Recovery was AMAZINGLY BETTER than I expected. I was bleeding, but not much. I was sore, but could comfortably sit. I wasn’t sick to my stomach anymore. My baby was eating and sleeping well. Our company was okay with me eating, sleeping, etc on my own schedule. My husband is amazing and willing to cook, clean, change diapers, chauffeur, etc. without complaint.
Determined to stay on the move and not get stiff or stay bed bound, I insisted on getting out of the house each day our first week home: Day 1 – Dollar General, Rite Aide, mom’s house, brother’s house, wrapping up at Armando’s for dinner. Day 2 – Church. Day 3 – Baby doctor appointment, Kmart, mom’s house. Day 3 – Mom’s work, my work, Daniel’s work. We took advantage of this Valentine’s Day to show off our newest LOVE. Day 4 – This momma started going down hill and felt flu ridden all day. Around lunch I checked my temp and had a fever of 100.4, which per release paperwork meant head to the doctor. I called my OB, who was out of town, and got in to see someone the following day. Mastitis, common for mommies breastfeeding, was the culprit of my fever. The shocker was high blood pressure for the first time in my life it was high at 160/100. A warning sign of post partum pre-eclampsia. In short it has the same side effects of pre-eclampsia but there is no cure, they can only treat the rising side effects with medications. So I was placed on a blood pressure medication and limited activity (preferably not leaving the house at the risk of driving) for the upcoming weeks. The next week’s follow up proved it had lowered but was still not within safe ranges so I continue to monitor it weekly. No fun for a momma already recovering from a stressful birth. The high blood pressure continued to cause dizzy and lightheaded feelings for the next week but now this momma appears to be on the mend.
In the weeks since Maggie Grace’s birth, we have had several fun outings with my mom, lots of family visiting, and an exciting time learning that this new life definitely controls mine for the moment. Daniel’s mom, Becky, and my mom greeted us our first day home. We also stopped by my paternal grandmother’s on the way home from the hospital. The next day brought our friend and photographer to mom’s for some baby cousin pics. The following weekend brought my maternal grandparents, as well as Daniel’s dad and stepmom. The next week brought my aunt, uncle, cousin, and her daughter from Atlanta. That weekend brought Daniel’s mom, stepdad, and maternal grandparents. We visited an elderly lady from church and her daughter the following week, followed by lots of church visitors at our church shower last Sunday.
We’ve been visiting consignment sales, retail stores, and craft stores since Maggie Grace’s birth. Everyone ooh’s and ahh’s at Maggie Grace and her sweet cousin Parker since Nanny, my mom, has been watching him since the day after president’s day when Maggie was only a week old. Since neither Jamie, Parker’s momma, nor I knew the definite gender of our babies (although we relied on mother’s intuition alone) we were lacking gender specific clothes. Sure we had collected a few things in each size but neither of us had a wardrobe for our little ones. Jamie was gifted some helpful hand-me-downs but I relied heavily on consignment for Maggie Grace’s clothing, until our church shower last week when we were very blessed. Also we visited craft stores for headbands and hairbows to accessorize our little girl.
Maggie Grace was a predictable baby, at least at first. She ate at 8, 12, 4 for the first few weeks and fed an hour at a time giving me three hours to sleep, play, work in between. Then she started throwing curveballs: sleeping seven hours without feeding, feeding nonstop for hours on end, staying awake all day then sleeping the next few, etc. After the time change things went back to normal for a couple of days eating then at 7, 11, 3 but the past few days have been crazy again. She definitely controls this momma’s schedule, at least for the next four weeks. I was blessed to take 9 weeks off from work to get used to life with our little one.
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