Introducing James Liounis Stringham:
A teeny tiny 6 lb 11 oz 19" baby born butt first at 0928 on June 10th, 2013.
And I am in Heaven getting to know him.
It is already June 17th, and I have not blogged yet, nor have I posted much on FB. So... you know I must have been busy. HONK!!!!! Nope... just too stinking tired. Too tired b/c the week was Hell... full of terribly scary, life-threatening situations that have left me low on blood, in pain, and just plain exhausted.
It all started Monday am when my PTT levels came back at 78 seconds, even though I held my Heparin shots, as instructed by my stupid MFM. This was twice as long as the it could be for a safe epidural so I had to have my surgery under general anesthesia. Surprisingly, I was not as scared as I had thought I would be. I even slept pretty well the night before... even though I can never sleep Christmas Eve!! Jason had to wait outside the OR until The baby was born. We knew this surgery in general had more risks for complications. We did not know, however, that I would be lucky enough to experience just about every one of them. Dr Livingston ran into THREE venous sinuses right on the uterus where she need to cut, in order to get Jimmy out. She said that she literally delivered him within two seconds of making the incision and that it is probably best Jason was not in the room b/c it was a very stressful atmosphere for a minute until she was able to clamp the veins and get the bleeding under control. That quickly, I lost appx. 1 liter of blood. Jason came in as soon as I was stable, and they were still bagging Jimmy b/c he was sleepy from the anesthesia and only had Apgars of 6 and 8. After he got to cut the cord, Jimmy peed and Jason knew right away...
HE HAS A HYPOSPADIA!!!!
How on Earth does this happen to both of my sons?!? I feel so guilty, like it's something I did or didn't do during that party of development. I've had a hard enough time dealing with my guilt with Jackson, this is going to tenfold it!
I remember choking on the ET tube some while they tried to wake me. I also remember how"rough" I thought they were being me, while massaging my uterus, rolling me off of boards, and transferring me back to my bed. I do remember hearing the Baby-was-just-born song as they whipped me back to my room, Jason and Jimmy following right behind. Everything is so blurry for the rest of the day. Since I didn't get the epidural, I was not numb at all from the waist down... who knew what a difference that would make!! I was in excruciating pain- I remember rating it an 8 or 9. I was so uncomfortable that I didn't even let the kids or visitors come until 3pm or so. When they came, it's a good thing Jason took lots of pictures, b/c my recollection is still blurry. I remember trying to get some video so that I could relive it later. I was excited to see how Jackson responded to Baby Jim Jim!! He was very interested in him but would not hold him. Jaylee and Jennibelle were pretty predictable. I remember that a tick hitch-hiked on the girls' bikes, and was found on my pillow... uuuggghhh.
I continued to be quite uncomfortable the following day, and Jimmy had a rough start to breast feeding. Dr Cooke explained that his jaw was very tight and had us press down on his tongue and massage his jaw throughout the first 24 hours. The lactation ladies came too to try to help. My uncomfortability was doubled when my Hemoglobin came back at 5.9 and my BP was 80/50. Time for my first blood transfusion... 2 units of A- packed RBCs and a bolus liter of LR. I was ecstatic that afternoon when my foley came out and I peed on my first try!!! My nurse instructed me to whistle while I peed, and it worked :)
Weds am I was feeling a little better with my pain more controlled, though still worse than any c-section I had ever had, and feeling a little less exhausted. I had a NICU nurse who was cross training and I had visitors that morning. But somewhere around noonish, out journey took us back to Hell for a visit... I suddenly had a very sharp and painful sensation down below that someone had violated me with a sword... not a plastic toy sword, a real pirate double edged 5 foot long sword. It made me scream. The pain slowly subsided over 2-3 minutes, but never fully left. We notified the NICU nurse, but she was unconcerned - not rudely, just inexperiencedly. By the time Mandy and Brian came to visit at 6, Jason and I had finished our fancy "congratulations" dinner of frozen Chicken Courdon Bleu and cheap steak,
