Oh what a week!

Caroline is one week old today and unfortunately I'm sure she thinks the hospital is her home. We were released to go home on Friday after a tiny meltdown from her mother and the doctor finally got back in touch with us to review her blood work and confirm what we already knew - her levels were fine and she could go home. The only catch is that we had to come back to the hospital on Saturday to redo the blood work again and confirm that things were still good.

So we got home about 5 or so on Friday and just enjoyed being at home a while. The first night at home was alright and we all got some sleep - not a lot, but some. The baby only cries when she has gas or wants to eat, so for now, it's pretty easy to figure out what's wrong.

Saturday morning, we got up and headed back to the hospital about 8 am, hoping that we wouldn't have to wait forever in the emergency room (where we were directed to go) to have the blood work done. We got there, parked right next to the door and strolled into the admission area. A nurse came back and took us back before the admission process was even done. Imagine that!

Two hours later, we were in the car on our way back home. We had envisioned being gone all day long! So when we got home, I decided to take a nap. I will still full of a lot of fluid and wanted to prop up my feet. I slept for a couple of hours and woke up when she started crying for food. I felt really bad but since I was woken out of a dead sleep and had just given birth, I didn't think much of it.

T's parents came up for the weekend and once they got to the house, we had 2 more permanent baby holding volunteers. So I was just hanging out in the recliner and was having a hard time catching my breath. I could tell my blood pressure was a little elevated but it was the breathing thing that had my attention.

I had T call the doctor and they told us to get to the hospital right then. So T packed up stuff for the baby and we headed back to the hospital for the second time that day. Naturally, it was right before the LSU baseball game was supposed to start. But we knew from previous visits there was a tv in the urgent care rooms.

They took my blood pressure and it was very high... they didn't say right away what it was, but they started hopping. They took an xray of my lungs. And once again, didn't say anything right away but pace was picking up. So the doctor came in and said they were admitting me, which made me flip out. Having only been home for 20 hours since we were last in the hospital, it was just defeating.

They moved us to the critical care wing (always fun to hear that's where you're going, right?). My blood pressure was 190/110 and my lungs were full of fluid - thus the not being able to breathe thing. So for the next 4 hours they pumped me full of more drugs that I know how to describe. They would tell me names beforehand but really? I wasn't even remotely in a place to remember that stuff.

I think I was hooked up to at least 5 different machines. T was pacing. Mom was holding the baby and I was trying to watch the baseball game on the tv. Turns out morphine makes me chatty. I think I slept for a total of 30 minutes on Saturday night. And yes, I was continuing to nurse the baby while all this was going on.

Sunday T's parents came up to the hospital and visited for a while. Not having any windows in the room, I really didn't know what day or time it was. T had to go back to work on Monday, so I made him go home on Sunday night so he could sleep. He didn't want to, but I insisted. We finally got moved to a regular room at 2:30 am on Monday morning. And once I was in a comfortable bed, I slept. I slept so soundly the nurse had to shake me to wake me up.

I had just given up hope that I was going home anytime soon. My blood pressure was down but I think they were looking for something specific in my lab work in regards to kidney and liver functions. I'm not sure what. I was full of drugs. But about 1:30 Monday afternoon, the doctor came in and asked if I wanted to go home. I said yes excitedly and then told her I loved her. Yes, I was that happy to go home.

Prognosis - I should return to normal in about a week to 10 days. I have something known as pre-eclampsia and it typically seen prior to delivery. It caused my blood pressure spike that led to the induction last week and typically runs its course after birth. In some instances (although not common), it can continue after delivery. It's a disease of the placenta and I will return to normal once hormones have cycled out of my body.

You had to know this medical textbook normal pregnancy was too good to be true. Something uncommon had to happen. But I'm fine. T's fine. The baby's fine.

Now we just have to adjust to a newborn at home!