We brought Nate home from the hospital yesterday to meet his three older siblings. Laughing and screaming and running around ensued. M. and I have looked forward to this day for many months, and the kids provided the enthusiasm that we felt to have our whole family together. Finally.
In the hospital, nurses and doctors and all those other people who come in to pull down your covers and take a look at your body, wanted to know if Nate was our first baby. When we told them we had three others at home, their reactions ranged from taking a step back from helping us, assuming we knew what we were doing to (my favorite) telling us there was no way we could handle all those kids.
And when we were discharged, I had a prescription for Vicadin, one for Motrin, and one for heavy-duty caffeine pills. I’m not kidding. It makes me laugh every time I think about it. The doctors released me with strict orders for “caffeine therapy.” They actually wanted to do an intravenous drip, but there was no way I was having another IV put in. And doctor’s orders to drink as much coffee and diet coke as I could fit my new life perfectly.
Of course, there’s more to the story. After the C-section I had a blinding headache. The anesthesiologist diagnosed it as a post-dural puncture headache. They occur 1% of the time after spinal anesthesia (lucky me) when spinal fluid leaks, causing the brain to “sag.”
Which really feels like the worst headache of my life.
Treatment for a sagging brain? Caffeine! No kidding! I’ve known that since I pulled all-nighters in college, but it’s true.
There was another option that involved another needle in my spine and using my blood to patch the hole where the fluid was leaking. Guess which one I chose? I’ll give you a hint. I’m on my fourth cup of coffee for the day.
So, we’re home, together, busy.
And heavily caffeinated.
I had that same thing happen with my 4th…there was so much scar tissue between the other 3 that it didn’t take something happpened…Anyway it was during the delivery so I ended up having him completely natural! Since I had the IV already, they patched me and got back to normal, but it was THE worst headache in my life!!
Congrats on your tribe! Hope you are feeling better soon!!