Thank God! I'm finally feeling better....only took 3 weeks (that's a good thing, they told me it would take 6). Mentally i'm feeling so much better. I was really not doing well for a minute there. My body is feeling pretty good too, besides being tired....but hey THAT i expected. I actually feel relieved to just be tired and nothing else. Pretty much the only feeling i was prepared for. I just have to be careful now days b/c i'm feeling better but know i shouldn't do a lot...don't want to go backwards. I still can't drive, but hopefully by next week.
Vince is doing great. He went from 7lbs 7ozs (his birth weight) to 8lbs 12ozs in two weeks....and this is what happens when you sit in a recliner all day and just nurse. haha. Doc said everything looks great. He has the sweetest little face. It's funny sometimes when we put him down and he gets upset, he just wants to be held again. as soon as you pick him up he's fine.
Emery has been amazing with him. lots of kisses and "pounds". She comes into the house from school and says "BABY!" and goes looking for him.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
One day at a time
Well everyday i feel a lot better. Yesterday was the first full day i went without any percocets. I'm still on Ibuprofen every 6 hours and i'm not giving that one up. I pretty much live in the recliner in the family room. Prisha calls it my command station. It's on loan from our friends the Hatchers, thank God for this chair. I sit in it pretty much all day and sleep in it at night. I have friends that come over every day so I can go upstairs and shower. Kayla came Monday, Monica came over Tuesday, mom came Wednesday, and Karin came yesterday. Talk about great friends. Monica did all my dishes and Karin and mom did the laundry and the kitchen floor.
My mental state is getting better. I'm pretty angry on one hand and very relieved on the other, I mean the most important thing is Vince is alive and healthy. I kind of feel cheated though. The first few weeks with a new baby are meant to be joyful not miserable. I also couldn't cry the whole time i was in the hospital (it physical hurt too much) so I think i have a lot of that emotion built up. It comes out in spells here and there. I feel bad that Dave is taking on 100% of the house hold stuff, Emery, work, and his crying wife. But i have to say I could never in a million years picked a better spouse. He's amazing. He said something to me last night that was really helpful. It's hard for me to be in the house this long, cooped up. But Dave said to me last night that there is no where else Vince would rather be then laying on my chest 20+ hours a day.
Hopefully we're going to get out a little this weekend. I can't really walk that far, and I can't carry anything, oh and I can't really get up from a sitting position without pain.....i'm just a heap of fun. So our options are pretty small but even the park for a bit would be nice. Something other then my family room.
Emery update: Em has been AMAZING!!!! She loves on Vinny like crazy. She calles him Baby and gives him "pounds" (also know as nuckles) all the time. She kisses him and pats him, and hugs him. It's really cute. She's so close to full sentances it's crazy. She has a new obsession with Barny, they must have watched it at school. So that's what we watch for a bit when she gets home. I was always that mom that said "no TV" but when you can't lift up your kid and she wants to cuddle with you and watch Barney....I mean come up. It's the best part of my day.
Oh and did I mention i have a cold?? Yes, and it comes with a lovely cough that makes me want to throw myself off a bridge b/c it hurts so bad to cough. It also hurts to blow my nose, which has been running for a few days now....just to top things off.
My mental state is getting better. I'm pretty angry on one hand and very relieved on the other, I mean the most important thing is Vince is alive and healthy. I kind of feel cheated though. The first few weeks with a new baby are meant to be joyful not miserable. I also couldn't cry the whole time i was in the hospital (it physical hurt too much) so I think i have a lot of that emotion built up. It comes out in spells here and there. I feel bad that Dave is taking on 100% of the house hold stuff, Emery, work, and his crying wife. But i have to say I could never in a million years picked a better spouse. He's amazing. He said something to me last night that was really helpful. It's hard for me to be in the house this long, cooped up. But Dave said to me last night that there is no where else Vince would rather be then laying on my chest 20+ hours a day.
Hopefully we're going to get out a little this weekend. I can't really walk that far, and I can't carry anything, oh and I can't really get up from a sitting position without pain.....i'm just a heap of fun. So our options are pretty small but even the park for a bit would be nice. Something other then my family room.
Emery update: Em has been AMAZING!!!! She loves on Vinny like crazy. She calles him Baby and gives him "pounds" (also know as nuckles) all the time. She kisses him and pats him, and hugs him. It's really cute. She's so close to full sentances it's crazy. She has a new obsession with Barny, they must have watched it at school. So that's what we watch for a bit when she gets home. I was always that mom that said "no TV" but when you can't lift up your kid and she wants to cuddle with you and watch Barney....I mean come up. It's the best part of my day.
