We left off with my sweet babies doing skin to skin with me in my recovery room. I was so incredibly exhausted and had a very difficult time staying awake. Eventually our babies were taken to the NICU. It's standard protocol to have any babies born before 37 weeks taken to the NICU for monitoring.
It turned out that our babies were healthy! They had no breathing issues or other health concerns. They would just stay in the NICU while I recovered and to make sure they gained weight. Some babies who are born early have trouble latching and sucking while breastfeeding, so it was important to make sure they could do both before they came home with us.
Since they were so healthy, the NICU nurses made an exception for us- they would bring the babies to my recovery room to visit me every so often for the next few days. These next few days were a big blur. I was still recovering from preeclampsia and ended up with some pretty serious complications.
My kidneys stopped working properly and I went into acute kidney failure. My liver wasn't working properly either. I had to have blood drawn every 4 hours to monitor my liver and kidney function. At one point, the doctors said I would have to be sent to the ICU if my body didn't whip itself back into shape.
All I really remember about these few days is being completely and utterly exhausted. The nurses kept telling me to get some sleep, but it was hard to when I was stuck with needles every 4 hours. I also had all kinds of doctors coming in to check on me. I have no recollection of anything they said to me. I just remember trying to keep my eyes open as they were speaking to me.
The one doctor that sticks out in my mind was the pediatric cardiologist. If you remember back to this post, a fetal echocardiogram revealed our son had an Atrial Septal Aneurysm. It was recommended that our son have an echocardiogram once he was born to check on things. It turned out that it had completely resolved itself all on its own! That meant Archer's heart was perfectly normal and healthy. So when Dr. Drake came into my room and woke me up to tell me about this wonderful news, it stuck with me. I was so incredibly relieved!
In addition to all the blood draws and doctor visits, I was also supposed to be pumping every 4 hours to get my milk supply up. So I also had lactation specialists in and out of my room. Adam is the only reason I am able to breastfeed my babies today. If it had been up to me, I would have just slept through the pumping. Adam would wake me up, get all the pump parts assembled and get the pump going. Sometimes he even held the parts up to my boobs for me. For the first few days all I would end up with was a tiny bit of colostrum that Adam would swab up with a cotton swab. He would then take it to the babies in the NICU and stick it in their mouths. I remember thinking "what the heck is the point of all this for a measly drop or two of breast milk?" But I was too tired to argue. I am so glad he made sure I pumped. After a very long while (days) eventually my milk did come in. But it wouldn't have if Adam hadn't gotten the ball rolling.
I can't say enough about how amazing Adam was during that rough time for me! He took care of me and was at the NICU for the babies' care times. He communicated to our parents. He even would go home and take Jazzy on runs some nights. He was my rock and stepped up in the most wonderful way. Even though my mind was a bit fuzzy during this time, I knew just how lucky I was that Adam was my husband and Archer, Lyla and Jazzy's daddy.
If you'll recall, I delivered the babies on Thursday, August 3rd. I stayed in bed all that evening and the following day and evening. Friday evening was terrible! I had the most awful groin pain. The nurses were a bit puzzled by it, since people don't usually experience that. They decided it was from the weight I had been carrying around and staying in the same position for so long. I cried from the pain and was just miserable.
Typically, you are supposed to get up and move around after a c-section sooner rather than later. But due to all my health complications, I stayed in bed for far too long. When I eventually got out of bed, it was Saturday. It was the most pain I had ever felt in my life. I cried and moaned and wanted to just get back in bed. But the nurse who made me get up turned out to be the best nurse during my whole stay. She got my pain medicine changed to help with the groin pain and the c-section pain. She got me up and moving around. She helped me get to and from the toilet. She wheeled me down to see my babies in the NICU. And she did all these things with such kindness and encouragement.
My recovery was such a humbling experience. I have never had to rely on so many people to help me do the most basic things. There were so many sweet nurses, along with Adam and my mom to help me out. I'm talking some embarrassing stuff too! Things like helping me go the bathroom and taking a shower. I remember sitting on the shower chair with Adam gently washing my hair for me because it hurt my stomach too much to stretch my arms up and thinking if this isn't love I don't know what is.
Eventually I had to start walking again. I would walk what felt like forever, but in reality was probably just a few feet towards the NICU. Then someone would push me in a wheelchair the rest of the way. There was this one seam on the floor on the way that I hated! It would kill my stomach each time I was wheeled across it. That soon became my goal to walk to so I wouldn't have to be wheeled over it.
I am so glad I had no idea how my labor, delivery and recovery would turn out. It was long, scary, stressful and painful. I knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park, but I had no idea it would be that rough. Despite it all, it ended up being worth it. I have two beautiful, healthy babies. (One whose lungs work quite well.)
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