The Aftermath

This sounds weird to say, but labor and delivery were like the calm before the storm for Enok and I. The 24 hours after Enok was born were really difficult. And I feel so blessed to have an awesome husband who was there through it all. Because I had high blood pressure and had been diagnosed with preeclampsia, my doctor wanted to put me on high blood pressure medicine for 24 hours that was delivered through an iv (luckily I ended up only being on it for 12 hours). First thing that sucked was where my iv had been placed when the induction process began. I don't have great veins in my arms or hands, so the only place where they could stick the iv was on the inside of my right elbow - meaning I could not bend my right arm at all. They tried to stick it in some veins in my left arm and all that came of that was pain, blood, a frustrated nurse, and an angry patient. So the iv went in my right arm inside elbow. You try not bending your arm at your elbow for 40 hours and see how it feels. It sucks. It's painful. It makes it impossible to sleep on that side of your body. Having that iv in my elbow for so long was worse than any part of labor and delivery. I wished I could borrow Philip's arm veins for that day and a half. Anyways..... they started the blood pressure medicine right after Enok was born and warned me that I would start feeling really terrible - most of the symptoms would be flu like. I honestly didn't really believe that it would be that bad.... I mean everyone said labor & delivery was horrific, and it really wasn't that bad..... but I should have believed them because they were right. After being on the medicine for 30 min to an hour they side effects really started to kick in...... headache, nausea, and just a general feeling of complete poopiness. It really was terrible. And to top it off you have to stay in bed laying down while you have these meds, that meant I got to keep the catheter all day long too. The worst part about having this medicine and feeling terrible was that I really wasn't able to enjoy my new little baby. Philip spent a lot of time holding him during the day Saturday since I was pretty out of it. Oh, and keep in mind that I had only slept at most 2 hours the night before, so by the time I got the meds I had only slept 2 hours in the last 24 hours, and I had no luck sleeping on Saturday although I definitely tried... Well, the worst part was Saturday night...... All day long Enok had been having a low body temperature and low oxygen levels. These can be signs of an infection in an infant, so they decided to x-ray his lungs. They saw fluid in his lungs and decided that he needed to be admitted to the NICU and be on an antibiotic for a week. The doctors called what he had pneumonia, but they really weren't exactly sure what it was. Well, the doctors came to tell us this at about 10pm on Saturday night when I had only slept for 2 hours in the last 40 hours, had felt like crap all day, and was really feeling all the worries of being a new mom. I just started crying  because it felt like too much and it was just so overwhelming. The only good news that came at this time was that they were taking my iv out and stopping the medicine, so now I could get up out of bed. But then they were asking if we wanted to go see Enok in the NICU and being as overwhelmed and exhausted as I was, I physically could not handle going to see him. And that made me feel even worse, and made me cry even more. Philip went to go see him and then came back to take care of me since I was a mess. And then my nurse ordered me to sleep and after trying to fall asleep for a while she had to bring me some ambien so that I could actually fall asleep. It really is amazing what sleep can do. I woke up Sunday and it was such a brighter day. The side effects of the medicine wore off overnight and I was finally able to get up and shower. We stayed in the hospital till Monday morning and spent it visiting Enok and chilling in my room.
Leaving the hospital on Monday morning and leaving Enok there was really hard to do. I cried that night before I went to bed because I missed Enok so much. For the last 9 months he had always been near me and suddenly he wasn't. Philip had to go to classes and work during the week, but I went back and spent 4-6 hours with Enok at the hospital every day. We feel really blessed because he definitely was the healthiest baby in the NICU. After a couple days he came out of the heating bed, then didn't need oxygen anymore, and then the only reason he had to stay was so they could finish the antibiotics. He only weighed less than his birth weight for 2 or 3 days, and the nurses kept commenting on how he was one of the best eaters they had ever seen. And then on Friday. February 15 we got to bring him home and then our journey with Enok really began!