PP Update! 12/7/14-1/30/15 (Also a PSA on Potty time)

[unbakedpegga]

Hello ladies! I've been meaning to give an update for a while now. Let's see, where to begin.

I forgot to mention in my Birth Story post that I ended up getting 2 small tears that needed stitches. One happened to be near my urethra. I'm not sure if this was a factor in what happened almost a month later or not, but I want to give you guys a heads up.

When I was still in the hospital, I noticed I couldn't tell when I had to use the bathroom. The nurses kept telling me it was normal. I went to take a shower the next day and as soon as I turned the water on (still had my clothes on) I started to pee myself. I freaked out trying to rush taking my clothes off. I called for hubby to get me clean clothes and apologized continuously about the mess (which he ended up cleaning up. That sweet man.) I was so embarrassed. The nurses still told me it was normal.

Well, I ended up peeing myself a couple more times at home, randomly. Then on December 27th I started to feel off. I was extremely light-headed and cold. I had hubby drive us home from Christmas at my mom's. If you really knew me, you'd know I HATE hubby driving me anywhere. Well, the light-headedness and chills continued along with fever, sweats and slight rapid heartbeat. I kept taking tylenol and drinking water, thinking it was just the flu that I had to shake off. It went away 2 days later. I was still a little sweaty, but it didn't bother me. New Years came and went. January 2nd around 5 p.m. I couldn't handle the symptoms anymore. I knew something was wrong and I needed to get checked out. So hubby drove me to the Urgent Care Clinic. They checked my blood pressure and pulse rate and the nurse/doc/whatever told me I needed to go to the ER and get an IV put in me and that she can't help me. My blood pressure was low, but my pulse was 160. She thought it may be the flu with my symptoms, but she wasn't positive.

So to the ER I go, with Hubby freaking out and an almost 1 month old. We waited in the waiting room for almost 2 hours because of how busy it was. By the time they got me in and hooked me up, my pulse was a little slower, but too high and my blood pressure was still low. I also had a fever of 102. Loooong story short, I had a bladder turned kidney infection. Because my body isn't telling me I need to go to the bathroom until it's just about too late, it caused a build up that reached my kidney. I had 2 IV doses and a round of antibiotics, slept on and off, fed my baby a few times, had to get help to walk to the bathroom a few times, pulse and blood pressure constantly checked and 6 hours later when my pulse was at an ok range, I was sent home with antibiotics that taste absolutely dreadful.

So now 1 hour after I drink anything, I make myself go potty. My body is barely telling me when I kinda have to go. I still peed myself a couple times (damn sneezes), but my infection is finally gone. (Far as I know, I freak anytime my back hurts thinking it's my kidney, or anytime I start sweating.) I talked with my doctor about this and she said normally after birth, women just trickle a little. For my body to not tell me when I need to go is just not normal. She said next time I get an infection to see a eurologist. (Or whatever it is called).

So ladies, PLEASE make sure you use the bathroom a lot if you can't tell you gotta go after birth. (On a side note, I ended up passing my first ever kidney stone. It was a massive one. Ugh.)

Ooookay, now on to the good stuff. When I first got pregnant, I weighed 269 lbs. By the time I gave birth, I weighed around 255 lbs. I just kept mainly losing weight during the pregnancy. (Doctor said it was fine as long as the baby was growing as she should.) Now, almost 2 months later, I weigh 224 lbs. I weigh less than I did when hubby and I first started dating and he constantly compliments how I look. Everyone has noticed. (Sorry I didn't think to get a before and after picture.) All I have done is breastfeed. I've been eating too much Burger King since her birth. (Hubby doesn't cook me food, ever.) I plan to start exercising once the Spring is here. My goal is to get down to at least 190 lbs. I've been over 200 lbs since 2005 and I'm sick of it.

Baby Girl (Evangeline) likes our swing. We are getting her a bouncer (Which should be here soon and I hope she enjoys) so I can take a shower without waiting for hubby to be awake on his day off. She is so smiley now and loves looking at lights and listening to whatever sound you make. I'm teaching her to blow kisses (without using hands) and to High-Five. She's done it a few times! She can roll on her side sometimes on the bed and she has almost full neck control. Last time she was weighed a couple weeks ago, she was 8 lbs 2 oz (7 lbs 8 oz at birth). She is getting to be a chunky monkey.

I am in love with her eyes and her smile. The top half of her head looks like Hubby and the bottom half looks like me. The nose is equal. Now to show you guys my favorite pictures!!

