Welcome home Cora Leigh (sort of)

We were finally able to leave the hospital on Saturday, September 19th, to come home with our precious baby girl. I was still pretty weak from the events of days before but glad to be going home and looking forward to adjusting to being a parent and getting to spend some quality time with my parents. Here is a pic of Cora Leigh on our way home from the hospital.

Adorable, isn't she? Saturday night, Cora did pretty well. She was a little fussy through the night, but Grandma volunteered to stay up and console her so I could get some much needed rest.

Sunday, we took Cora for her first appointment with the pediatrician. She checked out okay, but her jaundice levels were still a little high, so we set up another appointment for the next morning to have them checked again. Sunday, my brother and sister-in-law also made the trip up from Chattanooga to meet their new niece. This was especially exciting as they are also expecting a baby girl in November! We got to spend some time together and had a really nice meal that Mom had cooked for us.

Unfortunately, what started as such a nice day ended not so nice. Sunday evening, I started chilling uncontrollably. Jeremy checked my temp and it was normal. I seemed to get myself warmed up and then started chilling again. I decided to go on to bed, and Jeremy noticed that my arms were freezing. He took my temp again and it was 103.6. He started looking through the papers they had given us at the hospital and saw that you were supposed to contact them if you had a temperature of 100.4 or greater. Well, I heard 104 and thought that I was just fine and needed to stay home. Needless to stay, everyone else had a different idea.

So everyone frantically started getting things together to head back to the triage unit in the labor/delivery department at UK hospital. My fever was still high when we got there, and they began to run all sorts of tests to see what was wrong. They ruled out all of the serious stuff but could not figure out what was wrong. They sent me home, told me to talk ibuprofen and tylenol to manage the fever, and said to look for any new symptoms that may appear in the next couple of days. We got home Sunday night/Monday morning at about 3:30, and Cora did not sleep the rest of the night. Again, Grandma helped with consoling Cora, though I didn't get much rest either.

I called early Monday morning to reschedule Cora's pediatrician appointment for a little later in the day. We were all exhausted. When we went for this check up, her jaundice levels had gone down, but the doctor wanted to see her one more time on Wednesday. She had gained an ounce since Monday - back up to 5 lbs, 8 oz - so it was good her weight was coming up from what she lost in the hospital.

Monday, a little earlier in the evening this time, my fever spiked again even with the ibuprofen and tylenol. Jeremy called triage and talked to one of the doctors and they wanted him to bring me back in. We were once again there for several hours. The ran some more tests and got a clean urine sample from me this time. They found that I had a urinary tract infection. They wrote a prescription for an antibiotic and sent me on my way. I was so excited that it was such a simple diagnosis that should be easily taken care of! However, this turned out to not be the case.

Tuesday, I had to go to my doctor to follow up regarding my issues. I was still pretty anemic based on the labs they had done on me the night before, so Dr. Zachman suggested that I double up on my iron pills and continue the antibiotic and that I should be feeling better soon. We spent the rest of the day at home - no trip to the hospital! My fever was still going up and down, but we decided to wait for the antibiotic to kick in. We got to eat dinner together, watched some TV, and gave Cora Leigh her first bath! She was not a fan, but we thought it was the most adorable thing ever. :)














Wednesday afternoon, my fever was back up to 102, again with taking fever reducers. It was during business hours, so Jeremy called and talked to my OB. Much to my disappointment, he told Jeremy to take me back to the hospital. It was Cora's 1-week birthday, and I really did not want to spend it in the hospital. I cried like a baby - not feeling good, being sleep deprived, and hormones will do that to you.

Long story short, they were concerned about a rare condition where blood clots form deep in the pelvis after giving birth - the only symptom is fever. So, they admitted me, ran all sorts of tests - all of which came back fine, and changed my antibiotic to see what my fever would do. We were in the hospital Wednesday and Thursday night, just waiting to see what happened. I continued to have a low-grade fever but never saw the spikes that we had been seeing in the previous days. Based on that, they decided that it was a UTI/bladder infection and sent me home with 7 more days of antibiotics. So, we finally got to go home on Friday! This time it was for good. I haven't had a fever spike since then.

We had the weekend to try and get some quality visiting time in with my parents. They were such a help taking care of the animals, cleaning the house, doing laundry, mowing the yard, and making numerous trips back and forth to the hospital to bring us things that we needed and just taking care of us in general. They had to leave on Sunday which was really difficult for everyone. I hated that the week hadn't gone a little better and wished they would have been able to spend more time with Cora Leigh. However, I am truly grateful that they were there to help us through the difficult week.

We did enjoy what time we had together. Here are some pics from the weekend!