The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Things that have been removed from my body in the past month:

7 pounds 10 ounces, 19 inches of a adorable little baby girl, 

18 inches of small intestines, 

1 inflamed appendix, 

a couple of inches of large intestines.

'The Good' 

Hazel Joan Betts

Born: January 31, 2013  2:14 pm

We arrived at the hospital at 11:00 am.  Joan and Weldon came down to babysit Maggie and Chloe for the day.  We got checked in and situated in our room.  My parents come to the hospital around noon, it was really nice to see them.  Around 1:00 pm the anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural.  Unfortunately it was the same Doctor that I had with Chloe.  My c-section with Chloe was horrible.  The epidural didn't take very well and I could feel way too much.  I told the anesthesiologist that my last epidural didn't go so well.  Even though I totally recognized him, I pretended that I didn't know what Doctor it was...of course he went and looked it up, I felt a little silly.  He promised me that he would get me good and numb this time, and boy, did he ever.  My legs were completely dead weight, I have never been so numb.  I have a history of getting REALLY low blood pressure while I have an epidural.  At one point my B.P. was 60/30.  The bad thing about low blood pressure is that it make me super nauseous and super dizzy.  With both Maggie and Chloe, I threw up a few times during the c-section, but amazingly I didn't throw up this time.  My Labor and Delivery nurse was determined to get me through it without throwing up and with the help of a ton of fluids, laying on my side and breathing deeply, and some good medication, we did it!

Close to 2:00 they wheeled me into the O.R.  I can't even believe how fast the c-section went.  The epidural was awesome and I didn't feel a thing.  It was by far the best one yet!  She came out screaming and pink.  They dropped the curtain, so I could see her coming out.  My first thought was 'she looks like Maggie'.  

WARNING!!!

This is the actual c-section.  It's not too gory, but if you get queasy from blood, you may not want to watch.

While they were getting me sown back up, they took Hazel into see my parents before they headed to the Nursery.  My recovery went well, it was so nice to have my parents there.  With the other 2, I had to sit in the room by myself while Dave went with the babies.  It was so nice to have company, the time went so much faster.  

Hazel had to spend some extra time in the nursery due to low blood sugar.  She had an I.V. put into her hand, but by day 2 her counts were all where they needed to be.  

As soon as we all got into our room at Mother/Baby, Dave called to have Joan and Weldon bring the girls to meet their sister.  This was one of my favourite moments.  As soon as they came in the room, they both exclaimed 'Happy Birthday, Hazel'.  They were so excited and so cute as they met their new baby sister.  

My recovery from the c-section was going awesome.  I was up walking around and Hazel was doing great.  Dr. Savage said that I could head home Sunday, Feb. 3rd.  Dave and the girls spent most of the day at the hospital on Saturday.  My parents headed to my great-aunt's birthday party.  Dave took the girls home and I had great plans to order a fantastic dinner and enjoy my last evening of cable T.V. and sending my baby to the nursery, so I could have one last chance to sleep through the night.  

'The Bad' 

As soon as I started to eat my supper I began to feel sick.  I felt like I was going to throw-up and the nurse assumed that I was getting sick from my pain killers.  I called Dave and told him that I wasn't doing so good and we figured I was just worn out from having the girls there all day.  Things continued to get worse very quickly.  I was throwing up and had horrible abdominal pain.  The nurse kept telling me that it was probably just gas pains from surgery and that it should pass.  I have never been in so much pain.  I called Dave around 1:00 or 2:00 am and told him to come to the hospital.  I thought I was going to to die.  Dave came quickly and gave me a blessing.  The nurse gave me a shot of morphine but it didn't seem to touch the pain.  We didn't get any sleep as I moaned and cried out through the night.  Dave was my rock and was so glad he was able to be there.  

Around 6:00 am they decided that I needed at C.T. scan to find out what was going on.  I somehow was able to drink the contrast and keep in down.  They took me down to do the scan and unfortunately the results were inconclusive.  There was a lot of swelling, but the doctors weren't sure what was going on.  I asked for my Dad to come and for him and Dave to give me another blessing with anointing.  I was in unbelievable pain.  

They kept me very drugged Sunday through the day and night.  I really don't remember much.  Dr. Savage came in a few times and she brought the obstetrician on call in for a consult.  It just happened to be Dr. Wolsey who grew up in Cardston and was in our last Provo ward.  He is such a nice man and really looked after me.  I also met Dr. Rasmussen, the surgeon on call.  

Early Monday morning they took me to have an x-ray on my abdomen.  Things started to move very quickly after that.  The x-ray showed that the contrast I had taken Sunday morning had not moved out of my small intestines.  It was completely blocked.  I called to tell Dave that I was going to have to have surgery.  My parents and my little family came to the hospital before they took me down to the O.R.  I don't really remember much, but I know we had a quick family prayer before they wheeled me away.  

'The Ugly'

Acute Intestinal Ischemia is not something I would wish on my worst enemy.  Dr. Rasmussen rushed me into surgery and was surprised at the amount of damage done to my small intestines.  A band of scar tissue from a previous surgery had gotten wrapped around my small intestine blocking it, as well as the blood flow to my intestine.  It had killed a lot of tissue, which had turned black and gangrene and septic.   It had caused a very dangerous and life-threatening situation.  They removed 18 inches of my small intestine, my appendix and a few inches of large intestine.  

I woke up in the I.C.U.  Everything is very foggy.  My blood pressure and O2 levels weren't coming up very easily, so I had to spend the night in the I.C.U.  I was very sad that I wasn't able to see my girls, I just wanted to snuggle them all and tell them that I was O.K.  

Tuesday morning they took me to the Critical Care floor, where I lived for a week.  Recovery was hard and painful.  I got discouraged when things weren't healing as fast as I wanted.  I didn't eat anything for 9 days, it just took a long time for my bowels to heal enough to start working.  I am beyond grateful to my amazing husband and wonderful parents who took care of my girls and were unbelievable support for me as I was in the hospital.   

I had great nurses and doctors taking care of me, they were all so concerned and all so caring.  This whole experience has made me realize how precious life is.  I am so blessed that everything turned out the way it did.  I am grateful that it happened while I was already in the hospital and was able to receive the care I needed so quickly.  I am grateful that my parents were able to be here and that they were so willing to stay as long as I needed them.  They took such good care of my babies, I was able to just focus on getting better cause I knew that my family was in the most capable hands with my Mom and Dad.  I am so grateful that the obstruction didn't happen while I was pregnant, it would have put Hazel in serious danger.  There are so many miracles that happened along the way.  

It's hard to believe that Hazel is now 4 weeks old.  She is beautiful and sweet and so good.  I have been so blessed to have such a good natured little girl as I have been healing.  I'm feeling really good and everyday I feel more and more like myself.  Dave has been unbelievable, I could not ask for a better husband and father.  He has taken such good care of me and I love him more than anything.