She refused to go to sleep

She has my little dimples

SANTA!!!

Her eyes

"Pretty Girl"

Looking over Daddy's shoulder

Ball of cuteness

3 of us

Ooooh

Monkey

Gummy Smile

OMG her eyes

Silent laugh

Another smile

Female Baby John Goodman? Lol

Hello

Cuteness

Cracks me up

Mad at me for being slow with the Mama Juice

Dress like Mommmy's

Pose for Papa's Birthday

 

[jerzy12]

@unbakedpegga Call the hospital and ask to speak to a patient rep. Tell them that you complained about symptoms and the nurses told you it was normal. As a result, you ended up with a massive kidney and bladder infection and an ER visit later. They need to know that their nurses aren't checking up on possibly dangerous symptoms and discharging patients instead.

But I'm glad you're doing better now. Did your doctor say you would eventually get back the sensation of "I have to pee"? Or is that just...permanently gone?

 

[mosherjosh]

@jerzy12 Hold up. Don't bash on the nurses. OP walked around for days with infection symptoms she ignored. Sure it is normal for there to be slight bladder issues after delivery. It was the urinary retention that caused the problem - symptoms of which should have been addressed by OP's OB at her postpartum appointments.

 

[jerzy12]

@mosherjosh

Hold up. Don't bash on the nurses.

I'm not trying to bash the nurses. What I am saying was that there was a disregard for a patient's symptoms and no follow up done to see if there was an underlying issue. Telling someone "Oh you're fine" when there's clearly something not right going on (seriously, if you can't tell when you're about to pee and are full on peeing yourself, not just a sneeze-pee or trickle or whatever, there is SOMETHING WRONG) and then discharging that person after disregarding their concerns is an issue. At the very least, it needs to be brought to the attention of the hospital staff that this happened so that they're aware and can make some changes so that it doesn't happen to another patient.

OP walked around for days with infection symptoms she ignored.

Yes, but after the hospital staff told her it was nothing and that she shouldn't be concerned. If you've never experienced those symptoms and someone told you it was a normal part of the process, you probably wouldn't question it either. Also, she stated later that the fever, etc. were mimicking the flu, so that's what she thought she had. She had no other reason to think it was something other than what it was because she was told nothing was wrong with her.

Think of it this way: you go to your doctor and tell them you're experiencing extreme or debilitating pain in your head. Your doctor tells you it's just a normal headache and sends you home with some tylenol. You, not being an expert, may not question that diagnosis, but it turns out later that...oh, I dunno, you have a tumor in your brain that was causing it. If the doctor had done due diligence and ran some tests, they would have found that out.

It was the urinary retention that caused the problem - symptoms of which should have been addressed by OP's OB at her postpartum appointments.

As far as I know (and I could be wrong about this, so someone correct me if I am), you only get one postpartum appointment after being released from the hospital and that's at 6 weeks. OP mentioned that all this happened over the course of a month, so she wouldn't have been to her postpartum appointment yet. Unless you're talking about while she was still in the hospital. If that's the case, then it's possible that after getting the brush-off from the nurses as it being normal, she may not have brought it up to her doctor. After all, you see a heck of a lot more nurses than you do doctors while in the hospital.

Someone else posted a while back (either here on on BB, I can't remember which) about being in the hospital (I can't remember if this was before or after delivering her baby) and telling her nurses she couldn't pee. Like, at all. The nurses just told her that it was normal and she was fine. A full 24 hours passed and she was in excruciating pain. One nurse came on shift and after seeing how much pain she was in decided to call in a doctor to run some tests. They discovered that her urethra was blocked (something to that effect, anyway). They ended up inserting a catheter and it turned out that the reason for the excruciating pain was because her bladder was full to (quite literally) bursting. All that pain and agony and for what? Because someone told her it was normal and decided not to check and make sure instead?

 

[bless]

@unbakedpegga Omg those eyes! She is just so sweet! Congratulations on making such a beautiful wee girl and on your weight loss too, those numbers are awesome sorry to hear about the infection and kidney stone though, there's something you really don't need while trying to take care of a newborn

 

[xtianjax]

@unbakedpegga Geez that is one cute baby! Glad you're doing better and they caught it before it became more serious. And congrats on that weight loss! That is quite an accomplishment.

 

[martina2510]

@unbakedpegga She is so cute!! Thanks for the update!

 

[kevincongdon]

@unbakedpegga She's beautiful!!