March 8, 2011 - 4 Days Old

Sorry for not posting yesterday, but when I got home, I fell right to sleep. Yesterday was a pretty good day. Amaraa was moved out of the ICU and into the Mother-Baby ward in the morning. They had initially planned to move her in her bed, but they moved her in a wheelchair instead. It was very painful for her, but the doctors said that the sooner she can start moving around, the sooner she will heal. She is very grateful to be out of the ICU and into a quiet, peaceful room again. Before she left the ICU, they gave her a shot of blood thinners in her belly. She will be on the blood thinners for a couple of months and they are going to teach her how to give herself the shots.

I went down to the hospital at around noon and went straight up to the NICU. I was a little surprised to see that Aiden was still on the ventilator. The nurse said that they had seen some cloudy spots on his one lung that indicated either a collapse or some excess fluid. She said they needed to get that cleared up before they would take him off the ventilator. Otherwise, he was doing well.

I went down to Amaraa's room. In the afternoon, the physical therapist came by to try to get Amaraa up and walking a bit. She was able to stand up with a walker, but was so weak that she wasn't able to take any steps. They laid her back down and she began to cough. She coughed up some thick, bloody stuff from her lungs -- the remaining fluid in her lungs from the blood transfusions and IVs. The nurses called the respiratory specialist in and she said that Amaraa would be coughing more and more of the fluid up as she becomes more mobile. I knew that between her last transfusion and the blood she was given on Friday, she had had at least twelve units of blood, but wasn't sure how much was given to her in surgery and in the ICU. When the respiratory specialist came in, the nurse told her that she had had 33 units of blood total Thursday and Friday. I couldn't believe it. That is her total blood volume more than twice over!

The lactation specialist had been in to talk to Amaraa before I got there. She brought in a breast pump and Amaraa was trying to pump every couple of hours. By about 6:00 PM, she was getting a little colostrum. The nurse took it up to the NICU and they said they would give it to Aiden at his next feeding. We were really excited that she was getting things started so quick because with our other two kids, it took a while for her milk to start coming in. She pumped one more time just before I left and got a lot more colostrum that time. I delivered it up to the NICU on my way out. Aiden's nurse told me they had given him all of the milk we had sent up so far and that Aiden had pooped for the first time. It may sound funny, but that's actually a big step.

This morning, Dr. Hill came to check on Amaraa. He was the ICU doctor that tried to get her bleeding under control when they first transferred her there after her c-section. He said, "Do you know that we had to give you 33 units of blood?" Amaraa said, "Thank you so much for saving my life." He said, "In your case, we really did save your life. You almost didn't make it. We put a large IV line into your leg that allowed us to put a large amount of blood and blood products into you in a very short amount of time. Without that, you would have died."

A little bit later, Dr. Anderson came in and checked Amaraa's drains. The left drain had been bothering her a lot and he took that out. He said it might hurt to take it out, but it had been hurting her so bad that all she felt was relief. He said, "I have something for you. Well, not really for you, but for Aiden." He pulled out a little bag with a burp cloth that his wife had made. It had a note that said, "Congratulations!! I have enjoyed taking care of you and your baby. Each time your baby spits up on this burp cloth, you can think of Dr. Anderson...err...ahh...anyway, congratulations! -Dr. Anderson." Amaraa was really touched by the gift. It's Aiden's first possession. Dr. Anderson has been such a wonderful doctor. We couldn't have asked for anyone better. We've been through so much together that he feels like a part of the family.

Amaraa was able to go up and see the baby today. It was very emotional for her. The nurse told me later that Aiden perked up when she came like as if he could smell his mommy. She was in a wheelchair rather than a bed this time, so she was at a better angle to see his face. They let her feed him with a syringe. He burped for her and kind of seemed to smile. It was so fun for her to see him and talk to the nurse about him. She feels very good about everything now.

Some friends came to visit this afternoon. With the weakness from all she has been through as well as exhaustion from trying to walk, Amaraa was pretty tired. They didn't stay long, but it was nice to see them. More friends came this evening and brought food for us. We have the best friends in the world.

I went to visit Aiden when I first arrived at the hospital today. He was lying on his belly. He looked so cute lying there. He is still on the ventilator, but his lungs are clearing up. The nurse had me take his temperature and feed him while I was there. He seems to be tolerating Amaraa's milk pretty well. He's doing very well.