I'm back online

Hello, everyone! It's Heather. I'm back to feeling more like my usual self, which is a huge answered prayer in and of itself! I'll try to fill you in on the past couple days as best as I can. (and, yes, I do remember them!)

The first day out of surgery I already mentioned in the previous post--lots of grogginess and basically feeling like I'd been hit by a truck (which is funny, because somehow at Nick's work the story was that I'd been in a car accident and that it was the cause of my water breaking. NOT true, but I sure felt like it!). The next day was MUCH better, just feeling a lot more clear headed after I was completely free of the remnants of anesthesia, including the difficulties breathing. I was able to get out of bed, with the loving assistance of my husband. His comment was that he helped me get into this mess, so he was going to be sure to help me all the way through it, too. :) They took me off the IVs (but left the ports in just in case), and the catheter, which helped with mobility. I started feeling a little queasy, and was having some really uncomfortable abdominal pains, but it was all from gassiness! I've never had any major problems in that area, but MAN will abdominal surgery bring them on with a vengeance! Thankfully, modern medication is wonderful in this arena, and I got some medication for both that helped tremendously. I have to be honest and say when you haven't let one rip for 3 or four days and are backing up because of it, I was praising God when the first toot squeaked out. Ha! After that was taken care of, I was able to walk down the hall once or twice on Wednesday. I'm still not completely sure-footed, as I did loose a LOT of blood, but am slowly getting there.

Today has been an improvement as well, just feeling stronger and the pain of the surgery lessening. I was able to take a shower this morning, which made me feel like a whole new person. (seriously, it's the simple things...) Nick stayed the night with me again on Wed., and we both had a great night's sleep, since the nurses only had to check on me once or twice and my IVs weren't going off randomly, and we were pretty much exhausted to boot. I got a little nap in this afternoon, as well, which was great. I have been having some headaches off and on today, as well as a little dizzy/lightheadedness, so they're going to run a blood count again to make sure I'm okay, and if not they'll probably give me another unit of blood tomorrow. The intention is to have me be discharged tomorrow, but I will be able to stay at the hospital in the same room for a few days on a boarding status. This just means I stay in the room, but don't have nurses taking vitals all the time (unless something seems funny and I can call them in), and I don't get meals. I feel more comfortable staying on for a couple more days to gain strength in walking and doing things a *little* more independently. Wed don't have railings at our house for me to hold, AND we have stairs, so I want to make sure I'm a little stronger on my feet before I attempt that. Plus, it means I'm just right down the hall from Titus, which is much more convenient than a 25 minute drive.

Speaking of little man, he's still holding steady and doing great. I got to hold him for the first time on Wed. morning, and have been able to get my hands on him a couple times a day since. He's still under the bili lights, as his numbers have not improved much yet, so we have to limit the time we take him away from them. It's normal for the numbers to stay the same for a few days before improving, and it's always better than them getting higher. He's been able to eat my milk, and has been doing very well. They started him out at 3 mL, and have since increased now to 9 mL. They'll increase the amounts by 3 mL every 12 hours until he reaches 36 mL, and he'll stay there for a while, hopefully beginning to gain weight. They stopped his antibiotics, as he has shown no sign of infection. So far, things have been going REALLY well, and all the nurses and docs over there have been very impressed and greatly satisfied with his progress. We do still have a long way ahead of us, though.

Right now, we're just loving on Titus as much as possible. He fits absolutely perfectly right on your sternum, under your chin. He's really strong, too. When we transferred him from his bed to my chest, he got upset (as any comfortably sleeping baby does!), and was fussing and crying a bit as I got him settled and calm again, and he was able to pick his head up off my chest by himself! He's a little fighter. :) I love watching his facial expressions while he sleeps, and seeing his little arms and legs move around while he dreams. They are so skinny compared to Ezra, especially his feet.

I cannot finish this post without thanking my husband for the wonderful support he has been this week. He has stayed by my side literally and figuratively in so many ways. He has helped me by fetching anything and everything I've needed, feeding me, holding my cup of water with the straw to my mouth, getting me in and out of bed (talk about a rock to hold onto), rolling me over, assisting me to the bathroom, washing my back, and many more things. One fun thing we've shared this time around is getting my milk supply going. Usually this is something that's just kind of between mom and baby, but since Titus is separate from us right now, and pumping and hand expressing are a little tricky when you're feeling perfectly normal, I've needed a lot of help. Catching those first few drops in a syringe is tricky, and Nick has faithfully helped catch every last drop of gold for our Titus to eat. He has really enjoyed seeing the progress each pumping as my supply has increased. It has been a wonderful thing to be able to share together, and knowing that through our teamwork our little guy is getting food to make him stronger and continue to develop has been priceless. So honey, when you read this, know that I thank God for you daily, because I can't even imagine how impossible these past few weeks would have been without you. I love you!

The kids have been doing okay, but have had a little head cold, so weren't able to visit yesterday (Wednesday). Stella was doing better today, so she was able to come after her kindergarten (where she proudly brought a picture of her new brother), and her first swimming lesson, which Nick was able to take her to. She had a BLAST, and was excited to share all the details about it with me when she came to visit later that afternoon. THEN we got to take her down to see her new brother. She was fascinated by how little he is, and asked lots of questions about all the tubes and wires connected to him and what they are for. She really wanted to be able to touch him, but we told her she'll have to wait until tomorrow, just to be sure her germs are gone. Ezra still had a junky nose, so he'll have to wait until he's better as well, which is hard for me to not see him, but he seems to be enjoying having Gammy and Papa for entertainment enough.

I really want to post some more pictures with all this info, but the WiFi has been really slow and not allowing it! I will as soon as I can, but for now you can visit our flickr page to see them: www.flickr.com/photos/schultesingermany

Here's our current list of prayer requests:
*For protection against infection for both Heather and Titus
*For Titus to continue tolerating food well and be able to get to the point of starting to gain weight, and also for the jaundice to be cleared away
*For Heather's headaches and dizziness to go away, be it through more blood, or just her body being able to produce more blood cells to get her back to normal counts
*For Nick as he continues to have one foot in the hospital and the other at home
*For our kids, who have been doing wonderfully through this all, but Stella seems to be having a little harder time the past couple days
*For my parents and their continued care for our kids and us. They will be going back home on Saturday
*For Nick's mom to have safe travels to come be with us on Saturday and stay to the end of the month