Enjoying Our Time At Home

We've been home from the hospital for a week and a half and let me tell you, there's no place like home. It's wonderful to be in the midst of familiar surroundings and in my safe haven. I love to relax with my books, a cup of tea and in the presence of family. 

My parents came to Florida the morning of my c-section and they stayed for 2 ½ weeks. What a treat it was to spend so much time with them and it was such a huge help for us.

We didn't expect to be in the hospital for ten days. I thought I would be home within 3 days, like most normal c-sections. What a bummer. Nathaniel was in the NICU for some acute respiratory issues and I ended up having another surgery the Saturday after delivery. My c-section incision developed a huge hematoma (collection of blood) and that needed to be cleaned out. They had to leave the wound open and now I have a wound vacuum there, which helps with the healing. Since I had the blood clot back in September, I've been on blood thinners ever since, which is one of the reasons that I was prone to a hematoma, and also because my protein levels are so low that my body has a hard time healing. We were discharged from the hospital very late on Thursday night, March 5th.

As they were wheeling me out of the hospital and we got Nathaniel settled in the car in his car seat, I remember getting really emotional, realizing that the hospital stay was finally over and we were going home as a family of three. From now on, we will always be a family of three and that is such a happy thought.

Sergi took two weeks off from work and unfortunately most of it was spent at the hospital. He only got to enjoy Friday, Saturday and Sunday at home before going back to work.

We had many visitors in the hospital and at home. Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and shared our happiness with us. Our room looked and smelled like a garden, it was so full of lovely flowers.

Nathaniel is 3 weeks and 2 days now. Time sure has flown by so quickly. He will be one month this Monday.

We have gone to two doctor's appointments with him since he was discharged from the hospital and we are so pleased with how he is doing.

He is growing quickly and is gaining weight and is finally able to fit into newborn outfits. When he was born, he was in a really awkward size, since preemie outfits were too small on him and newborn outfits were too big.

He is such a good baby. We feel very blessed that he has a very happy disposition and isn't fussy. Of course, he still wakes up often at night to eat, but that is normal for newborns. He is very alert and smiles so much. He smiles at least 5 times a day, and not just in his sleep. I'd like to think that he smiles because he's so happy and because he feels how much he is loved. 

My favorite activity is gazing at my beautiful son. I never get tired of it. I'm still amazed that I am his Mama. He loves to snuggle and I love it even more. You will find me many times just holding him in my arms, perfectly content to stay in that position, just soaking it in.

Throughout the pregnancy, I struggled with gaining weight and was actually a few pounds less right before I delivered the baby than before I got pregnant. As many of you know, after my whole medical scare in 2007, I was on TPN for almost 2 years at home. TPN is total parenteral nutrition, basically nutrition given intravenously. It's a mixture of electrolytes, proteins, lipids, vitamins, etc, that you would normally get through the gastrointestinal tract that is given intravenously.

It took me many years to gain weight and be able to maintain my health by diet alone, without medication or TPN. That is a miracle that just can't be explained.

Right before I got pregnant, I was the healthiest that I've been since before everything happened in 2007. I felt great, was able to stay at a healthy weight and did not take any medications, besides triple doses of vitamins. It was such a blessing to become pregnancy during the time when I was the healthiest. I truly believe that this is what helped with this pregnancy and the fact that Nathaniel is perfectly healthy and strong and doesn't have any medical issues at all. Praise God for answered prayers.

The moment after I had the baby and the spinal wore off, my appetite returned and I've been happily munching on food ever since. I'm so happy to be enjoying food again. However, I feel very drained and weak, because I'm so depleted nutritionally. Even though I've been eating again, the food just isn't staying with me and i'm still losing weight. My doctors have put me on TPN once again for the next few months so that I can gain some strength and hopefully some weight back as well. I was really hoping to leave the hospital without any foreign objects and medical devices in me, but I guess I'll have to settle with knowing that it won't be much longer. I can be patient a little bit more. Even though it's not fun to be hooked up to the IV all night, at least I'm getting nutrients and hopefully this will be short term and I'll be back to normal very soon.

I am so happy to be home and I feel like the most blessed woman on the planet. God has been so good to our family and shown us His grace again and again. Nathaniel was worth it all and I would go through it all again in a heartbeat.