I thought I was beginning to feel better, but........

Baily and Ally 5 weeks old

Once I settled in at home after the pulmonary edema and the stay in ICU after the babies were born I thought I was over the worst and all I had to do is heal from the c-section........WRONG!!

After being home for a few days I developed a cough and I was having a hard time breathing so I went to the emergency room to be looked out. Well, they ran x-rays and tests and said everything was fine. The doctor suspected the medication for my heart/high blood pressure was causing me to have asthmatic side effects. He then prescribed an albuterol inhaler. I used it a few times, but it didn't seem to help. My Mother has been with me almost non-stop since before the babies were born, thank the Lord for her help. We were talking about how I felt and she said it sounded like I was having anxiety attacks. I just wasn't feeling right, I cried about everything it seems. I couldn't breath well, especially at night, I couldn't sleep, I felt bad because I couldn't take care of my babies like I should have, you name it, I was feeling it. So, I believe she was right when she said I may be having mild to moderate anxiety attacks (my Dad suffers from anxiety). The cough I had seemed to be getting worse, so finally I went to see my doctor and she took tests and I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Well, let me tell you.....I've just been feeling plain lousy for about two months now.

The walking pneumonia is on it's last leg it seems, so that should be gone soon, but guess who decided to show up after all this time? I've been having migraines since last week. I can't believe after all I've gone through, now migraines, again!! No!...will this ever end. I just want to feel better and enjoy my babies while they are still babies. I spent all day yesterday in bed basically. I had a migraine in the early a.m. while feeding babies. About noon I got up after sleeping through my migraine and I began to take care of the babies when I got hit by a second migraine of the day, I went back to bed until 5 p.m. and stayed up for awhile, after all it was my birthday and I didn't want to spend it in bed.

So far today is going well. I have my first follow up appointment with my OB. I'm hoping I feel better soon.

The Rest Of My Birthing Story....

The day I was due to go home from the hospital with my babies, I started having difficulty breathing, so I was taken for x-rays, ekg, and a cat scan. It seems I had developed pulmonary edema. I was taken to ICU and stayed there for two days until they released me to the ICU ward in a private room. While I was in the postnatal ward, I had my babies with me as often as I wanted. Both babies were latching on so well and I was all geared up for breastfeeding, but that had to stop once I went to ICU. I only saw my babies at feeding time and they had to be accompanied by a nurse (to help of course), so I didn't get to be alone with them until I left the hospital. While in ICU I was pretty much out of it most of the time. My cardiologist put me on heart/high blood pressure medication, so I was only able to pump and dump my breast milk, mainly at first because of the dye they used during the cat scan. During my stay in ICU I was given a water pill to try and drain the fluid off my lungs and the rest of my body. By the time I left there, they said over 36 pounds of fluid was drained from my body. My OB was right when he kept telling me that I wasn't actually gaining weight, but it was mostly fluid. I didn't think that was possible until I saw how much weight I lost once I left the hospital. I hate to say how much I weighed in at, but I'll tell you that I've lost a total over 50 pounds since I had my babies 12 days ago. I still have about 35 pounds to lose to get to the weight I started at, and that was a little over 200 pounds. I was losing weight when I got pregnant with these two babies, I'm hoping I can keep losing.

My OB came in to check on me while I was in ICU and he told me it appears I did develop pre-eclampsia after I gave birth. He said they were concerned that I had developed cardiomyopathy, I'm still not sure if I did or did not, so I'll ask him about it when I have my next appointment with him. However, the medication I'm on is for the heart and high blood pressure and I was told my heart enlarged. I'm hoping whatever the case may be that it will resolve soon, as I was told it shouldn't last over 6 months at the most.

As for breastfeeding, I chose to give up on it because I didn't think the risk to their health was worth it. The medication I'm on now can cause them to have low blood pressure. I'm upset because I was looking forward to it, but it's the best for them. Anything to keep my babies healthy!!!