and I had crawled back into bed b/c I was terribly uncomfortable. We were having nice light conversation when I realized that I had gone from no bleeding in the am, to a pretty constant flow at the time. Also, I noticed that through out the day, my uterus was moving further up into my upper abdomen. Luckily, Mandy insisted that I interrupt their report time and get a nurse to the bed side. Thank you - again- Mandy!!! (She insisted that we take Jackson to Hershey the night we almost lost him!) The nurses came at once, and again, I had a NICU cross-training nurse who was super sweet, but I could tell she did not know what to do. My pain then started to take off like a plane out for a leisurely site-seeing ride. But, my bleeding took off like a fighert jet going to take down a threat to the president. Jason got loud, I got tearful with fear, and the nurse got a more experienced nurse who tried to get the in house OB Dr, but she was in the ER with a pt. And THAT is when it hit me... I was now Mandy... laying in bed, bleeding out, with nurses clueless as to what to do. And then I was Mandy, but without the nurses, as they all seemed to scatter in fear. Eventually the experienced nurse came back with the NP, who gave absolutely no instructions. My uterus was +2 above my belly button, and my labia were disgustingly swollen. I got really nervous at that point... Jason got really nervous at that point. Luckily Dr Satoori then showed up... and was obviously pissed that nothing was done. The next hour was a whirlwind, I remember the BP machine kept beeping by my head 70/40 I think was my lowest, that goodness. I received a shot in my arm and leg, pills up my bum, IV fluids flowing, and many pills by mouth. And then it had to happen...
MANUAL EVACUATION OF THE 900cc of CLOTS FROM MY UTERUS.
And THAT is when I experienced a pain level of 10/10. I had watched Mandy undergo this, but she was practically dead at the time, so I'm not sure she experienced all of the pain. I screamed, I cried, I laid quietly, I begged God to let it end. I never wished for death though, like I had when Jaylee was literally stuck in the birth canal 10 1/2 years ago. I have too much that is precious this time around.
IT WAS AWFUL, and I could see it in Jason's face... it was scary and grosse and serious.
After I was stable, I go to "sleep" with interruptions all night long and was re-evaluated by Dr Livingston in the AM. She planned to take me back to the OR at noon for a DNC to remove the rest of the clots and a probable Hysterectomy, b/c it was thought that my uterus was randomly not contracting after three days of cooperating. By 1030, I was wrything in pain, unable to catch my breath, shimmying all over the bed, begging for pain meds. So, away we went... I woke to whispers "How did you find that?" "It's a good thing you went back in" "Weird!!". I was terrified... they had obviously found a life threatening tumor that was going to take my life in the next five hours! And I was in PAIN!!!!!!!!!!! They wheeled me back to the room and I told Jason NOT to tell me what they found/did. I didn't want to hear my life sentence. But then he smiled...
The DNC only retrieved another 200cc fo blood and clots, and my uterus was snug as a bug, so some explorative surgery found a grape-fruit sized hematoma on the lower side of my uteues, not attatched to my uterus though. My csection site had to be reopened, the hematoma evacuated and a JP drain left in place. Much better than a killer tumor, I suppose. But very, very painful. I found two more bags of Packed RBCs pumping through my IV again... At this point HALF of my blood was not mine. Creepy! My BP kept holding... it lingered around 80/50 for the next two days. but I couldn''t keep my O2 above 90% without 2 L O2... Jackson was very interested in the nasal canula!
Friday was a slow recovery day for me. Visitors came, but it was rough... exhaustion from five days of no sleep, lack of hemoglobin, pain, etc... I didn't think I'd ever get home. My catheter came out at 11 am and I back-stepped big time. I was in pure agony trying to get to the bathroom - it took my Dad and Jason just to get me there and then my stupid bladder wouldn't work, which in turn grew bigger with pee and, in turn pushed my uterus up above my belly button again. Just as my nurse got the order to recatheterize me, I was able to pee 800cc. Then we realized that I was given totally false info about my PCA and was barely getting any pain medication... there were times that I was medication free!!! So, a couple doses of IV Dilaudid later, I was completely drugged out but finally comfortable. By this point also, Jimmy's weight had bounced back from 6 lbs 1 oz to 6 lbs 10 ozs (thanks to him eating Similac since I was unable to feed) so he was technically discharged!!! Dr Cooke wants a renal ultra sound done in 1 month to check his uro system and then she'll send us to Sumfest for a surgical consult. Yippee! Jason was very frustrated that he wanted to walk Jimmy home to surprise everyone and our nurse wouldn't let Jimmy leave without a car set check. We all know Jason with rules... and that darn flannel...
