With Oliver off my organs, things settled back in place and I took it slow. As the epidural wore off, my cough returned and the stabbing pain I kept thinking was my organs was gone but the overall soreness of my back remained. Once I recovered I actually felt better than I had in a week even though I'd just given birth. With only a small tear and my body having done birth before twice, the relief of the organ pain was liberating. We begged to get home and since my liver elevation bloodwork that morning finally showed the numbers no longer rising but not yet better I was released at 2 pm. As an aside the nurses kept asking how my gallbladder attacks were going but no doctor ever mentioned what the pain could have been.
Both big boys were ecstatic to get home but had been amazing hanging in my room all day both days. We got a birds eye straight on view of the helipad and it took off jut a few feet then always pointed straight in on our room!
Sunday afternoon and Monday went well with us learning O's routine and getting used to breastfeeding. He nursed like a champ but very frequently (hourly) and was a bit confused on his nights and days. Not much sleep was gotten since he wanted mama all night and drowsed all day.
Tuesday started off great but after trying to get a midday nap I woke up with a sore back that had been building for a while and www watching myself for upcoming inside organ pain. A few hours later it hit with bad pain but as long as I stayed still the attacks were gone. Crazy enough it was the exact same pain but opposite side now. Tucked up under my rib cage in from, tender abdomen, and radiating around the back and also down the back right side. I called my OB and asked exactly what tests they had and what I could do. They wanted me at the ER so the doctors could see my files and the OB on call could consult if needed but felt this was not at all a post pregnancy issue. They wanted me to get an ultrasound (US) of the area and more bloodwork. Our neighbor ran over to comber dinner time until our good friend could get there for bedtime routine.
Oliver was breastfeeding hourly so in order to stay with me Tim needed to be there to take him. We went straight in to the ER again. They got us triaged and back to a room which was ironically they isolation but also secure room. I think it was done to avoid exposure for O but it's also where inmates go so everything was on lockdown inside. Very weird!
On call doc started another IV and talked about my plan. They agreed Uktrasound, bloodwork, and orders a chest X-ray to look for pneumonia since I was still coughing somewhat severe over a week later after antibiotics etc. she checked the area and determined if was likely my gallbladder causing issues like the nurses had kept mentioning during delivery but no doctor had ever talked about with me. The pain from the US pressure was going to be so much so she wanted pain relief. The doc was great and looked up breastfeeding and assured me morphine was best and if I feed him now it'd be gone when I needed to feed again. O was fed and morphine started. I've never Taken so many medicines until this past week and never ever a narcotic. I've only done Ibuprofen after previous births. I didn't like the morphine and while it made me loopy enough to get through the US. One I felt it was gone though there was no pain relief. It seems more like pain distraction.
Xray was clear but US showed it was my gallbladder. No clear stones but it sludge throughout it and liquid surrounding it. I needed to be admitted and have one more test but gallbladder removal was looking like the solution. A pharmacist came in and talked to me about safe antibiotics for breastfeeding and went with on the one of two possibilities that was safest. I fed O around 9:30pm again feeling no more morphine and so Tim could then run home with him to collect an over night bag.
This is when I was transferred to the hospitals care and before Tim left my new doctor overseeing me once admitted came in. She took one look at O and made a sour face. Much different than anyone else we had interacted with. "Oh he's going home right?" she said. As my heart dropped I let her know he was staying with an adult caregiver so we could breastfeed plus he was not yet four full days old!! She mentioned I couldn't breastfeed because of meds anyways and might as well with for formula immediately. I wanted what was safest for baby right? At this point I was about to lose it and could tell Tim was really upset with how this was being handled.
We let her know every step I checked safety and he could and would be breastfeed. She said the morphine was a no go and I said too late he's fed after I've had it and won't even do so for another two hours. She pulled out a small guide gave me letters/classes of drugs on why that and antibiotic were unsafe and said "see!" Calmly I explained that she was looking in a quick reference and we need a pharmacist to call or use the national hotline for this. I said that is what was done already and we were given the real answers not the easy way out "no meds no nursing". I was not willing to risk his long term nursing on a whim and it was beyond important to me. She said "pharmacists are not doctors" to which we were thinking, "of course not they study drugs in depth which is what we need now!!"
We just needed to get her out of our room and pray for shift change. She tried to turn super sweet, see the baby etc., and I tried to hold in my tears. I told her I'd call my pediatrician and confirm and she agreed. My pediatrician was great and I burst in to tears as soon as she answered. She said first off trust pharmacist and use the hotline as I had insisted. Morphine is fine if needed but stay away from nursing for a few hours after and there were much better options for the future. We decided to ask for other pain meds as long as nursing jik. I actually stopped all meds for the night. We talked about the test the next morning and she calmly assured me to just figure out each drug that would be given and use the hotline.
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