An exciting day, from pre-dawn to well past dusk

Yesterday was full of excitement, both good and not-so. I'll start at the beginning of the day instead of good news/bad news.

Monday night Scott and I went to the hospital to visit and feed the babies. I was having a lot of pain and soreness in my back and abs, which is nothing new, my back hurts every night. By the time we left, I was leaned back in the seat of the car and just could not get comfortable. I took some pain medicine and took a bath trying to get comfortable, though I was ok enough to fiddle around the house getting baby things ready and went to bed around 11:30.

At 1 I woke up in a more pain. It was almost time to get up and pump anyway, so I did that and tried to go back to sleep. I never could get comfortable and the pain was steadily getting worse and was obviously in my stomach area. I was thinking bad reflux/heartburn or an ulcer so I was popping Tums, as well as taking another dose of another pain medicine. At 3 it was so bad that I was doubled over and finally called my mom (oh, the advantages of having a doctor in the family!). She came over and we talked about the pain, etc and both decided it sounded like my gallbladder. So off to the ER we went.

We were right, of course. I have "multiple gallstones" though my gallbladder is "not acutely inflamed". The recommendation is that I have it removed, sooner rather than later, because I "will continue to have attacks". Since I just had major surgery and already had an appt with my OB scheduled, I talked with her about it and she said that yes, I could go ahead and do it now, but that most surgeons would tell me to wait 6 weeks. We're thinking that if I can get it done ASAP, then maybe I can be recovered before the babies come home.

So, I'm in the process (as if I didn't have enough going on) of finding a surgeon and getting ANOTHER appt for that consultation. BTW, the pain stopped while I was in the ER and I'm fine now. I probably passed a stone.

When it rains, it pours.

Well, after my trip to the ER and the various drugs they gave me for pain, nausea, etc, I called the NICU to a) tell them I would not be in at 11 for feedings because I would be sleeping, and b) was my breastmilk going to be safe after those meds or should I "pump and dump" a couple of times. Somehow, word got around that I was extremely ill, running high fever, etc and they put a hold on Emily's release from the hospital. So when I arrived at 3 (after my OB appt) they said she wasn't going home. Um, WHAT!?! But I told them about the ER trip, that I DID NOT have fever and was obviously feeling fine, so they put a rush job on processing everything and we were walking out the door with her about 4.

Everyone is so excited that she is home. We've had to really hold off on holdings and visits, etc so that she can get rest after the excitement of getting home (she was awake most of the couple of hours between feedings while we changed her clothes, loaded her in the car, etc).

Then things got a little hairy. Her first feeding at home was ok, but then next her temp was very low and she would not eat. So I sat up with her on my chest for a couple of hours trying to get her warm. Then she had only a so-so feeding so, of course, we're freaking out because she's not holding her temp OR eating, both of which were criteria for her to leave the hospital in the first place. At 2 am she finally had a good feeding and a good temp and since then all has been well. We agreed on a feeding schedule that has me up during the night, so that by the time I feed and change her, make/warm bottles, pump, clean pump stuff, etc, I get to sleep about 1/5-2 hours before the next feeding. Kinda hard to get good sleep that way.

Just wait til we have 3 at home :o