Imagine my surprise when I woke Saturday determined to get home. My pain was managed so much better, my bladder was continuing to work on it's own, though it's just a trickle. And I had bowel sounds again. I was restarted on my blood thinners the night prior and my INR was already high, so I needed to hold them for a day. I was told my Hgb was 6.9 so I really had to take it easy and return right away for any bleeding or fever over 100.1 (Since I had been running low fevers the last few days, which Dr Livingston attributed to the transfusions). Jackson wore his going-home outfit which was way too big, and I wore an outfit my Mom bought me which was way too small. I was home by 1 pm. Over the week, I had forgotten how many stinking stairs we have!!! (And no bathrooms on the ground floor). It was heavenly to be home. Jack still refused to hold the baby, though he'd give him lots of hugs and pat his head a lot. He was very focussed on his brother, and the girls literally fought over who got to hold him - surprise!!! Jack joined me as I finally got to take a 2 hour nap... only to wake up unbelievably achy and feverish... and again scared. Ugh. (I think now that it was my milk finally really coming in). A delicious dinner from Mandy, and we were all ready for bed.
Jason's poor Father's Day... Jenni woke him at 6 am (after he had been up and down with the baby all night) with breakfast in bed, which consisted mostly of wheat. Then she woke Jaylee so they could give him his gift - 3D IMAX tickets to Man of Steel. Which, was no surprise to him, apparently. Then he and the girls cleaned my room while I was ordered to stay in bed. I was once again feeling a little achy, had a 99.5 fever and had trouble controlling my pain. I had to take two pain pills at a time to stay comfortable, so I napped most of the day away. Jason had fun with the kids and got stuff done around the house, but it is never the way I would do it and then I get yelled at if I try to do anything... I am beyond frustrated with this right now. Having to be taken care of , and taking care of someone for 1 week straight is NOT easy, and I can not wait to be back on my feet. I stayed up with Jimmy, who decided that midnight to 3:45 am was "play time".
Morning came early b/c Jason had to take me for 7 am blood work, then we had Jimmy's follow up appt (to keep an eye on his weight) at 9:3 0am. He was 6 lbs 10 ozs... Awesome!!!!!!!!! His kinda-sorta-a-little jaundice was gone too. Dr Cooke was very pleased and ordered our renal US for 1 month. I then had a OB appt for Dr Livingston to eyeball me and my wounds and review my labs. My Hgb had dropped to 6.2 which does not surprise me, but I declined a transfusion at this point. My INR was now 1.4 - too low so I was restarted on Lovenox AND Coumadin. I don't think this Coumadin and INR balancing act is going to be fun. I no longer had bowel sounds and since it had been nine days since they moved last, I had the priveledge of experiencing my first enema. Holy crap that was awful - discomfort, lots of bleeding from the pressure, abd pain afterwards and (again) exhausting. Jason got a nice nap while I waited and waited and waited to get comfortable again - but it gave me time to finally blog it all. My parents brought dinner and then the girls, Jason and Poppop were off to see their movie!! My Mom stayed to help me out.
Tomorrow brings blood work and another Docotor appt, but I've been so much more comfortable this evening, that I am excited for tomorrow and especially for Weds am, when Grandma, Grandpa and Audrey come for a week visit :) I had pix and videos from my Nikon, my cell phone, Jasons cell phone, Jaylee's cell phone and our I Pad. It will take a few days to get them all together and sorted. But, it will be FUN!!!!!
