The First Few Weeks Post Partum

In this blog I will be talking about my postpartum experience. I will not be talking much about Aryi and the NICU (our experience with all of that). This is going to be more about me and my recovery. I will be doing a separate NICU blog to talk about our experience as NICU parents, but there is a lot there to talk about and it definitely deserves it’s own blog. 

The First Day

I talked about this in my birth story blog, but briefly. I had to be on bed rest for 24 hours postpartum, stuck on the magnesium drip, not allowed to go see my baby. This day is a haze of misery and anxiety. I was tired but could not sleep. This truely was the worst day. I just wanted to go hold my baby and feel like everything was going to be ok. I needed to see him for myself. Not pictures on my husband’s phone, not looking at him through the NICU camera. I needed to see him. 

On top of all of what is going on, a lactation consultant comes into the room immediately to help me pump for the first time. I did want that, I wanted to breastfeed. It was important to me. But I just had the most traumatic experience of my life and an hour later when I want to be holding my baby, someone is here making me pump. It was horrible. I was sitting in the bed pumping, looking at the camera, crying. This is how the next 24 hours went. 

Finally, the next day they stopped the drip, removed the catheter, and made me stand up. That was the most pain I have ever felt in my entire life. I never pushed a baby out, so I do not have that to compare it to, but it was the worst pain I ever experienced. My mom got me up and showered (she is a nurse so I trusted her to help me without letting me get hurt) and my husband brought me to see my baby for the first time. I want to talk about that experience too, it will be in the NICU experience blog. 

4 Days in the Hospital

I spent the next 3 days telling doctors and nurses that I was in too much pain. I kept saying there is no way this is normal. I knew I had an infection. To appease me they gave me antibiotics. I am allergic to Penicillin. They gave me Clindamycin and Vancomycin. I spent the next 3 days in pain, pumping 8 times a day, exhausted, getting to go visit Aryi for like an hour at a time. 

Discharge

The day it was time to be discharged I told them not to discharge me. I told them I was in too much pain. I told them the infection was still there. No one listened to me. Everyone kept saying C-sections hurt, you are fine you had antibiotics. They gave me a prescription for painkillers. They sent me home. That is not what I wanted. I wanted to be fixed. I wanted the correct antibiotic. I didn’t want to be on pain medication. The way women are treated in healthcare is insane! We are often not believed when it comes to pain, even by other women. These were FEMALE doctors ignoring my pain!!! These were WOMEN!!!

I do want to say this was not my OB/GYN. I love her. She was on medical leave when I was dealing with all of this. 

My 1 Day at Home

I went home. I slept in my own bed. Getting around my house was a lot harder than getting around the hospital. Around 24 hours later, smelly pus started leaking from my incision. Gross!!

Readmitted to the Hospital

I went back to the ER. I told them everything that happened. They stuck a swab inside of my incision and sent it to culture. They admitted me on the same antibiotics that did not work previously (Gentamicin, Clindamycin, and Vancomycin). The next day, the cultures came back as Escherichia Coli and Prevotella. They gave me an oral prescription for Keflex ($5). 

Discharge Again

I was discharged the next day, barely in pain. I went from taking percocet and still being in pain (they said pain was controlled on their notes even though I said it wasn’t) to taking a 600 mg tablet of ibuprofen and being fine 24 hours later. I needed the correct antibiotic like I told them when they discharged me.