He's here and we're both safely home.

I apologize to anyone who's already read this in email or message board format. It was a VERY scary ordeal and I am grateful my parents were here to help.

The day started out shitty when Eric woke up with a 101 fever and puking. So, I had to wake up my parents at 5 a.m. to take me to the hospital, thank God Sam was already off school anyway.

That wasn't so bad...... but it started a day of waiting. They got me into a room, started setting me up, then had to wait for the anesthesiologist to get out of an emergency surgery. They even had me in the OR and waiting.

They got me set up, they got Henry out just fine. They were sewing me up and I told the anesthesiologist I was having a throbbing headache, then I started having chest pains. Not the kind where you're being jostled, but the kind that you feel your heart is going to jump through your chest. He told me both were normal. I don't remember chest pains like that when I had Sam.

Meanwhile, they're prepping the next c/s in the next room over for both the o/b and anes. They wheel me back to my room and my nurse starts pushing on my belly and notices WAY too much blood. Both my dad and our friend told her that I looked way pale. She soaks through two layers of pad, telling my mom, dad and our friend Don to leave the room, that she needed to check me. Then she started pushing buttons and "screaming" for the other nurses to get the OB. They kept telling her he was in the OR, she said she didn't care, he needed the be in the room. Ob comes in and I don't remember anything other than being wheeled down the hallway FAST back into the OR.

There is a blood vessel that is supposed to clot and rescind upon removal of the placenta and the uterus contracts. Mine didn't. My uterus just relaxed, so the vessel kept pumping.

I lost a lot of blood and wound up needing 2 pints. I was taken directly to ICU from the OR with a pic line in my carotid vein (not the artery). this was in addition to the two I had in my left hand/arm.
I spent Friday night in ICU, my mom got HJ's band so that she could come and go from the nursery, E was fairly sick at home, still running a fever. Saturday I got another blood test, in hopes they could remove the pic line and I wouldn't need another pint. My dad was ready to go as far as donating (he's O- as well) if I needed it.

Saturday afternoon, my OB turned HJ's monitor off, put him in an isolette, and took him out of the nursery and off the floor to bring him to me. The ob stayed as long as he was permitted without alarms sounding in the nursery. It was the most awesome thing, he and the nurse practitioner from the office spent an hour with me. He told the ICU nurses to go ahead and take out my iv lines, but leave the monstrosity in my neck. I could barely move. I got to get out of hte bed and sit up for a while, but that made me dizzy for a while. He also told them to take out my catheter. Um, yeah, I got my first taste of a bed pan! I had to go and all of a sudden I was going. The night nurse and I played bp check/bed pan leapfrog all night. Every time the blood pressure cuff went off, I had to pee.

Sunday morning, I had another blood test to make sure I was either maintaining or at least not dropping below where I was. My white blood cell count was still high and my blood number was 7.2, a full point higher than Saturday. Since I wasn't dropping, they let me get the pic line out. I sat up for quite a while and as soon as they got the pic line out, I was taken up to the maternity ward. Of course, when I got upstairs, I was laying down again.

They brought HJ in right away, but I didn't hold him long because he's a BIG BOY.

I'm not nursing, didn't even attempt it because well, with all the crap going on, my health was a bit more of a priority. HJ's doing really well on the formula and it makes it easier for me (I know now the reason not to bf, but given the circumstances, I think it's understandable).

He is a PERFECT baby, he's a good eater and sleeper. My mom did a lot of feeding and rocking over the first two days. The nursery staff even let my dad into the nursery even though he didn't have a tag on his wrist. ALL of the nurses in both wards were fawning over Henry.

The on-call pedi did his circ before the OB had a chance, which is fine. He was PHENOMENAL.

Sam just adores him, at first he wasn't too sure of him, but after dinner, he was all about holding him and kissing him. He was quite pissed off that I wouldn't let him pick him up!

I'm on iron supplements for the time being, they'll recheck my blood in two weeks to make sure I'm coming back on my own. Otherwise it will mean more blood.