The pictures will sum up what our first week home has looked like, but it won't capture the sassy and defiant times Tillman has been sharing with us lately. She loves her baby sister, but knows things are different now. She doesn't quite understand why I can't pick her up and hold her and she seems to be more clingy for me than ever before. I've tried each day to give her some one-on-one time.
Here goes the week:
Welcome Home signs on the front door
The driveway was also nicely decorated with Welcome Home notes out of sidewalk chalk.
Balloons
Tillman was so excited to greet us when we got home.
Happy to be home again
She was so excited she had to help Josh carry Carter inside.
Tillman couldn't wait to get Carter out of her carrier and hold her.
Playtime
I love them!
Wide awake and playing hard
Tillman told us she wanted to feed Carter a bottle, but when it came down to it, she wasn't very interested. This is all we could get her to do.
Bath time
Poor thing :)
At her first doctor's appointment - This was Monday.
Healthy as can be!
Enjoying some cuddle time with my newest baby girl.
I love this one! Tillman is reading a book to Carter.
"Holding" her little sister. I can't wait to see these two grow up together.
Little Dep getting in her cuddle time too.
Saturday Josh took Tillman to Clemson's spring game. Isn't she the cutest?
Having fun with her Daddy.
Tillman & Nolan
Look at that face. It screams, "I'm rotten and my Daddy spoils me."
Play time
Bubble time - Mrs. Diane sent Tillman some goodies to celebrate her becoming a big sister and this bubble machine has been awesome!!
Love the smile
Josh, Carter, and I came home from the hospital Thursday afternoon. We had the option to stay in the hospital one more night, but chose to come home early because we were getting pretty stir crazy. Everybody was healthy and cleared to go if desired. I had been having a headache earlier in the day, but it had subsided by the time we were discharged. Good to go, right?? Wrong.
The rest of Thursday was pretty decent for me as far as being home, getting settled, and feeling good. My incision site has been great, and I've even weaned off of some of my meds, but that darn headache came back in the middle of the night. I was fine whenever I was laying down flat (sleeping), but anytime I sat up to go feed Carter, I would get a shooting pain to the front of my head and all down my neck. It was pretty miserable, but I kept telling myself I was just sitting up too quickly. Well, the pain and misery stayed with me as long as I was elevated. The only way I could get comfortable was completely flat on my back.
The headache and symptoms stayed and were still a major bother Friday morning when I woke up. I contemplated what to do and ended up looking it up online. (Josh hates when I do this.) What I read scared me a bit and I soon got on the phone with the doctor. Minutes later I was on the phone with an anesthesiologist at the hospital and we diagnosed with a post dura headache. (Feel free to google it.) The anesthesiologist wanted me back at the hospital as quickly as I could get there so I could have a procedure done called an epidural blood patch.
Basically, the puncture point from my original spinal block did not seal back up so I had fluid leaking in my spinal column. The solution was to take blood from my arm and inject it into my back at the puncture site. The blood would then clot and seal over the original puncture and stop the leaking fluids. Just what you want to hear when you come home from the hospital with a newborn, right? Wrong.
The procedure should have taken 30 minutes or so and been pretty routine. Although, I failed to mention, this occurrence (post dura headache) happens to 1% of the population who have a spinal block. Yes, 1 in 100 and that lucky 1 happened to be me. I feel so honored... Back to the procedure. By the end of it all, there were 4 nurses and 2 anesthesiologists in my room along with a very nervous and anxious husband. The doctors and nurses had the hardest time drawing blood from my veins. They needed a minimum of 20cc of blood, and an hour later and a billion pokes later, all they had was 6cc of blood. Solution? Do a radial stick and go through an artery, yes an artery, to get the blood instead.
The radial stick itself did not go as smoothly as desired, but eventually was successful and the doctors were able to inject 30cc of blood into my epidural space. After all of this, I had to stay at the hospital and lay flat on my back for 2 hours to give the blood time to clot. Josh was a trooper through everything, but it made him nervous that he couldn't see my face or help out during it all. All he could see was the epidural needle sticking out of my back the entire time the doctors were struggling to get blood from my arm. The procedure, although not enjoyable, was successful and I was able to go home happy and healthy about 4 hours after leaving home.
All of this was said to introduce the next set of pictures to you. As I was having a melt down about not feeling good and being scared to go back to the hospital, our dear friend and newest guardian angel, Tawyna showed up at the house to do a photo shoot. Originally it was going to be of all 4 of us. Needless to say, Josh and I had to re-prioritize and leave for the hospital. So, Mom and Tawyna had to immediately take over as caregivers for both Tillman and Carter...and it was time for Carter to eat. Luckily I had pumped some emergency back up milk and had plenty to leave with them. They ended up having to feed Carter twice while we were gone and Tawyna was awesome enough to go ahead and take some pictures of the two girls for us while Josh and I were gone.
SO, the following pictures are just a sneak peek of the photo shoot that was done while we were at the hospital. It's kind of neat though because Josh and I have been so thrilled and excited about seeing the pictures. They have all been a surprise since we weren't here to help with them and we love them all! There are plenty more, but these stand out as a few of my personal favorites. They make me one proud mama!! (A million thanks, Tawyna!!)
My heart is happy!
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