Oh and did I mention i have a cold?? Yes, and it comes with a lovely cough that makes me want to throw myself off a bridge b/c it hurts so bad to cough. It also hurts to blow my nose, which has been running for a few days now....just to top things off.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Wow what a week......
Monday January 30th
around 2:00AM I woke up to some contractions...no big deal i'd been having them for a few days...about an hour later they were starting to move. I downloaded an app on the ipad and started to clock them. By 4:00AM i knew i needed to call my midwife, but wanted to give her an hour more to sleep. So at 5:00AM I called Barbara and told her they were about 3-5 minutes apart but i could still still walk/talk though most of them...most not all. She told us to head on over so we called my parents and told them it was go time and to head our way. we arrived at the hospital at 6:30AM, checked in and i was 7cm....go me.
I had a few pretty big contractions and Barbara and Gene told me if they broke my water we could get things moving pretty fast, so that's what we did. After that the contractions were coming pretty strong and I was moving around the bed with Dave pushing on my back. That seemed to work pretty well, but there was an issue with the baby's heartbeat. With every contraction the baby's heartbeat dropped. Barbara said i had to get back on the table so she could check me. I REALLY didn't want to lie back down, but they made me and Barbara checked me and found that the cord was pushed up against my pelvic bone and his head. Every time I was contracting I was pinching it so he was getting cut off from oxgen. She tried to move his head a little and the cord came out...a VERY bad thing. At this point a lot of stuff started to happen, a few doctors rushed in and they started to disconnect all my monitors. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions and told me I was having a c-section. I yelled "NO" pretty loud but Barbara got in my face and said "Melyssa this is an EMERGENCY" next thing i knew Barbara was pretty much on my bed with me holding his head and cord with her hand. Once we got in the operating room, they told Dave he needed a hat/gown and he had to go with the nurse. they pushed my bed up to the operating table and told me to scoot over to it. I moved over and started to grab at anything i could just to hold on to something. A nurse came above my head and held my hands. The curtin went up in front of me and a doctor put a mask on my face and told me to breath....he also looked up and said "don't cut her yet, she's not out" WHAT??? that's a possibility. All i thought was MAKE EYE CONTACT! make sure this guy knows you are still awake.
When they pulled the baby (his name is Vincent Dean) out he had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. they moved him to the NICU which is a level 2 there at the hospital. They determined very quickly that he needed to go to MUSC's level 3 NICU and had a transport team coming to get him.
When i got out of surgery Dave was there with me and said i keep saying how much it hurt. They had given me all the drugs they could so i had to wait until i got to my room to get more. The NICU doctor explained to us what was going on and where Vince was going. I remember his voice but that's about it. The moved me to a room and hooked me up to morphine. Dave stayed with me for a few hours until Prisha came to get the cord blood. (we donated it to Duke University) My mom was going to come sit with me so Dave could go downtown to be with Vince. Prisha stayed with me until she got there and Dave headed to MUSC with what little colostrum i could pump. Dave stayed with Vince until 7:00PM when they do a shift change and ask all the parents to leave for the hour. He came back to me at East Cooper and got more colostrum and headed back down to MUSC. That night he was able to hold Vince! He kept sending me photos. We were told at this point that Vince had to be there for at least 48 hours but he was already showing great signs of improvement. He was off all breathing assistant and seemed to me eating well. Dave was at MUSC until 3AM that night. He went home to get some sleep.
(dave took some photos with his phone for me, i'll put them here when i move them over)
Tuesday Jan 31.
I slept ok, they had me on a lot of drugs and the nurses were amazing!! I pumped throughout the night and called the MUSC NICU as soon as i got up around 6:00AM. Vince's nurse said he was doing great. Dave came straight to East Cooper when he got up, and got to me around 8:00AM. Again, i gave him what little colostrum i had (i was pumping every 2-3 hours and getting nothing) and he headed down to MUSC to make sure he was there for 9AM rounds. Our idea of "rounds" was a little different then what really goes on. (thank you gray's anatomy) A nurse/doctor came to get Dave and told him it was time for rounds and it was Vince's turn. Dave was a little confused by this but followed them anyway. He was lead into a room with about 25 people in it. Every day this group, which included the attending, residents, and other staff members gets together and goes over every baby in the NicU. They proceeded to go over Vince's history and the attending asked the residents why they did what they did, like quizzing them. Everyone in the room refereed to Vince as "Vince", not "baby #12" or "the patient". Dave was extremely impressed with all of this. As they were talking they asked Dave if he had any questions and answered everything he asked. It came up in the conversation that Vince really could move down to a NICU level 2, as he was not critical enough for level 3. Dave asked why not just move him back to East Cooper so he could be with his mom. They said the only thing standing in the way was insurance, Dave pressed the issue and the financial girl in the room said they would look into it. Dave called to tell me the good news.
