Newborn Life: 3

We were at home only 5 days. In general, I thought I was healing normally. Well, as normal as you can be after that kind of delivery. In my pregnancy, my feet were swollen and after birth they still were. My legs were swelling up and it was getting more difficult to walk. My doctor had called to check up on me to make sure everything was healing correctly. I had told her about my legs but she passed it off saying that it was probably the large amount of fluid I had acquired from the many hours of labor and then from the C- section. She said it would get better in 3-4 days. A couple days passed and the swelling only increased, not decreased. My skin felt tight, but then it started feeling hot and itchy too. It was almost impossible to bend my knees. I was using the railing and the sides of the walls to move around. I tried elevating, icing, resting, pretty much everything but nothing helped. Not even for a minute. I could barely get in bed because my legs just didn’t bend. They felt like stone. Friday evening I just couldn’t stop crying because it hurt so bad. It had crept up to my hips at this point so I was basically immobile. On Saturday, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I told Brock that I needed to go to the hospital. I called my doctor’s after hours line and the doctor on duty said to go to the ER. I figure, I mine as well. We already met our deductible, probably our out of pocket max as well so why not. I took my time getting ready; took a shower and we had to get Mason ready anyways. Brock was throwing extra things in the diaper bag like we were gonna be there all day. I mean, I thought we were just gonna be gone a couple hours. Brock, Mason, and I showed up to the ER at the hospital I delivered at. I checked in and then immediately was taken to a triage room. Everything seemed fairly calm until they took my blood pressure. She didn’t really say anything and then went and talked to someone. Within a few minutes, she was escorting us to a different room. As she took us back, we went through some back way. She said, “We are going this way so others who have been here longer don’t see you.” Ok?? I thought….that’s weird, why would she say that? We get to another room and they don’t really tell me what’s going on. They were asking me all kinds of questions about symptoms. I just kept saying no to all of them. She looks at me and says, “So what made you come in?”......um my legs? Lady. Have you not seen them?? At this point, they were all very calm and confused. They strapped me up to do an EKG and then they told me I was going to have a CT scan. The sign on the wall had a list of procedures and how long they would take to get done. The CT scan said 75-90 minute wait. Within 15 minutes, a guy came in, explained the CT scan and then took me away. It was such a weird experience. They put some liquid in my IV and a whoosh of heat came across me. The whole process was like a combination of getting a spray tan (with the automated lady giving instructions) and being stuck in a dryer (with the spinny thing going around). The guy doing the CT scan said I had a lot of fluid in my back. He took me back to the room where Brock and Mason were waiting. Before this, they had given me Lasix which is a fluid reducer so I was peeing every 5 minutes. I got back to the room and a doctor came in. She told me that my blood pressure was very high (192 over something). She also said that at first they were thinking it was Preeclampsia but after a few tests came back they were thinking it was congestive heart failure. Heart failure? Don't old people die of that?? My life is flashing before my eyes as I lay in this stupid hospital bed staring at my new family. What if I can’t be there for them? They told me I needed further monitoring and they were getting a room ready for me. A room? Like to spend the night?? I was just here. I need to go home. Not spend more time in the hospital. We all went up to the baby floor (the only floor Mason was allowed on) and they did an ECHO cardiogram. They also weighed me and I had lost 12lbs since we had been there (so in like 2 hours). Then, the worst news hit me. Worse than hearing I had congestive heart failure. They told me I had to be transferred to the heart floor to be monitored and Mason couldn’t come with. So Brock couldn’t come with. So I was going to be alone. And I didn’t know for how long. In the picture below, you can see just how swollen and puffed up I am, especially my legs. At the time, I just thought it was normal after delivery stuff and that's what I was told. I never realized just how sick I was and that I was very close to...well, I'm not really sure.

And for now,

Xoxo