***Update June 27th... SLOWLY recovering. INR has been stable, so my lab appts went from every 2 days to weekly. I had my staples removed on the 25th and it was no big deal. My OB wants to see me 1 more time next week to peek at everything, since I am still bleeding a little bit. I'm hardly needing the Percocet now, but cont. on Iron since my Hgb is still only 7.6. I did try to drive to McDonalds today which was a mistake... who knew you used so many muscles to drive a car!
Jimmy weighed 7 lbs 5 ozs on the 25th and other then his hydrocele, everything looked great! He has his US on Monday. He sleeps in all the noisiness and craziness of this house. He eats every 3-4 hours and is more awake now during the day. he's cute! Jack still only held him once but LOVES to hug and kiss him ALL DAY LONG. Jennibelle enjoys holding him but really only if she is walking or doing the stairs with him... cool girl! Jaylee likes to hold him, esp if he's sleeping quietly!!
*** Update July 6th... still slow recovery. Post partum appt yest found that the increasing pain at c-section site is cellulitis. 7 days of abx will hopefully clear it up. No obvious fevers, but I'm still on Motrin every six hours, so I'll have to pay more attention. Coumadin was d/c'd and I will cont Lovenox shots for four more weeks and then I'll be off of blood thinners. SCARY and EXCITING at once. 9th, if it's over 10 I can stop Iron pills. HGb will be repeated on the Still barely bleeding - very watery, 1 pad a day. Jimmy is eating quite often right now, and obviously growing. His neck is so strong and he's awake a lot more everyday now. His eyes are so dark that they are almost creepy looking.
Weds am I was feeling a little better with my pain more controlled, though still worse than any c-section I had ever had, and feeling a little less exhausted. I had a NICU nurse who was cross training and I had visitors that morning. But somewhere around noonish, out journey took us back to Hell for a visit... I suddenly had a very sharp and painful sensation down below that someone had violated me with a sword... not a plastic toy sword, a real pirate double edged 5 foot long sword. It made me scream. The pain slowly subsided over 2-3 minutes, but never fully left. We notified the NICU nurse, but she was unconcerned - not rudely, just inexperiencedly. By the time Mandy and Brian came to visit at 6, Jason and I had finished our fancy "congratulations" dinner of frozen Chicken Courdon Bleu and cheap steak,
and I had crawled back into bed b/c I was terribly uncomfortable. We were having nice light conversation when I realized that I had gone from no bleeding in the am, to a pretty constant flow at the time. Also, I noticed that through out the day, my uterus was moving further up into my upper abdomen. Luckily, Mandy insisted that I interrupt their report time and get a nurse to the bed side. Thank you - again- Mandy!!! (She insisted that we take Jackson to Hershey the night we almost lost him!) The nurses came at once, and again, I had a NICU cross-training nurse who was super sweet, but I could tell she did not know what to do. My pain then started to take off like a plane out for a leisurely site-seeing ride. But, my bleeding took off like a fighert jet going to take down a threat to the president. Jason got loud, I got tearful with fear, and the nurse got a more experienced nurse who tried to get the in house OB Dr, but she was in the ER with a pt. And THAT is when it hit me... I was now Mandy... laying in bed, bleeding out, with nurses clueless as to what to do. And then I was Mandy, but without the nurses, as they all seemed to scatter in fear. Eventually the experienced nurse came back with the NP, who gave absolutely no instructions. My uterus was +2 above my belly button, and my labia were disgustingly swollen. I got really nervous at that point... Jason got really nervous at that point. Luckily Dr Satoori then showed up... and was obviously pissed that nothing was done. The next hour was a whirlwind, I remember the BP machine kept beeping by my head 70/40 I think was my lowest, that goodness. I received a shot in my arm and leg, pills up my bum, IV fluids flowing, and many pills by mouth. And then it had to happen...
MANUAL EVACUATION OF THE 900cc of CLOTS FROM MY UTERUS.
And THAT is when I experienced a pain level of 10/10. I had watched Mandy undergo this, but she was practically dead at the time, so I'm not sure she experienced all of the pain. I screamed, I cried, I laid quietly, I begged God to let it end. I never wished for death though, like I had when Jaylee was literally stuck in the birth canal 10 1/2 years ago. I have too much that is precious this time around.