The docs told me I had to get up a move around a little today. They pulled out my catheter and told me i should walk a little. My mom and Dad dropped off Emery at daycare around 10:00AM and came to the hospital to be with me. I showered and was able to walk the hall a little.
around 12:00 Dave called with GREAT NEWS! Vince was coming back to East Cooper!!! Dad went to get Emery around 3:00 and mom and I waited for Vince and Dave. They got to East Cooper around 5:00. Vince had to go straight to the NICU, but i got to see him shortly after that. I was so worried about breastfeeding that I met with the lactation consultants earlier that day. They told me to do skin to skin as soon as i could and try to feed him after we both settled in. Dave took me in a wheel chair down to the NICU and i got to hold him for the first time. I was so excited! It was amazing. We just sat there for a while, and after a bit i tried to nurse and he latched right on. Around 8 or so we had to leave for a shift change, so Dave and I walked around a little and came back as soon as we could. I sent Dave home around 1:00AM.
Wednesday
The nurses told me to go get some sleep and they would call me when Vince woke up. I got the call around 3AM and had the nurse wheel me down. They said if this feeding went well, Vince could leave the NICU for the next feeding. At 6:00AM Vince was with me in my room! It was great. we just hung out the whole day. Dave and my parents came later that morning and we all got to be together. That afternoon my parents went to get Em from school and she got to meet her little brother.
Thursday
they released both of us and sent us home....Emery had a blister on her finger. It seemed pretty small and no big deal. But by 5:00PM it started to get bigger and redder. By 3:00am she work up screaming and the blister had taken over her entire finger and the redness was moving down her hand. I was sleeping downstairs on the recliner (which was lent to us by the hatchers next door) and Dave was upstairs in our bed. He got up with her and saw her hand. We called the doctor and he said to take her to MUSC children's hospital ER. So at 4:00AM Dave and Emery left for the ER. Her finger was infected and they had to drain her blister. They got home around 7AM.
around 2:00AM I woke up to some contractions...no big deal i'd been having them for a few days...about an hour later they were starting to move. I downloaded an app on the ipad and started to clock them. By 4:00AM i knew i needed to call my midwife, but wanted to give her an hour more to sleep. So at 5:00AM I called Barbara and told her they were about 3-5 minutes apart but i could still still walk/talk though most of them...most not all. She told us to head on over so we called my parents and told them it was go time and to head our way. we arrived at the hospital at 6:30AM, checked in and i was 7cm....go me.
I had a few pretty big contractions and Barbara and Gene told me if they broke my water we could get things moving pretty fast, so that's what we did. After that the contractions were coming pretty strong and I was moving around the bed with Dave pushing on my back. That seemed to work pretty well, but there was an issue with the baby's heartbeat. With every contraction the baby's heartbeat dropped. Barbara said i had to get back on the table so she could check me. I REALLY didn't want to lie back down, but they made me and Barbara checked me and found that the cord was pushed up against my pelvic bone and his head. Every time I was contracting I was pinching it so he was getting cut off from oxgen. She tried to move his head a little and the cord came out...a VERY bad thing. At this point a lot of stuff started to happen, a few doctors rushed in and they started to disconnect all my monitors. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions and told me I was having a c-section. I yelled "NO" pretty loud but Barbara got in my face and said "Melyssa this is an EMERGENCY" next thing i knew Barbara was pretty much on my bed with me holding his head and cord with her hand. Once we got in the operating room, they told Dave he needed a hat/gown and he had to go with the nurse. they pushed my bed up to the operating table and told me to scoot over to it. I moved over and started to grab at anything i could just to hold on to something. A nurse came above my head and held my hands. The curtin went up in front of me and a doctor put a mask on my face and told me to breath....he also looked up and said "don't cut her yet, she's not out" WHAT??? that's a possibility. All i thought was MAKE EYE CONTACT! make sure this guy knows you are still awake.
