One Step Back

Last night after dinner I started feeling crappy. Fast forward a couple of hours and I was in the ER being evaluated for vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever. Really fun symptoms to deal with when you have given birth 4 days earlier and are still very sore (vomiting requires using abdominal and pelvic muscles that I was not prepared to use). It took about 4 hours for the ER to evaluate me including blood work, a CT scan and a pelvic exam. Again, never expected a pelvic exam 4 days after giving birth. They found a slightly elevated white blood cell count indicating possible infection. They also found elevated liver function indicating who knows what. The only thing indicated by the CT scan was constipation. How do you have constipation and diarrhea at the same time? The scan also confirmed the gall stones that I've known about for awhile, but have had no symptoms of a gall stone attack.

By the time they admitted me back to the mother and child unit, they suspected a uterine infection and/or the flu. Apparently uterine infections don't generally present with the exact symptoms I had and for awhile there they were concerned about toxic shock syndrome, which is quite rare post pardum. After seeing an infectious disease doctor this morning, he confirmed the most likely culprit was uterine infection and possibly a touch of the flu on top of it. So I'm back in the hospital and they are giving me a broad course of IV antibiotics along with fluids. If all goes well, I should be released on Monday.

In the meantime, B is home with the babies, taking care of them like a single daddy. My dad is helping him while my mom is here with me in the hospital. What would we do without our parents here?

B and my dad took the babies to the pediatrician today. Apple's bilirubin did go up to 17, so they now want her to use a bili blanket to help her get past the jaundice. Banana is fine. They both weigh about what they did when we were discharged Thursday, so it looks like maybe they've stopped loosing weight. The pediatrician is trying to set up an appointment for Banana for Monday with a pediatric orthopedist to look at his arm. The pediatrician seems happy with our feeding schedule. Although this hospital stay has caused a bit of a bump in the road. I'm not sure either baby will take the boob again after being bottle fed for three days. I am pumping in the hospital and we got confirmation from both my OB and the pediatrician that the medications they have me on shouldn't cause an issue with giving them my milk. At least I can still feed them some breast milk and we'll just have to wait and see if I'm able to introduce nursing to them again when I get home.

So that's where we are. Not the best place to be, but it could be worse. We were prepared for the possibility that we might have to go home without the babies for awhile. We never thought they would be home without me. Just another situation that took us completely off guard. Emotionally, I'm dealing. I'm doing what I need to do and I know getting myself healthy is the best thing for the babies. But it is difficult to be here without them. It almost feels like I never gave birth to them in the first place. B and my dad brought them by the hospital to visit today, so at least I got to see them. I was still too nervous to hold them as I'm still sick and when I have to go, I have no control over it. Part of me keeps repeating infantile phrases to myself like "why me, why did this happen" and "it just isn't fair." But there's nothing I can do about it other than what I'm doing.

Homecoming

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are all home safe and sound, and together. Everything we were hoping for. It took us a bit longer than expected. We started getting ready to leave the hospital at 3-ish and ended up leaving around 5:15pm. I hope to update sometime tomorrow if I can find the time!

Merry Christmas!

Banana
















Apple

Has it Only Been Two Days?

Just thought I'd pop in for a quick update. We are all doing fine and we are schedule to be discharged tomorrow (Christmas morning). I'm healing slowly, but surely. I'm quite sore, but I've been told that I'll feel pretty good after about a week. We did manage to accomplish a fully vaginal delivery, although getting Banana out was a bit more difficult than planned and he was pulled out feet first. I do plan on giving you all some more details about the birth, but that can wait until we get home and I have a chance to collect my thoughts a bit. It was a lot to process and I'm still processing. We will also post a picture or two of the babies once we get home.

Speaking of the babies, they are doing just fine. Banana's arm (his right humerus) was broken during his breech extraction, but he really doesn't seem to mind it. I think I'm more upset about it than he is. He is a very calm baby (so far) and makes the funniest faces. He has had a hard time nursing, but is taking a bottle like a pro. We've really only gotten one good latch from him so far, but the nurses have encouraged us to keep trying and that he is completely normal for his weight/gestational age.

Apple is extremely strong and has also been pretty calm. Although she is a voracious eater and she has had more successful nursing sections than Banana, she seems to prefer the bottle lately. I think nursing is going to be an uphill battle with both of them, but we'll see. Apple is definitely a hungry girl. She starts sticking her tongue out to let us know she is hungry and usually a bit before we are scheduled for her next feed. She has the most beautiful skin, but she seems to be getting a little jaundiced now, so we're hoping this doesn't delay her homecoming.

As you all probably guessed, B was awesome during the whole labor and delivery and he has been demonstrating his natural ability as a daddy. He has been taking the best care of all three of us and he even had the foresight to buy me a "push" gift to bring with to the hospital. He gave me a beautiful diamond band Tuesday morning after the delivery that has three stones, one for us and one for each baby. I cried, of course. I cry A LOT these days. But for good reason.

We are anxious to get home and get settled, but for now we are just in awe of our two little miracles.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. B read me all of your comments during labor and it was so cool knowing that all of you were thinking of us and encouraging us with so much positive energy.

I will update when I can. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Arrival

Sorry this is so late in the making. The babies were born at 1:21 and 1:29 am on 12/23. Baby A is now officially xxxxx xxxxxxxx and Baby B is now yyyyyy yyyyy.

Apple weighed in at 4 lbs 11 oz and Banana was 4 lbs 8 ozs. Everyone is doing fine but extremely exhausted. Banana ended up breach and they has some trouble getting him out. they think they may have separated his shoulder and they have taken some x-rays to determine for sure. it sounds a lot worse than it is. both babies are fine and just finished their first feeding. Grandma and Grandpa got to help feed and hold the babies. We have tons of pictures and I will leave it up to denise on what she wants to post.

We will post more information in the morning (which is actually now). Thanks again to all and sorry for the delayed finale.