.  She even put garbage in the laundry bag because she was in such a hurry trying to care for me.  Although I was scared, in pain, and generally feeling icky, I was trying not to get upset and cry.  I knew that would make everything that much worse.  They needed to focus on me physically not helping me emotionally.  Mine and the babies temperature was low, although I felt warm.  They kept piling on blankets then put on a plastic blanket thing that blows out warm air.  I was feeling very nauseaous.  I ended up puking all over myself because my tummy muscles were still numb and I couldn’t move my body.  Kevin tried so hard to help me get it in the little blue bag thing.  He ended up having to clean me up.  Then I asked to have the baby on my chest to get her warmed up.  Finally, everything got under control after a couple hours.  I have never felt so horrible, uncomfortable, and helpless.  I mean, at least with the pain of childbirth comes the baby and you know there is an end.  I had no idea when this would end and I was completely helpless because I was still numb.

I was hoping after this things would get better….no such luck.  Later that night, a test came back saying I had preeclampsia.  Seriously???  Hadn’t I had enough??  Thankfully the baby was fine.  Her platlett count was 95,000 and she was healthy.  I could handle myself having issues much more than if she wasn’t ok.  They had to give me magnesium which burned going in.  That lasted for almost 1/2 hour.  The other bag of stuff hurt a little going in, and I think that one dripped for 24 hours.  During that time, I could hardly have any liquid and I had to record how much I peed.  Ice chips, here I come!!  I was hoping to get up and walk by then, however I was stuck in bed because of all the complications.  I got to wear some cute little booties which kept the circulation going in my legs.  I finally got to get out of bed on Sunday.

On Monday, I got a visit from my amazingly wonderful Dr. Wentross.  She is so cute!  She said I was famous on the floor and she was proud to be my doctor.  I told her I was so happy she WAS my doctor.  She was ticked no one told her about all my complications.  She has delivered all 4 of my kiddos and I absolutely love her!  She can count on one hand how many patients she can say that about.  Anyways, we talked about how I felt and how I looked.  She recommened a transfusion.  She said it would take an extra month or so to recover if I didn’t have one.  My hemocrit the day before was only 19 and Monday it wasn’t much better at 21.  After all the complications, I didn’t want a complicated recovery after I got home too.  A couple hours later 2 units of blood started dripping into me.  The IV nurse didn’t know why they put in an IV along with my PICC line.  Halfway through the second bag of blood, she moved it from my IV to my PICC line because it wasn’t dripping fast enough.  Apparently, the bag can only be out of the fridge for a certain period of time.  She took out my IV and I almost kissed her.  That thing hurt!!  She was looking at it and said it hurt because for some reason they put it right on my wrist joint.  I wasn’t too excited about the anesteologist this time around and the IV was the icing on the cake.  Finally that thing got taken out by a very pregnant IV nurse….I have no idea how she can handle walking the hospital all day.  Finally that night I got to get up and walk.

I wasn’t sure how this whole recovery thing would go seeing thus far, it was filled with drama.  I got to go home on Tuesday afternoon and boy was I ready for a looong break from the hospital.  Someone else can be the star of the maternity ward for awhile.