Category: Kiddos

Mon., Mar. 2nd – I woke up feeling better physically, even though I was still worried about my incision becoming infected. I felt really guilty about Mario getting to work late, and although he did get a little chewed up about it, he didn’t hold it against me. I had my post-natal follow-up with Dr. C. that day and since I was already going to be there I took Eenan in since he’d had a fever and sore throat over the weekend. Sonia dropped Jaylen off after school and picked Emily and I up to go to the doctor. Alaethia threw a fit because she wanted to go to the doctor, too, but had to stay behind with Mom.

I couldn’t carry Emily around in the car seat because it’s so heavy, so I was glad Sonia stayed and got down with us. It didn’t take long at all, surprisingly, before they called us in to the vitals room. I weighed 129, so I’d lost 11 lbs. since I’d had Emily. Emily weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. I was a little shocked by how “much” she’d lost, even though it’s normal. But I don’t remember the other kids actually losing any weight at my first post-natal visit.

Dr. C. was busy with OB patients, but ran in, took a seat while he held Emily, and I showed him my incision. He said yes, it was indeed infected but it didn’t rip open the way I thought I had. He said to continue cleaning it and covering it up like I had been and prescribed antibiotics. He handed Emily to me and let me know another doctor would come in to check Eenan. The new doctor was Dr. P. I’d never met him before. He checked Eenan and didn’t find a thing wrong with him. Eenan said, “I told you so, Mom!” I thought he was just saying that because he didn’t want to get swabbed for Strep. He said he’d be calling in a prescription for him anyway since he had a fever and sore throat over the weekend.

As I was giving my payment I ran into Laura and asked her about the numbness and tingling I’d felt the night before. She said she’d ask Dr. C., because they were odd symptoms. He said he didn’t think it was a big deal because I hadn’t had any more since that time, but to give them a call or go in if I felt them again. He looked at my left arm, where I still had a large bruise from where they’d drawn blood at the hospital, and was alarmed at how purple and red the area was. He said the tingling in that arm may have been because the bruise was infected, but I think it was just from carrying Emily’s car seat (Sonia had gone back to the waiting room so I had no choice but to carry it on my own. Laura said it was okay, though, just to not overdo it).

It took forever at the pharmacy and I was really pissed because they never called in Eenan’s prescription! We were there over an hour and I felt really bad for making Sonia wait so long so I just left it alone. When I called again later and when Yadira went to pick it up for me after work, they still hadn’t called anything in! I was so pissed, not to mention worried because Eenan had his TAKS test the next day and that’s all I needed: for him to be overcome with Strep and have to miss his test and re-take just like he did last year.

I actually got to make dinner that night, lasagna! The kiddos behaved perfectly while I worked and it was delicious :).

We (Mario, Aly, Emmy amd me; the boys had school the next day and were asleep with Mary watching them) went to Jorge and Maggie’s that night. I think it was my first night over there since I’d had Emily. I felt a little awkward, since Maggie’s family was over. I felt like I was intruding. Aide and Belle came over too and we sat in the living room with the girls. Alaethia started acting up, following Belle and the other kids everywhere and getting into everything, so I was quickly getting frustrated. Alaethia almost got squashed by a desk and was rescued by Maggie’s cousin’s little boy (he’d been shaking the cage of a poor Siamese hamster about an hour before). I tried being patient as possible, but that didn’t last long and I texted Mario that I wanted to come home.

Tues., Mar. 3rd – Night 2 of sleeping with Emily in the crook of my arm paid off, somewhat: I slept for 5 hours. I felt better than most of the other days when I woke up. What wasn’t so good was the reason I woke up; Emily was doing that weird gagging again. I can’t help but panicking when she does that, even though they did tell me it has to do with her neurological system and so on. If she kept doing it, I’d have to tell Dr. C. about it.

I actually got up to make Mario breakfast. Eenan came in and told us he’d gotten sick that morning, with diarrhea. My poor dude. I was more than sure it was nerves due to the TAKS test, but I still prayed and prayed that he’d be okay.

The phone started ringing around 9am. To my horror, the stupid phone wasn’t working correctly. Someone would call and the phone would automatically hang up. I started panicking, wondering if it was Eenan calling from the nurse’s office because he got worse. Mary had called to my cell phone as I was thinking about that and told me she’d called the school just in case and no, Eenan, nor any other 4th grader, had been to the nurse or office that morning. Whew.

I took advantage of the girls’ late morning and cleaned my incision carefully. I was going to pump but felt too tired. I figured I still had some time before I became engorged. I fed Emily and hoped to catch a few Z’s with her but Fed Aly woke up. I made her breakfast and had her sit at the table to eat. She took a few bites and decided she was done. When I had my back turned (I was changing Emmy’s diaper) she threw her whole plate, including her fork, into the trash. She got a scolding and soon after she started asking for juice. She always does that when she doesn’t want to eat; she drinks to make up for it. I told her she couldn’t have any juice because she threw her food away, she could have water. So what does she do? She took a handful of her bacon and eggs out of the trash, put them on her old paper plate, began to eat it and asked, “Now can I have juice?” She’s really something!

