surgery recap

So, here I am. Recovering fairly well considering a) my body has just been sliced into, b) pregnancy, and c) it is 90 degrees outside.

Wanna see my bandage? Ok:


pretty!

That's a big piece of surgical tape held down by many little pieces of surgical tape. And you all know what happens when you have a cut that starts to heal, right? Can you say ITCHY?!?

So it's a pretty big incision. On the left side of the photo you can see the little vampire-bite marks where the drain was after the procedure. Boy was THAT gross. Hurt coming out, I can tell you that much. Eew.

The procedure went well. The day (Weds) went sort of like this:

Woke up at 5 am dreaming of bacon and eggs. Finally fell back into crappy sleep until about 8.

Got up, fed Daughter breakfast, stared longingly at Cheerios.

Showered, dressed, etc., made sure bags were packed, bundled everyone into car, went to my mom's to drop Daughter off.

Zoomed to hospital as we were running a bit late, as is our usual M.O.

Waited.

Were finally called in so I could change into a sex-ay gown and have a fetal heart check. Amazingly, my BP was normal the whole time. Soooooooooooo hungry.

Led us to recliners to wait some more. Saw dead person covered head to toe by a sheet in one of the recliners. Very uncool and non-confidence inducing.

Finally called to go to pre-op, and told to surrender glasses to Husband. Flying blind from here on out.

Hung out in pre-op, answered questions, spoke to the surgeon, met the surgical team, got my IV.

Wheeled into operating room on time. Freezing in there. Covered in warm blankets, pillow placed under knees for support, oxygen mask placed on face. Saw anesthesiologist stick needle in IV and heard, "have a nice dream, we'll take good care of you."

Woke up. Vomited. Passed back out. Repeated for 12 hours.

So that was about it. Yes, general anesthesia makes me VERY sick. The combo of having had a breathing tube during the procedure and barfing all night really did a number on the inside of my throat. The pain was pretty rough for the first couple of days. Then the surgeon wasn't going to let me go home because my calcium levels were too low (my face and hands were tingling, which of course only happens to like 1 in 10 patients). But I begged because I just couldn't get any rest in the stupid hospital. So I got to leave with prescriptions for massive amounts of calcium and vitamin D. Which are fun to swallow! Feels great!

I think if I'd had this procedure while not pregnant it would have been a breeze because I could have had all kinds of good painkillers and whatnot. As it stands I didn't even take a Tylenol until I was already home and trying to sleep flat in my bed. Ow.

And I'm so annoyed that I can't take a shower. I mean, thank goodness for the shower massage thingy that comes down from the wall, because I can at least wash up and shampoo my hair over the side of the tub, but it's just not the same as a real shower. I'm going to beg Hub to go to the store and get me some waterproof surgical tape today so I can tape plastic over the suture line (the tape is supposed to stay on till I see the doctor on Wednesday). Then maybe I can try showering.

The baby came through great. Her heart rate did drop a bit after the anesthesia (to about 128 bpm) but it stayed in the normal range. It went right back up to the 150s though, and she has been kicking the *@&#^ out of me ever since. So I am assuming no harm was done and she will be fine and dandy at birth.

As you all know, I was so frightened in the weeks leading up to this. Again, I want to sincerely thank all of you (both commenters and lurkers) who offered prayer and support. I truly believe you all helped pull me through.

Well, I'm off to try and keep cool. I'm resting as much as possible right now, so if you don't hear a lot from me this week don't worry. I'm definitely anxious to get back to sewing and knitting for my babes, and will be doing so as soon as I feel a little more energetic. Watch this space!