A Day in Our Life with Baby Bean

We've been home for 3 weeks now. Beaner is almost 4 weeks old! It's flown by. The first few weeks at home have been very tiring. My BP went from very high at the hospital to very low at home with the medicine I was on. I was lightheaded with headaches and fatigue. Now that I"m off the medicine, I realize how much of a fog I was in when we first got home. Now, I'm just "new mom tired" and I am handling that so much better.
Oh my this guy is cute!!

Okay. So. A Day in Our Life with Baby Bean.

Bean sleeps a lot and through the night (usually) only wakes up to eat about every 3-4 hours. K is great and takes him after the 6am/7am feeding so I can get a few extra hours of sleep or shower before he is hungry again.

Then K heads off to the gym and run errands and Bean and I get some fun play time while he is alert in the mornings. Yesterday we got out the play gym and he seemed to enjoy looking around. It's amazing how much they change, he can see us much better and seems to look at us when we talk.

The rest of the day is feeding, fussing, cuddling, a lot of sleeping, and a LOT of spit up. Normal baby type things. We are just soaking it up and loving on this little guy.  Bean and I will be so sad when K goes back to work next week and I know K is already missing him.

Baby Bean's Birth Story-Family Edition

Our family has been great. I can't even tell you how great my mom and mom-in-law were when I was sick at the hospital after birth. They stayed with us all through the night, got only a few minutes of sleep and helped us make it through our first nights. Bean's birth story isn't complete without sharing the photos of our families who are overjoyed to have this little guy in our lives. I think their enthusiasm is obvious.

Baby Bean's Arrival

He is here! 

Our little bean has made his debut. Actually it took me a long time to get blogging again so he's nearly 4 weeks now. But I'm backtracking and posting his birth story first.....
He was born on a cold Thursday and came without too much of a fuss. My parents and K were there during labor and the rest of the family arrived as I was pushing, just in time to meet our little guy.
He was as perfect as could be! Red, squealing, with a giant cone head that had a little bit of dark hair. Although now it's a normal head with more of a light brown with red tint like momma. :) He was cuddled and kissed and loved all around. I'm so glad that part of our experience was fairly easy and so amazing!

The next few days proved to be a little harder for me.

 Right before I delivered, my blood pressure was up. Actually the last few weeks before we had him, my blood pressure had been sporadically high. My protein tests were normal so I wasn't technically deemed preeclampsia. I chose to be induced 2 days before my due date. I was really wishy washy on that decision and looking back I'm so glad I did. I think it saved Bean and I from further complications and we were at the hospital when I got sick instead of at home. The Dr. said that normally delivery is the treatment for preeclampsia and after I delivered it would most likely go back to normal.
Unfortunately that did not happen. After I delivered, though I felt okay, my blood pressure got worse so they ran tests and monitored my blood pressure every hour. My Dr. put me on a blood pressure pill which helped the numbers, but my bloodwork came back with my liver enzymes a little high and everything else normal. So I was being watched some more and if things didn't improve I had to be put on IV magnesium. If things were better, I could go home.  The next day we were supposed to go home, I felt fine, we packed our bags up, had my parents come take some "going home pictures" for us.

My Dr. came in and said "You are really not going to like me." My liver enzymes had increased, though everything else was normal and I wasn't having enough fluid output. I had postpartum preeclampsia and HELLP Syndrome.  In a matter of minutes, I was hooked up to magnesium IV, had more blood drawn and was told to be prepared for the medicine to make me feel like I had been hit by a semi.
They were not joking.

Bean was released, which meant we could not utilize the nursery to give us a break. The nurses were nice enough to give us extra diapers and wipes. I could not get out of bed except to pee and had to have someone drag my IV stand with me when I went because I nearly hit the floor from being so dizzy if I stood up. K was on his own in taking care of Bean.The first night on the IV, my mom (who had just left the hospital) came back over and stayed with us. I was still trying to breastfeed, my milk was coming in, and I could barely hold him because of the medicine making me blurry and weak. So after a long, horrible night, my mom got me the equipment and I pumped so that K could take over feedings. The next day, my numbers were still not improving so they kept me on the IV another 24 hours. This time my mom and K's mom switched and my mother in law came to help drag me to the bathroom and help K with little Bean. It was a long two days. Finally on Tuesday morning, I was able to come off the IV and rest. If things looked okay, I was going home that evening. I was determined to go home by this point!
A few hours off the medicine and I felt much better. We took our second set of "going home pictures" and ran out of there as fast as possible.

Later I googled all about HELLP Syndrome and the postpartum preeclampsia which turns out is pretty rare, especially the HELLP. Most people get that after they've gone home and have blurred vision, or even seizures. The IV medicine was keeping me from seizing and helping my liver enzymes to return to normal. I'm so grateful that my Dr. caught everything early and I was so well taken care of. It was so nice to be back at home and begin our life as a family of three.