Friday, December 31, 2010

The best and worst of 2010

I know it’s been over a month since I posted, but I have some real good reasons. First of all, I'll start with the best thing that happened this year. I gave birth to our newest bundle of joy. Meet Joseph, born on November 19th.

He is now 6 weeks old today. Wow, how time goes by. He’s already getting the chubby cheeks, showing us a peek of his smile, and cooing more each day. He actually had his first coo around 3 weeks of age. Especially this past week, we noticed an increase of interaction with us. Looking at us with more of a meaning. I hope you can understand what I’m trying to say. It just seems that a light bulb went off in his brain.

Addy is slowly adjusting to the new addition. At first she was possessive of him, then as the days went by, she would act out when she didn’t get her way. She would attempt to hit him or run over to the Christmas tree and pull the bulbs off and throw them on the floor, hence the tree looks like this:

We had to move the glass bulbs up the tree or completely off the tree. So, just your normal 2 year old behavior.

Other reason, for not posting: my health. Remember me talking about my knee. I finally had surgery on it. The IV medication was not taking care of the infection. Therefore off to the OR to clean out the infection. I have a nice scar down the middle of my knee with dots on each side for the scar from the 14 stitches. Yet, before I was able to address the knee, I had a very unexpected event happen. This how it went down.

It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Joseph was only 8 days old, we had our family and Joe’s newborn pictures taken earlier that day. We decided to decorate our Christmas tree after dinner. Matt was in the basement getting the lights, I had just finished feeding Joe, when I stood up, I felt like I had just peed my pants. I remember saying out loud with my 2 year old standing next to me, “ Seriously, I just wet myself?” I yelled for Matt at that moment and started towards the bathroom. As I moved forward, more of the wetting yourself feeling continued. As I looked down to the floor under me, I could not believe my eyes, I was bleeding. As I continued to walk, there was more blood. Finally made into the tub and with each movement, the bleeding would not stop. I was at the point where I didn’t want to move an inch, for the fear of losing more blood. Matt called 911 and as we waited for the EMTs, Addy keeping saying, “Mommy has an owie.” Remembering those 10-15 minutes until help arrived, is heart breaking. Matt holding Joe and making phone calls, Addy running in and out of the bathroom and me telling her that her mommy is okay.

Finally the EMT arrived and took me to the local hospital. It was there they determined that I was hemorrhaging due to left over placenta and a D & C had to be performed. Because of my blood type, B-, It was going to take time for the hospital to receive any blood to transfusion me. They told me that if necessary, they would transfuse the universal type. But was only if I became unstable. I was conscious and my blood pressure was actually okay, is was more hypertensive than hypotensive, which is on the good side of things. I was wheeled to the OR room. I remember being put on the operating table. I remember I was shake vigorously, like I was freezing. I remember the ER doc telling me or maybe to staff that we have to transfuse the “only if in an emergency” blood. I remember them telling me they are going to give me something to relax and them saying that the versed was given. The next thing I remember is waking up looking at a clock reading 2:00, it’s daylight, and hearing voices next to me. Someone told me that I was at a different hospital, a metro city hospital. I had to look out the window to confirm what was being told to me. And sure enough, I recognized the skyline of the city. I had been transferred in the middle of the night.

So this what was told to me on what happened after I was put to sleep for surgery. Apparently, the surgery went well, the surgeon felt he got the rest of the contents left in my uterus, tons of blood clots and some left over placenta. When I was in recovery, they tried to take the breathing tube out, but I didn’t tolerating it. They estimated I loss about 6 units of blood overall and that I was starting to go into DIC. “Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a rare, life-threatening condition that prevents a person's blood from clotting normally. It may cause excessive clotting (thrombosis) or bleeding (hemorrhage) throughout the body and lead to shock, organ failure, and death. In DIC, the body's natural ability to regulate blood clotting does not function properly. This causes the blood's clotting cells (platelets) to clump together and clog small blood vessels throughout the body. This excessive clotting damages organs, destroys blood cells, and depletes the supply of platelets and other clotting factors so that the blood is no longer able to clot normally. This often causes widespread bleeding, both internally and externally." From WebMD (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/disseminated-intravascular-coagulation-dic-topic-overview)

This meant I received many units of blood, other blood products, blood thinners to help prevent form more clots forming, and heavy doses of antibiotics. Thankfully, with help of many prayers from family & friends, the skillful healthcare professionals, and the Lord above, I came out of the ordeal. Some of nurses were saying it was a miracle I made it. I don’t remember the majority that went on. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I gave my family & friends a BIG scare that weekend. My knee was taken care of two days after the bleeding incident. I spent a total of 7 days away from my kids. Unable to hold, kiss, cuddle my two beautiful bundles of joy was the hardest and heartbreaking I had to endure those 7 days. To sum it up, this was the worst part of 2010.

2011 should be my year, right? I hope as the year progresses, I'll be able to keep up this blog on a regular basis. I just ned to find that routine that has yet to show it's face. In time, I guess.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!