How come Ruby and I weren't there? Well, Friday kicked off what turned out to be a very interesting weekend for me.....
It started about 1am when I woke up with horrible chills, achy muscles, a stiff neck, and a pounding headache. I rarely ever get sick so I assumed that maybe it was some kind of strange effect from having given birth two days ago. We took my temperature and found that it was only 97.1 (which seems low, but 97 range is normal for me). We called my midwife and halfway through my conversation with her, the chills subsided and I ended up feeling bad for waking her up. I went back to sleep and figuring that it was just some random hormonal thing like Tammi had suggested.
Well, I woke up with the same symptoms again at 4am and this time my head and neck were also burning up. We took my temperature again and found that it had spiked up to almost 103. Jon called an ambulance (because all three kids were still sleeping) and they came and took me to the ER. On the ride to Stafford ER, the same thing happened with the chills (the most obvious symptom other than the fever) subsided and the EMT told me that it was most likely the flu and I would be released within a few hours. Sounded fine to me, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything more serious since it did happen so close to Ruby's birth. We arrived probably close to 5am and I was taken to a room in the ER. Things started out relatively simple with about 15 different people asking me questions. It became obvious pretty quickly that something was definitely wrong as my BP was in the low 80's, my heartrate was in the 140's, and my temperature was lingering in the 102's despite having taken Motrin before I left the house. The first thing they got out of the way was a blood draw which got sent to the lab for a preliminary reading. From there I was taken to get an ultrasound which, at the time, I thought I fell asleep during (however what happened next makes me suspect otherwise). After the ultrasound, I was taken for a chest xray where I passed out cold and then to try and go to the bathroom where I passed out again. I was finally taken back to my room where they immediately started a saline IV to try and get some fluids in me quickly. My initial blood results had come back by then and while my white count was normal, my lactic acid was alarmingly elevated which the doctor told me indicates severe infection and possibly the beginning of sepsis.
Trying to stay in good spirits even though I was going in between confusion, fear, and extreme fatigue (yes, I really do take pictures of everything).
The word "sepsis" scared the heck out of me and I called Jon in tears to let him know what was going on (this was probably around 7am?). He spoke gently to me and kept me calm (like he always does) and said that as soon as he got the kids ready, they would be there. He asked me if I wanted him to just take Arianna out of school today because she really wanted to see me and that's when I remembered that she had her special lunch (which I felt awful that I was going to miss now). I told him to leave it up to her and in the end we decided to just call her in late and let her arrive around lunch time that way she would have a few hours to spend with me and see that I was ok. They arrived around 8am while I was still waiting to find out what was going to happen. From there I saw an OB, a hospitalist, and internal medicine specialist, and about fifty nurses. More blood was drawn and urine collected to be sent off for cultures (that will be observed for five days before official being called negative), more fluids and exams were given, and I was finally allowed to eat. In the end it was decided that nobody had any inkling as to what might be wrong, but they didn't think that I needed to be in the ICU (a possibility that was mentioned due to my vitals being so poor and the possibility of a severe infection), but they also weren't confident enough that my problem was obstetrical to put me on the mother/baby unit.
In the end, they decided to move me to the cardiac floor where I spent two days receiving a continuous IV of antibiotics and fluids, having multiple vials of blood drawn, and basically doing a whole lot of nothing while they tried to figure out what was going on. The first day I was basically put on full bed restriction because they were afraid that I would pass out again. If I needed to get up for anything, I had to page a nurse and have them come help me. I was absolutely not allowed to get up out of the bed with Ruby and it really took a lot of pleading for them to even agree to allow her to stay with me while Jon took care of the older girls and ran to the house to get some things that I needed. Thankfully they did agree to let her stay as long as he was going to be there overnight and thankfully Uncle Bob and Aunt JoAnn were able to take Ari and Lucy so that he could. The second day was much better as I felt strong, my vitals were better, and I was able to do more for myself. I was still semi-confined to the bed due to the IV. It was portable, but anytime the line got kinked, the drip would stop and the machine would start beeping. That night, my awesome nurse decided that I was ok enough to go without IV fluids overnight and he unhooked it so that we could all get some sleep without it beeping. They hooked it up again Sunday morning for two more doses of antibiotics (and more fluid) before unhooking it for what ended up being the last time! After looking at my overnight and morning vitals, blood draws, and talking to me about how I felt, both the OB and the hospitalist decided that there was no longer a reason for me to stay! I was so happy I could have cried. I hadn't seen my older babies all weekend and I was so ready to be home in my own bed with my family. I called Jon (who had gone to pick up Ari and Lucy so they could visit) to let him know and started gathering all of my stuff from around the room. A nurse came in and removed the hep lock and as soon as Jon arrived, they helped us all downstairs.
Flowers from a friend!
Finally in a room and was able to keep Ruby with me
This little cutie kept me company over the weekend
Getting ready to go home!
I've been home for a day now and already cleaned my house. I know, I should be resting and snuggling Ruby and I am! I got a bunch of laundry done this morning while she napped with daddy and then wiped out the kitchen (which wasn't too bad) and the dining room area while she and Lucy napped in the afternoon, Jon was at Costco, and Ari was at school. Everyone is home now and I'm sitting here working on blogs. I wanted to get this up to give everybody a better idea of what went on these past few days and make sure everybody knows that I'm home and ok. As far as an official diagnosis, we don't have one. If something shows up on my cultures before Wednesday, they'll call me and let me know. If not, they'll officially call them negative. Although all of my symptoms were pointing to a severe infection, there were no obvious signs of infection spotted during any of my exams. I was told that even though my flu swab was negative, it could have still been the flu so if nothing else comes up, we will probably just assume that it was a really aggressive, but short lived flu. Thank you so much to everyone for all of the messages and prayers and offers for help. I was very touched by the outpouring of support that our family received after Ruby's birth and even more during this hospital ordeal. We're all just happy to be home and looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with our new little family :)
Jon presented me with this yesterday when we got back home! I am THRILLED as going from 39w5d pregnant, giving birth, and then spending two days sitting and sleeping in a hospital bed has my back, hips, and pelvis wanting to detach and run screaming from the rest of my body. The flu (or whatever it was) also gave me a really stiff neck. I can't wait for my appointment on Friday. 90 minutes of relaxation! So grateful to my husband for this.
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