Our first week with Ephram was... an experience. Of course, we spent the first three days in the hospital, so there were really only four days to survive after that. How much could happen, right? The answer: plenty.
Before I go through the hard part, I'd like to remember the good. :) We were so amazed and grateful to multiple friends that made sure we didn't have to worry about finding food for dinner. We actually did not have to prepare a new dinner for ourselves for the first three weeks of Ephram's life. Just when we thought we'd received our last dinner, another person (or two) would call to see if they could bring us something. And the dinners we received were really good, they gave me a lot of ideas for future meals that I might make. It is so nice to remember that there is a support system out there and that the world is bigger than just our little family. So, I realize that most of the people reading this didn't bring us dinner - because most of you live much too far away... but I am sure that you have brought dinner to someone else another time. So I'd like to say thank you to anyone that does this for another person. It was truly something that we needed as we struggled through our first few weeks.
When Ephram was born he weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces. And then he started pooping. He pooped seven times on that first day, and continued at the same rate while we were in the hospital. When we checked out two days later, our little boy was 5 pounds, 4 ounces.
That's right. I said 5 pounds, 4 ounces.
I knew babies lose weight at first, as they're waiting for their mother's milk to come in... and I knew that they could safely lose up to 10%. I knew Ephram had crossed over that 10% line, but I didn't realize how far. They let us go home from the hospital on a feeding plan. We started supplementing all of his meals that day with either colostrum that I had pumped or formula, fed through a tube while I was breastfeeding. They'd tested his bilirubin levels in the hospital too... bilirubin tests are done to see if a baby has jaundice. The marker that they use to treat jaundice here is if the bilirubin level reaches 16. Ephram was 15.7 the day we checked out.
I didn't realize that he'd lost so much more than expected, so I wasn't freaking out too much. That is, until the next day when I couldn't get him to wake up and take a feeding for the life of me. I tried all the tricks they'd taught us in the hospital. The boy wouldn't wake up. He suddenly looked extremely sallow to me... and very yellow.
What did I do? Tried not to freak out. Went online and tried to educate myself about jaundice. This was not a good idea. I freaked out. I didn't sleep at all that night because I was so busy watching Ephram to make sure he was still breathing, and trying very hard to get him to eat. He did eat... it was just a big struggle each time.
How was I doing personally? This has been a big question from everyone as people wonder how I recovered from my surgery. The incision was good from the first day, and didn't give me any trouble in the first week - besides some itching. I also gained mobility quickly and was walking around without trouble. I just had to follow the rules to limit weight that I pushed or carried, as well as limit any bending, stooping or stair climbing. I was on pain medication, but very little... the nurses in the hospital were actually concerned that I was not taking more, but I felt pretty good. Except for the swelling.
I had no idea that swelling was a side effect of c-sections, but found out intimately how bad it can be. By the day that I was freaking out about Ephram and jaundice, I was as big as a balloon. My legs and feet were so swollen that I could only wear one pair of pants that I owned - a very loose pair of maternity pants. Nothing else would fit over my legs. I also couldn't get socks on my feet. This was very uncomfortable and added to my sanity issues.
We had a postpartum appointment the next day, January 4th, to check on my progress as well as Ephram's. The ride to the hospital was miserable. I was so worried about Ephram the whole way, and I was massively uncomfortable because of the swelling. When we got there it didn't get better. Ephram was 5 pounds, 7 ounces... a 3 ounce gain, but not good enough. She watched me breastfeed and had me convinced that I was not going to be successful at it by the time we left. Ephram's temperature was well below normal and she scolded me about how to maintain an adequate temperature. she took my blood pressure, and it was slightly elevated at 140/90, but we wrote that off as me being a bundle of nerves. And, Ephram's skin test for bilirubin was still high, so she sent us to the lab for another blood test. We were instructed to double the supplementation so that he would gain weight faster. She also made an appointment for us to return that Friday. This appointment did nothing to calm me down, in fact I was at least doubly concerned at the end.
I don't remember anything about that day except for crying, panicking, and spontaneously falling asleep only to wake up panicked again. I continued like this for another day. At that point I decided that I was not going to take any more pain pills for two reasons. First, I felt my pain was manageable. Second, I thought they were contributing to my hysteria. I hate pain medication and I typically avoid it at all costs... I didn't take anything stronger than tylenol and ibuprofen until my last day in the hospital. But at that point, even I had to admit that the pain was getting to me. So I acquiesced and took the pills. But I did not like the way they made me feel. Andy had noticed that my behaviors were on a cycle according to when I had taken the pills too - although he didn't mention this for a couple more days.
On Wednesday, on Ephram's 6th day, I was finally feeling a little better. I actually let myself sleep and was recovering a bit of my sanity. A friend came over to help and this made me feel better too. But I still felt off. I decided to take my blood pressure. The number I saw was alarming. I had never, ever seen a blood pressure reading that high. I tried not to freak out to keep it from rising higher. We called my doctor and they advised I go straight to the ER for monitoring. That same good friend let us drop Charlie off at her house so that he wouldn't have to sit through an ER visit. It was about 5 in the afternoon. We stopped at a drug store to buy formula and a bottle, because I knew that Ephram couldn't survive on breastfeeding alone... and I didn't know how long we'd be at the hospital.
Just how high was my blood pressure? Yeah, the reading I took was 189/123. Honestly, I didn't know that the bottom number could go that high. By the time I got to the hospital and had been trying to relax myself, it had come down a little bit... to 160/115. Still really bad. They monitored me for an hour and then the doctor told me they'd have to administer medicine through an IV to lower it. They gave me two medications - one to treat the blood pressure and a diuretic to help me shed the water I'd gained from the surgery. He told me that taking the diuretic may affect my milk supply. I was upset, but I didn't have a choice. After five hours in the ER, I was released with a bp that was staying around 140/85 and two prescriptions to fill. It was late and our friend let Charlie stay the night, so we drove through a McDonald's to eat something... (we hadn't eaten since lunch,) and went home. Ephram received his first formula-only feeding that night as Andy did a good job insisting that I get a little bit of sleep. It was nice to sleep longer than 1 hour at a time.
Speaking of Andy, he had planned to take a four week parental leave from work. When Ephram came a week early, that time was extended to five weeks. What a blessing that he was there! He was amazing at taking care of Charlie, food, laundry, picking up... really at doing everything. I still don't know how he managed it because I know he was as tired as me!
The next day Ephram was one week old. And reinforcements arrived. My mom came from California to start her five day stay with us. I was so relieved!
Even though I spent the majority of the week in an hysterical state, I did still take the time to appreciate how cute my baby was. Here are some pictures from that first week.