IT WAS AWFUL, and I could see it in Jason's face... it was scary and grosse and serious.
After I was stable, I go to "sleep" with interruptions all night long and was re-evaluated by Dr Livingston in the AM. She planned to take me back to the OR at noon for a DNC to remove the rest of the clots and a probable Hysterectomy, b/c it was thought that my uterus was randomly not contracting after three days of cooperating. By 1030, I was wrything in pain, unable to catch my breath, shimmying all over the bed, begging for pain meds. So, away we went... I woke to whispers "How did you find that?" "It's a good thing you went back in" "Weird!!". I was terrified... they had obviously found a life threatening tumor that was going to take my life in the next five hours! And I was in PAIN!!!!!!!!!!! They wheeled me back to the room and I told Jason NOT to tell me what they found/did. I didn't want to hear my life sentence. But then he smiled...
The DNC only retrieved another 200cc fo blood and clots, and my uterus was snug as a bug, so some explorative surgery found a grape-fruit sized hematoma on the lower side of my uteues, not attatched to my uterus though. My csection site had to be reopened, the hematoma evacuated and a JP drain left in place. Much better than a killer tumor, I suppose. But very, very painful. I found two more bags of Packed RBCs pumping through my IV again... At this point HALF of my blood was not mine. Creepy! My BP kept holding... it lingered around 80/50 for the next two days. but I couldn''t keep my O2 above 90% without 2 L O2... Jackson was very interested in the nasal canula!
Friday was a slow recovery day for me. Visitors came, but it was rough... exhaustion from five days of no sleep, lack of hemoglobin, pain, etc... I didn't think I'd ever get home. My catheter came out at 11 am and I back-stepped big time. I was in pure agony trying to get to the bathroom - it took my Dad and Jason just to get me there and then my stupid bladder wouldn't work, which in turn grew bigger with pee and, in turn pushed my uterus up above my belly button again. Just as my nurse got the order to recatheterize me, I was able to pee 800cc. Then we realized that I was given totally false info about my PCA and was barely getting any pain medication... there were times that I was medication free!!! So, a couple doses of IV Dilaudid later, I was completely drugged out but finally comfortable. By this point also, Jimmy's weight had bounced back from 6 lbs 1 oz to 6 lbs 10 ozs (thanks to him eating Similac since I was unable to feed) so he was technically discharged!!! Dr Cooke wants a renal ultra sound done in 1 month to check his uro system and then she'll send us to Sumfest for a surgical consult. Yippee! Jason was very frustrated that he wanted to walk Jimmy home to surprise everyone and our nurse wouldn't let Jimmy leave without a car set check. We all know Jason with rules... and that darn flannel...
Imagine my surprise when I woke Saturday determined to get home. My pain was managed so much better, my bladder was continuing to work on it's own, though it's just a trickle. And I had bowel sounds again. I was restarted on my blood thinners the night prior and my INR was already high, so I needed to hold them for a day. I was told my Hgb was 6.9 so I really had to take it easy and return right away for any bleeding or fever over 100.1 (Since I had been running low fevers the last few days, which Dr Livingston attributed to the transfusions). Jackson wore his going-home outfit which was way too big, and I wore an outfit my Mom bought me which was way too small. I was home by 1 pm. Over the week, I had forgotten how many stinking stairs we have!!! (And no bathrooms on the ground floor). It was heavenly to be home. Jack still refused to hold the baby, though he'd give him lots of hugs and pat his head a lot. He was very focussed on his brother, and the girls literally fought over who got to hold him - surprise!!! Jack joined me as I finally got to take a 2 hour nap... only to wake up unbelievably achy and feverish... and again scared. Ugh. (I think now that it was my milk finally really coming in). A delicious dinner from Mandy, and we were all ready for bed.
