Back From The Edge

Scout and I are home at last. We actally got home on Christmas Eve Day. We are in the groove after 3 days in the hospital. Scout's been doing great. She is happy and likes to sleep. She has recently decided that eating is fun too. I guess I'm the one that's been having the hardest time. I've been in a lot of pain. Hmmmm...wonder why??? Could it be the giant baby I pushed out?!

Scout was 3 oz short of 11 POUNDS! She was 2 1/2 inches short of 2 FEET long! I am still feeling the effects of a brutal delivery. I felt no pain when I delivered, but the aftermath of pain was pretty much the worst I’ve ever felt. It hit me about an hour after she was delivered; I suppose the epidural had worn off. I was still in L&D on the bed when I started to feel some pain, but I thought…eh…I can get through it. Just to make sure, I requested some pain medicine (she had me rate my pain on a scale of 1-10 and I said 5) and the nurse gave me a shot of Demerol. Well, by the time she went to give me the shot, I was all ready to declare, “I’m at a 7 here people.” The needle couldn’t pierce my skin, so she had to get a new needle, so I was looking at an 8 now. But, I thought, ok, after the shot I can pull myself together and this pain will subside.

At this time, the nurse and Scott took Scout up to the nursery and I stayed behind in the L&D room alone. I’m just waiting for this medicine to kick in because I’m in absolutely excruciating pain now, and my ass feels like I had a tonka truck run right up it with the wheels still turning. Well, I don’t know how long they were gone, but I thought I was going to tear the bed rails off because of the pain. Inside my head, besides praying, I’m thinking I’M AT A 10!! 10! 10! 10!

Finally, I hit the panic button which sent a nurse in, and from the look on her face at seeing me, I didn't look good. She called my L&D nurse, and doctor had to come back and reexamine me to make sure nothing was seriously wrong, which at this point I thought maybe there was.

Alas, nothing was fatally wrong. However, I did have major deep bruising, not to mention the tears, and they pretty much told me I was going to be black and blue for a while. So, they gave me another epidural to calm me down, jammed a needle in my thigh to treat my drop in blood pressure, reinserted the catheter, and off I went into a peaceful sleep. I woke up still in the L&D room now 4 hours after delivery (normally you’d stay like an hour and 1/2 ), and they were going to finally try to get me in a wheel chair and moved upstairs. I ended up passing out when they sat me up in bed. So, we waited 10 minutes for me to recover from that. Then, the second time, I got into the wheel chair, but I passed out again. So, they had like 3 nurses wheel me up in case there was a problem.

Yeah…what a freaking train wreck! I didn’t even really “hold” Scout until about 2am for a feeding. I actually had to check her arm band to make sure she was mine. I’d been either out of it because of drugs or pain to ever really get to “bond” with her. But, Scott was doing a great job being a dad and holding her and kissing her; it was all fine with me.

So, I’m home now but I still have plenty of pain. It is hard to walk and lay down, but hardest to sit. Scout is doing wonderful. She is having mercy on me and my problems and just being really good. Scott is home from work for a few weeks to help and that is invaluable. We love having Scout here with us, and we both love to look at her little facial features that her chubby face holds. Her thick black hair is similar to what I had as a baby, so we are waiting for it to change to another color, but we aren't sure which. She makes fun little cooing sounds, that entertain us, but then her bottom makes some great sounds too!!!

Thank you all for your comments, emails, gifts, and prayers. Scout loves you all.