Pre-eclampsia After Delivery??????? Re-addmitted to L&D

Tuesday comes and it is time for me to get my staples taken out. We get to the Dr.s office and I have been really emotional the last few days because, oh yeah, I just had a baby and plus I am in a lot of pain even though I have been taking my pain pills as prescribed.

I get called back and get weighed and start to explain my concerns to the nurse which include;
*Still weighing more than when I was pregnant
*Constant headache through the pain medication
*Legs so swollen that I had no ankles, arches, and pitting edema
*Intense pain at the incision site
*Maternity clothes are so tight they are leaving indentations in my skin
At this point Steve and the boys are out in the waiting room and the nurse has the Dr come in. She checks my incision first and give the OK to have the staples taken out. She listens to my symptoms and checks a few things and then says "it seems you have Pre-eclampsia." She then told me that I will need to be readmitted to the hospital. My first response, while crying, because I couldn't hold it in any longer was "was it something that I did or didn't do to cause this?" I was reassured that it is not caused by anything I did or didn't do, Mom guilt not a nice thing. I thought that pre-eclampsia was only something that happens before the delivery. I find out that pre-eclampsia can happen before delivery (like I had with our boys), during delivery, & after delivery. So as I am trying to not let my emotions get the best of me while the nurse is taking out the staples I am telling her about how my boys have been so intrigued with the staples. Every time someone would come to visit Tyson would ask if they wanted to see my staples, I don't think so. Then they of course wanted to see the staples get taken out but that didn't happen either.

The nurse goes into the waiting room to get Steve and He immediately starts to worry because, I was just there to have the staples taken out. We are all in the office and the Dr. comes in to send me to Labor & Delivery to be monitored and have labs done.

Family is Great!! Once we were at the hospital family was called and my Dad came up to pick up our boys. Uncle Cody and Aunt Paige then kept them for 2 nights so that I could get lots of sleep and recover. I am so grateful for all the prayers that were said in my behalf from family and friends.

After having blood tests done, EKG, Echo-cardiogram, & multiple blood pressures being taken it is time to wait. During this time I am given the drug Demerol and wow did that make me loopy. I guess Steve kept telling me not to talk but I kept talking. Parker kept coming out T T T T Tarker. I kept telling him the same thing over and over and asking the same questions. Then I really needed to go to the bathroom and thought that I still had a catheter in. I was so frustrated and crying and asked the nurse if there was something wrong because I did not feel like I could pee. She then told me that I did not have a catheter and at that point I was really glad that all my trying to relax did not work because I would have peed all over myself.

Finally all of the tests came back clear and it was decided that I, for some reason, just had massive amounts of edema. I was told the reason my incision was so painful is because of all the extra fluid that is in my body, finally something that makes sense. I was also told to keep taking my pain medication but to stop taking the Motrin. Apparently in some people (me) Motrin can prevent the body from getting rid of fluid. I was told to keep my legs up and rest as much as possible and that it can take several days to go away. Once again Steve reminded me that I am Super Mom but not Invincible Mom. Finally on Thursday the edema started to go away. Within a 24 hour period my body got rid of 12 pounds and I am happy to say that as of today I think all of the extra fluid is gone. I have lost 19 pounds in the past 4 days.....WoW!

I am amazed at how our bodies react to different things. At this point I am feeling so much better and I have to just keep reminding myself that I still need to relax and recover for the next few weeks.

Why is Service easy to give but hard to take? Thank you to Steve, family, & friends for helping so much and reminding me to relax and let others help take care of me and our family.