James was born on May 4th (at 34 weeks 6 days). He is healthy but little. 5 lbs 7 oz. He had a check up today. He is now 6 lbs 5 oz. Dr. said he is growing faster than the rate they hope for.
I had a CT scan the on May 5 to see what the lump in my stomach was (and the source of all my pain). Turns out that I had a perforation in my small bowel (due to undiagnosed Crohn's Disease). The perforation caused an abscess that was growing through my abdomen wall.
May 6th was surgery prep day. Basically it was a colonosocpy type prep (with a lot of crying on my part). James is discharged from hospital with Todd.
May 7th was my surgery. They removed the abscess and a foot of my small intestine (called bowel resection).
May 8th -17th - surgery recovery in the hospital. The surgeon says I have no idea how sick I was. I am sure he is right; however, I am sure I did not enjoy the recovery. I was so sick my colon would not "wake up." They had hoped it would happen right away; mine took 7 days. I ended up spending most of the time not allowed anything by mouth. Finally I had an NG tube and pit lines (for IV feeding) and a blood transfusion. This time period also included mountains of vomiting, diarrhea, blood work, cultures, samples, and other gross stuff.
May 18th - I go home after a half day of solid food.
Since May 18th I have been trying to recover. I am eating better. I am gaining some strength, although stairs are still beyond my ability. It is amazing how much energy putting clothes on takes. I cry easily (or more easily than usual). My colon that wouldn't wake up now won't slow down. The surgeon said 6 to 8 weeks recovery. Today is week 3. The gastro doctor told me to expect all the recovery to take on the longer side because I was so sick for so long, had the baby, and then had the surgery (and I went into the surgery almost needing a blood transfusion due to low iron).
Hopefully I will feel well enough to post pictures of James soon.
Erik has been such a good boy and big brother through all of this. God sent Todd's mom to stay with us just days before James was born. She has been so wonderful. My mom was so wonderful staying with me almost round the clock the entire time I was at the hospital. Todd has been amazing taking care of Erik and James. The man is a super dad!
1 comment:
I had goosebumps just reading your post. Thanks for the update. I continue to pray for you and so much has happened. I especially pray that you get to enjoy baby James. It's wonderful how Todd handled things and he did a great job letting us know how things were going. Love ya, girl.
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