I waited all day for a call from Eenan but never got one. The kid who did call was Jaylen. The nurse said he’d had a tummy ache. I called around looking for someone to pick him up. I hated not being able to drive myself anywhere. I didn’t want to call Sonia, because I still felt bad that she’d had to wait so long with us at the pharmacy the day before, but Mary called her and she ended up being the one to bring him home. When Jaylen got here he asked if he could go outside and play. I said no, he was sick, right? So he needed to go to bed and get better. And the truth came out: he said, “But I’m not sick! My stomach doesn’t hurt anymore!” Grr. I lectured him about how it’s not right to lie to get picked up and how he inconvenienced Tia Sonia, who would now have to go back and pick Eenan up at 3, also. He was genuinely remorseful and went to my room to rest.

I took a nap from 1-3 with Emily while Mom watched Alaethia, which wasn’t a good idea. I woke up with a headache from the phone ringing and hearing Alaethia scream. I got up and pumped while I read the last few pages of New Moon. I pumped again about an hour later and was thrilled to have actually made 3 ounces of milk for once. Mario got home with my 316 pics I’d ordered from Walgreens online. We went to Dollar General with the middle kiddos while Mom stayed with Emily and Mary had Eenan. We picked up some McDonald’s on the way home. I really need to quit doing that—eating fast food–although I got a chicken sandwich. We went over to eat at Mary’s where we ate with the whole family. I felt perfectly at ease and just in total bliss at that moment, surrounded by the people I love. I felt like I needed to pinch myself.

When we came back home I blogged a bit, fed, changed and gave Emily a little washcloth bath (she hated every minute of it). Then I showered and pumped again. When I was ready to go to bed at 12am, she woke up and didn’t go back to sleep till 2 am. Then she was up from 5-7. I was beginning to notice a pattern.

Dad had come to visit but of course I don’t wake up before noon on Sunday, especially now that I’ve got Emmy, so he chilled out with Mom (oooh). They even took a trip to Walmart, where Mom got some yarn to start on a new blanket for Gramma. That’s her hobby of the moment, crocheting. I hope she keeps it up. She’s really good!

Once I was up Dad came in and met Emily. I made him some coffee and we sat for a good hour and a half and I took pictures. I got Mom and Dad in one holding Emily. It’s so strange and nice to have a photo of them together after all these years. The only other picture I have of them together is one of their wedding day.

Dad left and about an hour later Noelia and Andy came to visit. Noelia hadn’t had a chance to see Emily yet so she was excited. They brought gifts for all the kids which was really nice of them. They never want any of the kids to feel left out.

We watched Madagascar 2 and then we—well, not really me since I couldn’t move much—got the kids ready so they could go to Amy’s little boy’s birthday party. I was staying behind with Emily. My incision was still oozing, my boobs still hurt and I was still spending every other hour in the bathroom pumping. I was actually pumping when everyone got back from the party. I came out to say bye to Noey and Andy.

Later that evening, when Mario and I were watching TV in the living room my left arm, feet, hands and face were tingly and hot. I’d never felt like that before, outside of the hospital. It felt like my body did when the anesthesia was wearing off after the tubal and epidural.

When it was time for bed, around 12am, Emily was ready to be up. She wouldn’t let us put her in the bassinet at all when she’d been doing just fine since we brought her home.

During the time that she was awake I had a lot of time to think. It may be the post-partum depression settling in—God I hope not—but at that moment I just felt like a…failure. I started thinking about how I hadn’t potty trained Alaethia yet, how I couldn’t get her to sleep in her room and how I couldn’t even get Emily to sleep in her bassinet that night, when all the other nights she’d been fine. Then I started thinking about all the things that were going wrong, like my incision becoming infected and the weird tingling. What if something happened to me like it did to Mrs. Mendez from work? She almost died when her C-section incision became infected with Staph. And the tingling? I kept thinking of blood clots and organs being cut during the tubal that shouldn’t have been. That’s what I get for watching so much Discovery Health. I even told Mario before he fell asleep, “What if I have deep-vein thrombosis?!” He just rolled his eyes, chuckled and said, “Yes, Dr. Yajaira. Seriously, you really need to quit watching those shows.”

When she finally did fall asleep she woke up at 3am and refused to go back to sleep. I tried everything. Mario got up around 5:30 and offered to stay with her. I was exhausted and silently sobbing from said exhaustion as I rocked her when he got up. His excuse was that he’d fallen asleep early and he was wide awake. I told him I’d be fine. He had to work in the morning and I didn’t. He insisted, so he got her and walked around with her. I remember him doing the same thing with all the other kids, too :). I had an eye open, watching him and he said to go to sleep. I did, for about half an hour. When he was trying to put her back in the bassinet, she’d wake up. Alaethia’d woken up around 4am and was being loud and ready to play. She wouldn’t go to sleep, no matter what threats we threw at her. She finally passed out around 6:30 so Mario moved her to her crib in her room. He told me it was okay, I should just lay Emily in the crook of my arm and sleep with her. So I did…and she let me sleep. So well in fact, that I didn’t hear the alarm go off, or I turned it off and didn’t realize it. Mario was supposed to wake up around 7:30…and when I opened my eyes and looked at the clock it was 9:35!

