Read part 1 and 2 to catch you up. 🙂
Where did we leave of? Oh yes.. chubby postnatal woman rolling on the floor. If that isn’t a good visual, I don’t know what is!
After the antibiotics kicked in, I actually started to feel better. The back pain started to ease, and I was able to do more. We naively concluded that I had a minor infection, and after the round of antibiotics, I would be good as new.
Feeling better by the end of the trip, my sis and I took our babies to the mall, her with her 6 month old baby girl, I with my 2 week old baby girl. We walked and talked and declared our girls would be bestest friends. We sipped Starbucks, and had a grand time. Every 10 minutes or so, I would need to find a bench to sit and rest. I remember apologizing to her, and we chuckled, and concluded I just had a baby.. being tired was part of the deal. Weird, thought I.
At one point, I actually took a look at my legs and they were starting to swell.
Weird, thought I. But, I just had a baby, swelling is normal.
We decided to leave so I could go home and rest.
I finished the week, trying to rest at my parents house, taking delicious naps because my mom was wonderful, and trying to recoup. My sister drove me back up halfway, and the switch was made.
I don’t remember much of the following week. I only remember that my baby sister was coming to visit on Friday, and I was excited. My legs continued to swell and turn colors, and you bet I called my doctor. Tylenol and rest, said she.. Oh, she did include elevation of my legs to reduce the swelling. She is such a thorough doctor, yes? At no point, did she ever ask me to come in so she could check up on me.
Not once.
By the end of the week, I was in much pain, and couldn’t walk very well. Todd had to help me to the bathroom, and lower me on the toilet. I don’t know if this is too much info for you, but I also was chugging water, and couldn’t urinate. Not that I couldn’t go.. I didn’t really have to.. there was nothing coming out. It was as if my body was using all the water for something else.
Weird, thought I. Maybe I should go to the ER. This thought occurred on Friday night when my sister arrived. I decided to sleep on it, and wait until the morning.
Saturday late morning, three weeks after I had my baby girl, I called my husband home from some errands to take me in. I couldn’t walk at all at this point, and Todd and Amy practically carried me to the car. We left T3 with Auntie, and drove to the ER 20 minutes away. They had to get a wheelchair to bring me in because I couldn’t lift my legs any longer.
The ER was packed that Saturday. We waited in that ER 10 hours before they wheeled me back. I sat crying, in the chair, trying to nurse my baby. My legs were a deep shade of purple, and swollen to twice their size. I had asked Todd to find me a corner facing away from all the other people so I could cry, and nurse in private.
I still remember that corner.
We were finally called back, and some tests were run. I don’t know how long it took.. I only know that they finally concluded they didn’t know what was wrong with me, and I was to be admitted. But, that sweet three week old, whom I was nursing, she couldn’t go with me. I was to be placed in the Critical Care Unit, where lots of nasty germs abound, and they didn’t want to risk her getting sick.
I understood.
But one of the absolute worst memories I have is the one where I’m watching my husband leave the ER, with my newborn baby girl strapped into her car seat, screaming her precious little lungs out. In fact, I just had to take a 2 minute break from writing to weep for that 25 year old that was paralyzed by her situation, and to thank My Jesus for meeting me there. I didn’t know Him very well, though I had grown up in a Christian home. But, oh, man, would I get to know Him!
Since I couldn’t walk, I had to be transferred onto the hospital bed with one of those backer board things. I’m sure I looked a sight with my chubby self rolling this way and that, trying to help the orderlies get the dang board underneath my #madfatpastor’swife body. 😉 Truly.. it was uncomfortable, awkward, and embarrassing.
It was 2 am. I was completely alone. I was wondering what the orderlies thought of me. I was scared out of my mind. I had no idea what I was about to go through.