Mr N's Pregnancy and Birth V

I hated the feeling of the epidural, so when life started to come back early the next morning, I was ecstatic. Baby was brought to me every 3 hours to nurse. He was hungry, fed well and slept the rest of the time. He was perfect. Fat cheecks, fat little body. Dark curly hair and some stork bites on his face.

Because of the botched epidural, they kept a close eye on me on the Tuesday (2^nd day). I wasn't allowed to stand up, and when headaches started, I was given the blood patch on early Wednesday morning. They took 50ml of my own blood (directly from my arm), and inject it into my back while it was still body temperature. Again, I had the radiated pain down from the injection site to my hips. Afterwards I had to lie very still for 2 hours and couldn't feed my baby. They gave him formula without my consent. I was livid! But what was done was done, and at least he didn't have to go hungry.

After another few hours, I was allowed to stand up, but it was extremely painful. The wound has started to heal with me in the lying position, so moving tore the skin apart again. It was very, very sore. I hated every minute of having a c-section wound.

Unfortunately, the blood patch didn't work. I still got extreme headaches the moment I lifted my head. As long as I lied horisontally, I was fine. The moment I stood up, the CSF would leak and I'd get migraines. Lots of caffeine was prescribed. So hubby brought Redbulls, which helped somewhat. I was released from hospital on the Thursday, and walking from the hospital room to the car was pure torture. The pounding in my head was unbearable. At least my baby was healthy and happy and the sweetest thing alive.

The next few days went by in a haze. On the Saturday I realised that the headaches isn't only while I stood up anymore, but also while I laid down. I took my temperature and it was slightly raised, so off we went to the gynae. I was told I had an infection in the uterus and given a/b's. Back to bed I went, where I stayed until the Wednesday. Except for feeding, my hubby and mom took care of my baby. I was a nil on the contract. It was awful.

On Monday, 1 week after his birth, the nurse came to our house to draw some blood from him. He was extremely yellow and they suspected jaundice.

Plaster is where they drew the blood

The test showed he didn't need the UV lights, but for months and months afterwards he was yellow. So around age 3 months his liver function was tested. It showed he had the same disease that me and his dad has. Gilbert's disease. A non-fatal liver disease.

On Wednesday, 9 days after birth and exactly one week after the blood patch, I stood up the morning to take a bath as usual. Half-way through I realised I didn't have a pounding headach any more! It was gone! The CSF leak had at long last healed itself. Thank goodness. Unfortunately, I felt ill. Very ill. So back to the gynae we went. The infection was worse, the a/b's didn't help. That started a long road for me.

To be continued...