Can't get enough of that hospital food... I guess

So as we said in our last post, we were released from the hospital late Friday night.  We woke up on Saturday morning and spent the day cherishing our new family of five.  In the afternoon, I laid down on the couch and took a nap with Ellie.  When I woke up, my chest felt tight (like the muscles between my ribs were really sore) and it was hard to take a deep breath.  I figured I slept weird or that my muscles were sore from hunching over to nurse.  Soon afterwards, I started getting a nasty headache.  Headache is a bad way to describe it... it was more like a migraine.  I hadn't had migraines since we started going to the chiropractor over 2.5 years ago.  This was not a welcome thing, but I took some ibuprofen and hoped that it would go away.  The migraine waived some, but never went away.  When I'd lay down, the headache would get stronger.  I told Brandon that I was freaked out that when I laid down to go to bed at night, I could feel my heart beating in my chest.

Sunday came and the headache was still there.  I kept up on the doses of ibuprofen that had been suggested for postpartum pain.  I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have hardly any of the same pains that I'd had with my first two deliveries.  I felt rather human already (aside from the headaches and sore ribs).  I was able to do things around the house and was getting more rest than I remember getting with the boys.  By the end of the day on Sunday I started to worry that the pain I had in my upper back, ribs and head may have something to do with getting 2 epidurals.  This was terrifying for me.  I looked up signs for meningitis... and was thankful that I didn't have a fever.  I know - ridiculous - but I'd never felt like this.  If this was my first child, I wouldn't know that the feelings I was having weren't normal postpartum pains.

Ellie bug in her Browns attire on Sunday.

I decided to not take any fever reducers on Monday to make sure that I really didn't have a fever.  By lunch time, the headache was absolutely unbearable.  I called Perinatal Partners to ask about my symptoms.  They told me to stop in the office at the next available time slot... which was less than an hour away.  I asked if it'd be okay for me to bring the kiddos with me.  Of course... since it would only be a quick appointment.

When I went in for the appointment, they took my blood pressure and tested my urine.  I had protein in my urine and my blood pressure was high.  Along with the headaches, I was showing signs of pre-eclampsia.  Dr. Kovac came in and told me that I'd have to go back to Miami Valley and they'd have to admit me and monitor me for 24 hours.  Normally, pre-eclampsia happens during pregnancy and the cure for it is delivery.  In rare cases, though, you can get pre-eclampsia after delivery.  Lucky me!  My blood pressure is usually 110/70 or lower.  In the office is was 150/90.

I called my parents and asked them to pick up my boys in Vandalia and apologized because I was only planning on going out for a few minutes... so I had no extra diapers for Kaleb or clothes for either of the boys.  Dad came down with Emily to pick them up.  He loaded up the boys and drove them back to their house.  Emily hopped in my van and drove me and Ellie to Miami Valley.  She stayed with me until Brandon was able to make it there after work (and stopping at the house to pick up some clothes for Ellie other essentials).  My BP got as high as 172/105 that night.  We were admitted and they gave me fioricet for the headache (which worked) and put me on a magnesium drip to help lower my blood pressure.  Tuesday was pretty dull.  The magnesium played all kinds of tricks on my vision.  I was still sensitive to light and sound and was now seeing double - so I couldn't really read or watch tv.  Ellie and I enjoyed a quiet day of nothing but snuggles.  This was pretty relaxing, really.  Brandon stayed with me each night and we were finally released on Wednesday afternoon.  We joked that if we hadn't already met our out-of-pocket max on our insurance plan this year... we met it now.  Seven days in the hospital would do that, I'd say.

Ellie hanging out w/ Mommy - quiet time is hard to come by for us :)

On Thursday, Ellie had her first appointment (finally) and she was already back up to her birth weight (bonus!).  We also had an appointment with Jenny, the BCMH nurse with the Health Department, on Thursday afternoon.  Jenny is getting everything from our hospital stay squared away for us.  Thank goodness!

We have 3 appointments next week: cardiology, a follow-up appointment for me, and Ellie's 2-week appointment.  We were also able to talk to Ashley at the Health Department and we're waiting to get an assessment done for Ellie so that she can start therapy.  How exciting!