When they pulled the baby (his name is Vincent Dean) out he had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. they moved him to the NICU which is a level 2 there at the hospital. They determined very quickly that he needed to go to MUSC's level 3 NICU and had a transport team coming to get him.
When i got out of surgery Dave was there with me and said i keep saying how much it hurt. They had given me all the drugs they could so i had to wait until i got to my room to get more. The NICU doctor explained to us what was going on and where Vince was going. I remember his voice but that's about it. The moved me to a room and hooked me up to morphine. Dave stayed with me for a few hours until Prisha came to get the cord blood. (we donated it to Duke University) My mom was going to come sit with me so Dave could go downtown to be with Vince. Prisha stayed with me until she got there and Dave headed to MUSC with what little colostrum i could pump. Dave stayed with Vince until 7:00PM when they do a shift change and ask all the parents to leave for the hour. He came back to me at East Cooper and got more colostrum and headed back down to MUSC. That night he was able to hold Vince! He kept sending me photos. We were told at this point that Vince had to be there for at least 48 hours but he was already showing great signs of improvement. He was off all breathing assistant and seemed to me eating well. Dave was at MUSC until 3AM that night. He went home to get some sleep.
(dave took some photos with his phone for me, i'll put them here when i move them over)
Tuesday Jan 31.
I slept ok, they had me on a lot of drugs and the nurses were amazing!! I pumped throughout the night and called the MUSC NICU as soon as i got up around 6:00AM. Vince's nurse said he was doing great. Dave came straight to East Cooper when he got up, and got to me around 8:00AM. Again, i gave him what little colostrum i had (i was pumping every 2-3 hours and getting nothing) and he headed down to MUSC to make sure he was there for 9AM rounds. Our idea of "rounds" was a little different then what really goes on. (thank you gray's anatomy) A nurse/doctor came to get Dave and told him it was time for rounds and it was Vince's turn. Dave was a little confused by this but followed them anyway. He was lead into a room with about 25 people in it. Every day this group, which included the attending, residents, and other staff members gets together and goes over every baby in the NicU. They proceeded to go over Vince's history and the attending asked the residents why they did what they did, like quizzing them. Everyone in the room refereed to Vince as "Vince", not "baby #12" or "the patient". Dave was extremely impressed with all of this. As they were talking they asked Dave if he had any questions and answered everything he asked. It came up in the conversation that Vince really could move down to a NICU level 2, as he was not critical enough for level 3. Dave asked why not just move him back to East Cooper so he could be with his mom. They said the only thing standing in the way was insurance, Dave pressed the issue and the financial girl in the room said they would look into it. Dave called to tell me the good news.
The docs told me I had to get up a move around a little today. They pulled out my catheter and told me i should walk a little. My mom and Dad dropped off Emery at daycare around 10:00AM and came to the hospital to be with me. I showered and was able to walk the hall a little.
around 12:00 Dave called with GREAT NEWS! Vince was coming back to East Cooper!!! Dad went to get Emery around 3:00 and mom and I waited for Vince and Dave. They got to East Cooper around 5:00. Vince had to go straight to the NICU, but i got to see him shortly after that. I was so worried about breastfeeding that I met with the lactation consultants earlier that day. They told me to do skin to skin as soon as i could and try to feed him after we both settled in. Dave took me in a wheel chair down to the NICU and i got to hold him for the first time. I was so excited! It was amazing. We just sat there for a while, and after a bit i tried to nurse and he latched right on. Around 8 or so we had to leave for a shift change, so Dave and I walked around a little and came back as soon as we could. I sent Dave home around 1:00AM.
Wednesday
The nurses told me to go get some sleep and they would call me when Vince woke up. I got the call around 3AM and had the nurse wheel me down. They said if this feeding went well, Vince could leave the NICU for the next feeding. At 6:00AM Vince was with me in my room! It was great. we just hung out the whole day. Dave and my parents came later that morning and we all got to be together. That afternoon my parents went to get Em from school and she got to meet her little brother.
Thursday
they released both of us and sent us home....Emery had a blister on her finger. It seemed pretty small and no big deal. But by 5:00PM it started to get bigger and redder. By 3:00am she work up screaming and the blister had taken over her entire finger and the redness was moving down her hand. I was sleeping downstairs on the recliner (which was lent to us by the hatchers next door) and Dave was upstairs in our bed. He got up with her and saw her hand. We called the doctor and he said to take her to MUSC children's hospital ER. So at 4:00AM Dave and Emery left for the ER. Her finger was infected and they had to drain her blister. They got home around 7AM.
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