After getting moved to the mother-baby unit, we had a lot of the doctors from ICU and labor/delivery coming in to see us. All of them were amazed at how well I was doing. I was coughing up a lot of fluid, especially at the beginning. Getting out of bed was very difficult, even going to the bathroom made me hyper ventilate. I was also super swollen because of all the fluids. I thought my feet were swollen during pregnancy, but that was nothing compared to that week in the hospital! I swear they would have popped if pricked. They gave me a diuretic to try to get some of the fluids out, which meant a lot more bathroom trips and having to measure fluid output. Meaning there was a plastic tub in the toilet that I had to pee in to and check how much there was. Poor Stephen ended up having to dump it out a lot of the time. He ended up doing a lot of things for me that I hope he never has to do again.
After a few days, I started walking the halls a little bit. Stephen would wheel Kaitlyn in the little bed behind us (we weren't allowed to carry her out of the room, something about liability) and the nurse would walk with me. It was very slow going and difficult to breath, but I made improvements. One of the hardest things was the lack of core support I had. Some of it because of the trauma, some of it because I'd just given birth. I still have some issues breathing when I stand too long or walk too far (it's been 2 months). It feels like I lose the support in my diaphragm, but I don't know if that's what's happening or not.
Breastfeeding was the other issue. The doctors warned us that I would probably stop producing milk because it would have been one of the first things my body shut down when everything was going hay wire. I had a certain amount of colostrum already made, and once that was gone there was no way to know what would happen. I really wanted to breastfeed, so we've been working really hard to build and keep my supply.
On Wednesday (3 days after Kaitlyn was born), my breastmilk stopped coming as predicted. We started using a supplemental system that was a bottle of formula that we pinned above my shoulder and a tube ran down my shoulder to my nipple. When Kaitlyn would latch, she would latch with the tube in her mouth (ideally). That way she'd be suckling from me (which would help my supply and teach her to eat from me), but she would really be getting formula. It's easier said than done and was definitely a two person job. Sometimes three if a nurse was around. I would be holding Kaitlyn and trying to get her to latch while Stephen tried to get the tube into the right place. Too far back and she wouldn't get it when she would finally latch. Or if it was barely too far back it would go between her gum and her lip and just spill out of her mouth. Too far forward and it would've made her gag. She also learned that the little tube was what was supplying the formula and she would try to go for just the tube instead of latching on to the nipple.
Picture from Amazon of the supplemental nursing system (this one is Medela)
After every feeding I would pump for 10 more minutes. I started getting drops of colostrum Thursday, which Stephen would meticulously put in a tiny dropper and we'd give them to Kaitlyn. It would instantly calm her down, pretty amazing. Then he'd have to clean all the pumping pieces so they'd be ready the next time. The nurses were encouraged by the drops of colostrum and then breastmilk, they said that was a really good sign. We've slowly been able to decrease the amount of formula we supplement as my breastmilk has increased. We still have to supplement, especially in the evenings, and it has been a long and difficult process that is enough for another blog post.
It was nice to have all our supplies taken care of while in the hospital, especially since we were having to supplement formula. But it was also hard. I still had a the PICC line and an IV in, so I had to stay in the hospital gown (it was on my upper arm and would have to be detached to get dressed). I was able to take a shower, sort of, partway through the week. Stephen basically had to wash my hair and everything while I sat on the shower bench. Have I mentioned how awesome he has been through all of this?
We also had all the hospital noises and policies to deal with. My IV alarm kept going off. I learned which buttons to push to make it stop because it had a knack of going off right when we would get Kaitlyn to sleep. The nurses also seemed to come take my or her vitals when she would finally go to sleep or latch to breastfeed. Some of the nurses were great about coming back when we were done, but some were kind of pains about it. We got better at standing up for what we needed (like letting her breastfeed after finally getting her latched with the supplemental system) and being insistent about them coming back later.
They did two x-rays and the fluid in my lungs decreased significantly. By the end of the week, I was able to walk all the way to the end of the hall and only had to stop a few times (major accomplishment). I could go to the bathroom by myself (very exciting). The vitamin and electrolyte levels in my blood were still fluctuating, but the doctors said that was normal and it was just going to take time for them to stabilize. My blood count was low, but that was also expected. My OB told me that in addition to the new mom tiredness, I was going to be exhausted from the blood loss. And I was.
Here's some pictures through the week:
Because of all the high risk pregnancy stuff, I was really careful about what I ate. Therefore, no lunch meat. Which means a subway sandwich was the meal I wanted most after giving birth. Megan had the order on her phone ready to go :)
Friends visiting, I don't have pictures of all the friends and family. If you came and I didn't post a picture of you, I apologize. I remember you were there :)
Kaitlyn hanging out on my knees (still in the stupid hospital gown)
Her first non-hospital outfit
She had tummy issues and wanted to be held like this.
My PICC line, isn't it gross?!
On Friday I was finally able to go home. Since all the doctors and nurses knew us, they moved us to the front of the discharge line and tried to expedite everything, which was very nice. We were very ready to go home. Stephen had everything packed the night before and my parents had been taking stuff home over a few days (we accumulated a lot of stuff).
Our first family picture without hospital gowns/tubes
Strapping into the carseat for the first time
Pretty girl
I sat in the back with her on the way home.
Home at last. But I had already been standing for too long and look like I need to sit down :)
Our dessert the first night, from my mom
