You’re probably thinking that this is an odd name for the first post after the arrival of Coleman, but over the last 4 weeks I have come to realize that even after the tumultuous pregnancy I had and the thought that things would be easier after the baby was born, I was sorely mistaken. It’s the past month that I have decided to call “the aftermath.”
I will begin with my stay in the hospital after the baby was born. After a fairly smooth c-section and the sweetest moments as we all met Coleman for the first time, I began noticing that the bandaging on my stomach was causing a rash again (this same thing happened after I had Brittain and then also after I had my gall bladder removed, but we thought the change in the kind of tape used would keep this from happening a third time.) When we noticed this, the nurse went ahead and removed the bandaging but it was already too late. By the time I left the hospital it had already gotten out of control. I spend the first few days taking Benadryl so I was able to control the itching. The worst part about this time that hadn’t happened with the previous rashes was that it was constantly oozing. After soaking through gauze and everything else, I finally resorted to having to wear a towel in my pants in order not to ruin yet another article of clothing. I was put on a steroid pack and hydrocortisone cream and after 6 days of this, the rash eventually dried up. It was over…or so I thought. The next hurdle was the raging yeast infection that I developed from the steroids. Despite the prescription strength medication to treat it, this thing had no intention of leaving. I tried every home remedy we could find on the internet, but by the end of 4 days of this I thought I was going to go insane. Eventually I talked with someone who recommended that I go to the health food store and purchase Acidophalis capsules. This is what is found in yogurt (which is why they recommend you eat yogurt if you have a yeast infection) but the capsules are much more concentrated. While I’ve never been a believer of “natural” remedies, I must say that I’m now a believer because after one day of taking these capsules I was cured. Here again I thought it was finally over and I could go back to being able to completely concentrate on my new baby. But in fact it wasn’t over because as the rash was finally clearing up, I now could actually see my c-section incision and I noticed that it was infected. I went back to the doctor where he confirmed this and sent me home with an antibiotic to get rid of the infection. Two days later I started running a fever so I was back at the doctor again where he opened my incision back up (ugh!) only to find that it didn’t drain as much as he thought it would. This meant there was a possibility of an internal infection, but at this point he still believed it was just the incision causing the fever. He sent me home and told me to keep the fever down with Tylenol, but by that night, despite the Tylenol, my fever spiked to almost 105. I was admitted to the hospital that night. They started me on 2 I.V. antibiotics which they ended up giving me around the clock for 4 days. Friday morning they did a CT scan that showed there was infection in my uterus. At this point we figured this was the cause of the high fever. But it was Saturday when we found out the real problem. I had e.coli. By this time I was feeling better, and fortunately the antibiotics they had me on were what they would have given me anyway to treat the e.coli. They kept me one more day before sending me home on Sunday evening. There, I continued with 2 more antibiotics for 2 weeks.
I was so glad to be home (for the second time), but I did go through a bout of postpartum depression. It’s something that is difficult to talk about, but it’s real and it’s scary and it’s no fun. I’m fortunate that I came through mine quickly and I started feeling like a normal person again after about a week or so. Thanks to my family for staying close and helping me through it…and thanks to some good drugs that took effect quickly.
So, now that we’re done with that, let’s talk about my beautiful gift that God gave me on March 10th. Those of you that are close to me know that when I found out I was having a boy I was less than thrilled. In fact, I was really never able to get excited throughout my pregnancy. Especially with things being so touch and go (because of the fear of pre-term labor), I really just concentrated on making it through and hoping that everyone was right when they said my heart would grow bigger when the second one came along and yes, I would love a boy. Truth be told, I really didn’t believe anyone, but fortunately I was proven wrong when Coleman was handed to me for the first time. All at once, I was looking at my precious little girl and now my precious little boy and suddenly I felt a completeness that I didn’t know existed. I’m not sure how it happened, but for the past 4 ½ years I thought my life was all I could ever want and that there was no more love or happiness I could possibly have. But then Coleman was born and I knew, “Oh, this is what my life is supposed to be.”
After seeing the pictures of me in the hospital, I vowed not to ever let anyone see them. But I have made this blog all about full disclosure and there’s no sense in stopping that now. So, here are the hospital pictures…in all my glory and splendor…and 192 pounds. Thank goodness it wasn’t all about me. 
Coleman was born at 8:18 a.m., weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. (I could have SWORN I had a 12 pounder in there) and was 20 1/2 inches long.
Our arrival time the day Coleman was born was 3:30 a.m. It was a LONG wait before they finally took me back to the O.R.:
By far my favorite pictures from the day. When the room door opened and it was Brittain pushing in her little brother, it brought all of us to tears:
