I finally had the chance to meet the baby that I carried for 39 weeks in my belly. I remember holding her for the first time thinking to myself yes it was worth it. She was just beautiful with a fully head of hair. I nursed her for the first time and did not see her again for another 2 days. You are probably wondering why. Well, because of my condition I was moved to the Progressive Care Unit (PCU) floor until they released me back to Post-Partum. Because that floor had very sick patients it was unsafe to bring the baby to me, and I could not go up to the nursery to see her. So I had someone take my phone to the nursery and take a picture for me so I can at least look at her while laying in the bed in PCU with nothing to do, but sleep. Finally, they released me to the Post-Partum ward, and I was able to spend time with my daughter. I was so happy, but experiencing a level of pain from the surgery that I have never experienced in my life. I did manage to stay mobile and walk the halls all day while pushing Bella in her crib. I was only able to sleep right after taking the pain meds every 4hrs. My husband would bring my son to the hospital to see me every evening and I looked forward to those visits. My son adored his little sister from day one, and just seeing him smile everyday put a smile on my face. Finally, I was discharged and could go home to spend time with my family before my husband left for 6 weeks for his job to work in Hawaii. I know you just read that and thought why is he leaving her. It didn't bother me, so don't go off on a limb about it. LOL! . He made sure that everything was in place before leaving and that I had plenty of care. August 1st arrives, and suddenly I begin to feel symptons of my relapse. I had a mild case of edema, rapid heart beat, sensation of fluid in the lungs, coughing, and my blood pressure increased to over 160/90 with a resting pulse over 80. I called my cardiologist and he phoned in a prescription for Lasix for me to take and told me to come into the office on Monday morning. The Lasix did help with the fluid retention and helped to decrease my BP as well.
The morning of August 2nd my husband was off to Hawaii and did not return til September 13th. That was a long 6 weeks. Although my mom was here to help me its not the same as having your husband. For the first couple of weeks friends made sure that I did not have to cook. My father-in-law picked up and dropped off my son to daycare, and one of my friends and my brother-in-law took turns taking me to all doctor appointments. I was limited to things I could do so I rarely did anything and remained stressed but stress free. I was still taking a narcotic for pain relief, but I hated the way it made me feel. However, if I did not take it the pain was pure torture. Eventually, I weaned myself off the pain meds. I went to my next post-partum and was cleared back to normal activity, but the cardiologist did not do the same. On September 8th I had my follow up appointment with my Cardiologist. She wanted to see if the Metoprolol was working. Hmmmm....Well the answer was NO my EF continued to drop and Echocardiogram revealed a EF of 30%. I was thinking WTF! In 2006 I recovered so fast, and this time around the disappointments keep coming with every appointment. She told me that I could not go back to work until she sees progress. Don't get me wrong I love my baby girl, but I want to work. I feel useless staying home even though I am receiving an income. I was told that I can do low impact exercises, but my body tells me different. Next followup appointment is scheduled for October 6th. Hopefully I am given the all clear to start work on the 12th. We will see what happens!!!
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