I love Isla's face in the first shot here. M was ready to get down.
Back to the hospital experience I started detailing earlier ... I was moved into my room and started noticing I had more pain this time around. After my c-section with M I had the epidural for a day after to deliver pain medication. This time the anesthesiologist wanted to keep me on a lower dose considering how I responded in surgery, so he gave me a button that I could push when/if I needed a little more relief. I did push the button a couple of times but never noticed a difference, so I figured, whatever, I can deal with this. I thought it hurt a little more because I wasn't getting the amount I had last time, but figured I was completely off the epidural pretty quickly last time so I could certainly manage until the next day.
They also offered me a pain pill about every 6 hours in addition to the epidural and I took it, also not really noticing much of a difference.
About this time I began having a lot of tension in my neck but figured I'd just strained it while holding that hunched over position (so much harder to do with an enormous belly) for over 10 minutes while the anesthesiologist tried to place my epidural. The nurse said the pain pill would likely help relieve this as well, so I continued to take it.
As the day wore on my neck got worse and I started to develop a mild headache. By midnight that night I could hardly move my head and couldn't bear it anymore. I called the nurse and said I needed to speak to a doctor because something wasn't right. My neck was actually hurting more than the incision site! After some investigation we realized my epidural wasn't in. Apparently it had been inadvertently removed when I was moved to my bed a couple hours after surgery. It all made sense now. That's why it hurt more, why the button didn't make a difference and why the pill didn't seem to either - it was my only pain medication!
After several unsuccessful attempts the head nurse finally got ahold of someone in anesthesiology that agreed to come up and see me after his last procedure. It turns out it was the same doc I had about 13 hours earlier. He confirmed the epidural wasn't in, but I didn't really care at that point, I just wanted to know what was going on with my neck. He suspected I might have a spinal headache, but wasn't sure as typically the headache was much more severe than what I was experiencing at that time. But, he decided I should be treated as if it was a spinal headache.
The nurses wrapped my abdomen very tightly and I was told to lie flat unless I needed to go to the bathroom. I had cold and hot packs for my neck. I don't know the correct terminology here, but unlike a spinal tap an epidural is not suppose to puncture the spinal column (or what protects it?). If a mistake is made and it is accidentally punctured, it will typically result in a spinal headache as the spinal fluid leaks out causing the brain to sag (when one sits or stands) due to the change in pressure. Most spinal headaches resolve on their own in 3-10 days. If not they could do a procedure where they inject some of my blood into the original epidural site hoping it will "cork" the puncture when it clots/scabs over the hole which would then restore the correct pressure of spinal fluid to the brain and almost immediately relieve the horrible headache.
By the time I checked out of the hospital 2 & 1/2 days later, the headache was much worse and by the next morning the awful headache anyone who has experienced this describes as the WORST headache they've EVER had was upon me. If I was laying flat I was reasonably comfortable. But as soon as I started to sit up my head would throb uncontrollably. I was literally crawling to the bathroom. I came home Saturday and basically stayed in bed until I woke up Tuesday morning. You can imagine my elation upon realizing early that morning that it had disappeared.
Mike basically did everything until I was better except for when he'd bring Isla to me to nurse. I wasn't able to nurse Maryn so my introduction to nursing was side lying and being unable to move my neck to see her. It was miserable.
It's so nice to be able to enjoy time with the girls now.
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