I was woken up all night by nurses checking my temperature and blood pressure. Mario tried sleeping through the night but he wasn’t very comfortable. I woke him up at 8am so he could get ready for work. I felt a little afraid that he wouldn’t be there, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want him to leave for work worrying about me or Emily. I was hoping I’d woke him up with enough time so I could take a shower, but he was putting all our luggage away and we ran out of time. Mary had stopped by just in case he wanted her to take the Equinox but he said no, he’d take it and Adan would just drive his truck home.

Emily’s new nurse brought her back to the room just as they brought me my breakfast. Mary held her while I began to eat, but Emily was screaming her little lungs out. I asked for her and I felt so good; she’d stopped crying as soon as Mary set her in my arms, aww.

Mario had some quick breakfast (that wasn’t very good) and left. I needed to pee, but I also needed to eat, so, as painful as it was, I slid out of bed and put Emily in her bassinet so I could eat. She’d fallen asleep so she was fine. I think I was in more pain that day than I was the day before. I wanted to kick myself. I would have felt marvelous had I not gotten the tubal done. But oh well.

All the new moms were having a meeting at 10am. Now they have these meetings so everyone gets their discharge instructions at the same time. Emily’s nurse came and took her; he said she was getting the PKU done and would keep her at the nursery during the meeting. I grabbed all my things as fast as I could (which wasn’t fast at all) and took a shower. It was a challenge, since every little movement brought on a shock of pain, and it hurt to stand too long but I desperately needed a shower.

The meeting was at least 2 hours long. I was in so much pain the C-section girls were walking around better than I was. I was only half-listening most of the time since the cramping was so overwhelming. Once the speaker was done talking about breastfeeding and giving us our instructions we were escorted back to the nursery to pick up our babies.

Dr. C. came to check on Emily as I was going to bathroom again a while later. He said she was great; the tests came back just fine and my incision looked good so we could go home that day. Yes!!

They brought me my lunch, but I fed Emily first. The Social Security girl came by next and I signed the documents. The girl who takes the pictures for that Our365 picture company came by next. It took forever because Emily needed a diaper change and needed to be changed into a proper onesie since Mario had barely brought the diaper bag that morning and I hadn’t had a chance to change her. I was really disappointed with the whole thing. She used my pink polka-dot robe as the background and the prices for the tiny packages were insane. I got the smallest package and it came out to $41! She said she’d get them printed for me there at the hospital. I asked what the difference was if they mailed them to me like before; was the quality better? She said no, it was the same. I almost didn’t want to get them at all, but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t get Emily’s when I got all the other kids’. Sure enough, when she brought them to me I wasn’t happy. I could have done a better job posing her myself and I could have gotten much better quality at Walgreens or Winkflash!

I finally got to eat lunch after all that, and it wasn’t very appetizing to begin with. I was glad they were generous with the bread, butter and fruit, or else I probably would have starved.

I started getting all my junk together while Emily slept in her bassinet, checking twice that I wasn’t forgetting anything. I read for a bit and got the okay to be discharged. Emily’s nurse came by a bit later and let me know she’d gotten the okay, too, so he was going to discharge her and bring me some gifts. I called Mario to let him know we’d be leaving soon. It was 2. He got there and started taking all our junk to the truck. A nice elderly volunteer gave Emily and me a ride in the wheelchair to the emergency room exit where Mario was waiting with the truck. He said, “Well it seems like this is your first baby.” I smiled up at him and said, “She’s actually our fourth!” He laughed and gave me a high-five :).

The ride home was…an uncomfortable one. I’d never been in that much pain on the ride home with a new baby with any of the other kids. Every turn, bump, dip, movement caused my back and belly to hurt. Mario was trying to drive as carefully as possible.

We got home before the kids were home from school. It was like walking into someone else’s house—Aide did an amazing job cleaning up!

Jaylen was most excited to see us. Eenan was happy to have us all home. Alaethia kept wanting to play with the baby. I really do think she thinks she’s another one of her baby dolls.

I set up camp in the living room, because the couches are super comfy and the bathroom’s right there. I fell asleep with Emily in my arms. It was the best sleep ever, however short-lived it was. Jorge, Elda and Brandon came by to see Emily. I was still sort of slipping in an out of consciousness, but was glad to see everyone.

Our bed is really high and there was no way I’d be able to get on it without ripping my incision open. Mario went straight to the bedroom and removed the box spring of the bed so that I could actually climb on it. It was sort of lopsided, so we decided he’d put the box spring back the next day.

My back and abdomen were still in a lot of pain. It was hell waddling back and forth from the bedroom to the bathroom and back. I almost didn’t want to go pee just to avoid having to move.

Emily woke up around 9pm and was just looking around with her little wondrous eyes till around 1am. I breastfed her for what seemed like years—I started wondering if maybe she was using my boob as a pacifier O_o. I watched TV till she fell asleep. She slept in her bassinet and woke up every 2 hours to eat. She’s such a happy baby! And a happy baby makes a happy mommy ;).