That first night I still didn’t fart or poop, although I slept much better. In the morning I had a new nurse, a really nice older woman who may have been Polish, I am not sure, but I like to think of it like she was like my Polish grandma would have been. She again asked if I had passed gas or had a bowel movement, I said no and she said that is your job for today, and I accepted it. I got to moving around. I tried bending over as much as I could to get my butt in the air and get things working I think this helped some. The day before the doctor had listened to my stomach with the stethoscope and he had said it was quiet in there, I asked if that was good, and he said, no, he wanted to hear my stomach working. Today he said he heard some movement.
My new nurse though, she wanted progress. She brought me a stool softener pill with breakfast, but best of all was the coffee on my breakfast tray, this was like heaven. After she saw how little of my breakfast I ate, I thought I had done a great job by the way, she asked what else I would eat. Apple, banana, cereal? I agreed to the apple and said perhaps the fiber would help. She smiled at the fiber part and went off to retrieve the apple. When she came back she asked what about prune juice, I said I liked prunes and she came back with a cup of that as well. This lady meant business.
After a little while my nurse came back with another approach, milk of magnesia, man we were going to attack this thing from all angles. I think the thing is she told me she had constipation once and it was miserable, so to a fault or not I was not going to be constipated on her watch.
At some point a PA with the surgeons office came by to remove my bandages, the sticker stitches things still remained below and will come off in time. He told me I could shower as I wanted and to watch for pink areas as this would be a sign of infection. I haven’t said this yet to Elliott but I thought he was kind of cute. Elliott was gone when he first got there and when Elliott returned he was still taking care of me and he introduced himself to Elliott. He told Elliott he thought he looked like John Cusack and I thought that was good, Elliott will of course always be the best looking guy in my book, not to mention just the best overall guy in the world, ok enough trying to make up for the cute comment. Later my surgeon came in as well and he said I looked good and he didn’t see a reason why I couldn’t go home. He made reference to he thought it was ok for me to go home last night, I am glad they hadn’t sent me home yet because I didn’t really feel ready to go home the night before, now I felt ready. I joked with my surgeon that I didn’t think they were going to let me leave until I farted, and he said some people in this hospital are a bit obsessed with that.
Shortly, they did agree to let me go home. Not until we had lunch though, my new favorite nurse didn’t want me and Elliott to have to cook so she stole a plate for Elliott too and brought me another stool softener of course. We ate the strange beef under gravy and I can’t recall what else was on the plate and I was glad Elliott got to experience hospital food.
Elliott then went to retrieve the car and my nurse wheeled me out to great him. It was raining a bit so toward the end she ran with me in the wheel chair to the car and over every sidewalk crack I thought I might die, my stomach hurt so bad. By the time I got to the car I was in no shape for a car ride, and the ride home was indeed miserable. Every pothole, bump and asphalt imperfection hurt and I wanted to cry, I wished I had stayed at the hospital. When we got home I felt like I was having contractions as a pain came and went like clockwork, and it was unlike anything I had felt before and I was really worried. One of the biggest concerns with the surgery is that it will trigger early labor. We called the doctor but couldn’t reach her and left her a message. Elliott was amazing he got the labor and delivery book, sprang into action and started telling me what to do, this is what I needed to get out of my concentration on the pain. He had me drink two glasses of water and lie down. I didn’t realize that with contractions you would be able to feel the uterus harden from the outside and this was definitely not happening. We waited for the “contractions” so he could time them, but they did not return. My “contractions” were lasting 20-30 seconds with 60 seconds between, real contractions are much different Elliott read. In the midst of my pain I had taken another Vicodin and perhaps that helped because I eventually fell asleep. When I woke up my doctor was calling back to say it sounded like intestinal cramping.
Intestinal cramping, really, you think, I had only pancaked many different ways on top of each other to get my stomach moving with very little in it to move in the first place, and then had a bumpy car ride home to top of it, not a well planned way to start my journey home. The rest of the day was much better though. All of the constipation treatments did eventually work, that night I had to lift myself out of bed as fast as possible, and then again 45 mins later and well things haven’t really been the same since, although I expect in another day or so my stomach will be better. I know they said taking the antibiotics wouldn’t help either, they also upset the stomach. So thats its, I originally estimated it would take me 8 parts and I was pretty close. We have been home for 3 full days now and I feel like a new woman. I can almost walk at a normal pace. Coughing does still hurt. I feel like I can sit myself up more and more everyday. And my appetite has returned, not to full strength but much better than it was.
The one thing I am most mad about is I had worked really hard to be in good shape for this pregnancy. I was working out 3 days a week most weeks, strengthening my core and preparing my mind and body for labor. The PA told me that typically after abdominal surgeries patients are told to wait 4-6 weeks to workout, that is 25% of the remainder of my pregnancy. I feel like it will be hard for me to regain what I had worked to have up until this point when I start back up again. I realize though I can’t chose my cards, so this is what I have. Elliott and I also discussed that perhaps what I was preparing for was this surgery, and perhaps thats true.
The other ironic thing is I would like to have a natural childbirth if possible, with preferably no drugs and intervention. Well that seems a bit funny as last weekend I had general anesthesia, and took both morphine and Vicodin. Although what I have heard from other mom’s and our doulas is to have a plan and be flexible. I don’t consider our goals of a natural childbirth a loss at this point, I just realize that as my mom would say, “the best laid plans often go awry.” So now we just re-chart our plan and prepare to be flexible as needed.
The end.
