My Aching Back, Temperature Regulation and Other Surprises

I was ready to go home early. The hospital is okay, the food is actually great. It is so healthy and fresh. I only had to have chicken broth for one meal and even that was pretty darn fantastic, seriously, it was yummy and full of flavor. The nurses haven't been pushing on my tummy to often or too hard. Bless them. After two days of laying in the bed though, my back starts to ache. Since I just got sliced open on the front, I can't bend and twist and stretch out my back like I know would feel amazing. I just have to deal with it and it is getting more and more miserable. I also feel well enough that I went home a day early, Monday instead of Tuesday, and have weaned myself from the pain meds and am feeling okay. All good signs, but I'm bored in the hospital. Not bored enough to pick up a book though. Saturday the kids came to visit and I actually asked Brian to take them home after an hour and a half. I was so frazzled and exhausted. And I only sat in the bed while they ran around the room. That made me realize I wasn't actually ready to head out the door just yet. So I rested Sunday and they brought Candyland to play with me in bed to keep the visit a bit more calm. It helped. Ben and I really enjoyed the time together and Maddie went on a "baby hunt" with dad, then grandma, then dad to keep her busy. She liked looking in the window in the nursery to see the babies. Monday, Brian went to work in the morning, the doctor signed me out in the morning and circumcised poor Jacob. After the pediatrician checked out Jacob later on and I ate lunch, Brian came and we packed up and headed home. It was so nice to change into regular clothes and know I didn't have to spend another day laying on that bed. When we got home, I told Brian we needed a picture of us arriving home. I forgot to do that with Ben and now there is a hole in is baby book that can never be filled. He grabbed the camera and we snapped a picture at the car. I had a t-shirt on and my coat wasn't zipped up, but felt okay. As soon as we started walking into the house, a major chill hit my entire body. I could barely walk my entire body wanted to curl in a ball. Every little shuffle of my feet hurt and I was shaking so bad. I didn't think I could make it into the house and I couldn't really talk. I just prayed Brian would hurry with Jacob and get the door unlocked so I could get inside and warm up. My body was shaking and jerking all over the place. I got to the couch and grabbed the quilt Ben was using for his tent and desperately held it clutched up to my chest trying to warm up, still in my coat. Tears of pain were rolling down my face and every muscle in my body was screaming and clenched tight. I was so miserable. When Brian and my mom found me on the couch crying and shaking they were really worried. My mom said she couldn't believe they would send me home from the hospital in such bad shape. After a half hour or so my body warmed and I could relax enough to lay down, still in my coat under the quilt. I just laid there forever, scared to get up and leave my warm cocoon. Finally I had to use the bathroom bad enough I got up, but got the chills again after about two minutes so rushed back to the couch. Brian turned the house temperature up really high and I kept well covered all day. Funny to think I had the same trouble both other times in the hospital and had thought just that morning, "WOW! I never had to call the nurses in tears asking for blankets from the warmer! It is so painful and miserable to have that temperature regulating problem...I'm so grateful it didn't happen this time!" Oh well, so it happened in the end. I still have problems overnight, but everyone does. I go to sleep under two blankets in a t-shirt and am just right. I wake up with my shirt and sheets soaked with sweat. I have to change shirts multiple times at night because when I get up to nurse I am so cold in my wet shirt. My abdominal muscles haven't hurt too bad this time considering I was sliced open. It is still hard to turn over in bed or take a deep breath or cough or laugh. Coughing makes me cry out in pain but it's getting better every day. The day after the surgery I noticed how hard it was to take a deep breath. During the surgery before they got Jacob out it felt like they were totally throwing my body around the table. The best way to describe the tugs and pulls was like they kept grabbing my rib cage on the right side and lifting my chest cavity up as they tugged and tried to wiggle Jacob out. Sure enough, my right ribcage hurt like a really deep internal bruise on my lung or something for the next three or four days. It wasn't too bad unless I took a deep breath and then it really hurt. I guess Jacob must have really been wedged up inside of me. That's all I can think of for now. Won't it be weird to re-read all this when I'm in my 60's? Will I think I was a wimp?