Jason's poor Father's Day... Jenni woke him at 6 am (after he had been up and down with the baby all night) with breakfast in bed, which consisted mostly of wheat. Then she woke Jaylee so they could give him his gift - 3D IMAX tickets to Man of Steel. Which, was no surprise to him, apparently. Then he and the girls cleaned my room while I was ordered to stay in bed. I was once again feeling a little achy, had a 99.5 fever and had trouble controlling my pain. I had to take two pain pills at a time to stay comfortable, so I napped most of the day away. Jason had fun with the kids and got stuff done around the house, but it is never the way I would do it and then I get yelled at if I try to do anything... I am beyond frustrated with this right now. Having to be taken care of , and taking care of someone for 1 week straight is NOT easy, and I can not wait to be back on my feet. I stayed up with Jimmy, who decided that midnight to 3:45 am was "play time".
Morning came early b/c Jason had to take me for 7 am blood work, then we had Jimmy's follow up appt (to keep an eye on his weight) at 9:3 0am. He was 6 lbs 10 ozs... Awesome!!!!!!!!! His kinda-sorta-a-little jaundice was gone too. Dr Cooke was very pleased and ordered our renal US for 1 month. I then had a OB appt for Dr Livingston to eyeball me and my wounds and review my labs. My Hgb had dropped to 6.2 which does not surprise me, but I declined a transfusion at this point. My INR was now 1.4 - too low so I was restarted on Lovenox AND Coumadin. I don't think this Coumadin and INR balancing act is going to be fun. I no longer had bowel sounds and since it had been nine days since they moved last, I had the priveledge of experiencing my first enema. Holy crap that was awful - discomfort, lots of bleeding from the pressure, abd pain afterwards and (again) exhausting. Jason got a nice nap while I waited and waited and waited to get comfortable again - but it gave me time to finally blog it all. My parents brought dinner and then the girls, Jason and Poppop were off to see their movie!! My Mom stayed to help me out.
Tomorrow brings blood work and another Docotor appt, but I've been so much more comfortable this evening, that I am excited for tomorrow and especially for Weds am, when Grandma, Grandpa and Audrey come for a week visit :) I had pix and videos from my Nikon, my cell phone, Jasons cell phone, Jaylee's cell phone and our I Pad. It will take a few days to get them all together and sorted. But, it will be FUN!!!!!
***Update June 27th... SLOWLY recovering. INR has been stable, so my lab appts went from every 2 days to weekly. I had my staples removed on the 25th and it was no big deal. My OB wants to see me 1 more time next week to peek at everything, since I am still bleeding a little bit. I'm hardly needing the Percocet now, but cont. on Iron since my Hgb is still only 7.6. I did try to drive to McDonalds today which was a mistake... who knew you used so many muscles to drive a car!
Jimmy weighed 7 lbs 5 ozs on the 25th and other then his hydrocele, everything looked great! He has his US on Monday. He sleeps in all the noisiness and craziness of this house. He eats every 3-4 hours and is more awake now during the day. he's cute! Jack still only held him once but LOVES to hug and kiss him ALL DAY LONG. Jennibelle enjoys holding him but really only if she is walking or doing the stairs with him... cool girl! Jaylee likes to hold him, esp if he's sleeping quietly!!
*** Update July 6th... still slow recovery. Post partum appt yest found that the increasing pain at c-section site is cellulitis. 7 days of abx will hopefully clear it up. No obvious fevers, but I'm still on Motrin every six hours, so I'll have to pay more attention. Coumadin was d/c'd and I will cont Lovenox shots for four more weeks and then I'll be off of blood thinners. SCARY and EXCITING at once. 9th, if it's over 10 I can stop Iron pills. HGb will be repeated on the Still barely bleeding - very watery, 1 pad a day. Jimmy is eating quite often right now, and obviously growing. His neck is so strong and he's awake a lot more everyday now. His eyes are so dark that they are almost creepy looking.
2 comments:
I cannot imagine the Hell you went through. I am so glad that you are now doing okay and are home with the family. Baby Jim Jim is just perfect! You are a very strong woman and I am so impressed with your strength and determination. I am sorry that you went through so much and am continuing to pray that you heal quickly and completely. Feel free to post as many pictures and videos as you want. We never get sick of them. Hugs to you all!!!
My goodness! Reading this again, I realize how close we came to losing you! I felt panicky then, but this really scared me again! You are amazingly strong!
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