[For those of you just starting to read- you can read the super-extended, emotional version of my surgery with details here. In a nutshell, I'm 34 weeks pregnant and had to have an emergency open appendectomy, open meaning a five inch incision instead of the standard laproscopic two two-inch incisions.]
The recovery for this surgery has been a lot easier than expected. I had never under gone a surgery and didn't know what to expect and how long things would take. I assumed it would take around two weeks atleast to feel okay again, and that I'd be absalutly miserable in the days following the procedure. However, it was a slice of cake.
I'll start with medications and equipment that was on/in me in the hours following my surgery, and days after. My hospital stay was just two days, which was just fine, even though my family thought it was a little early, I was more than ready. Right after the surgery, I had the standard fetal heart rate monitor and contraction monitor straps on my belly, a finger clamp for my pulse, and leg massagers, for equipment. For medications, I had an epidural for the surgery itself that wore off prematurely, morphine, an IV drip (of course), percoset (a mixture of acetaminophen and oxycodone), and antibiotics to ward off infection of the incision. If you are wondering what the hell a leg massager is, so was I when they strapped 'em to my legs. Essentially, when you undergo any surgery it puts you at risk for blood clots, if you don't use your limbs actively they assign some device to stimulate blood flow for you. In this case, it was my legs, because they didn't expect me to be walking quite as soon as I did. It's basically a blood pressure cuff-style, two foot long, velcro-ed stretch of fabric that inflates at set time intervals. It's just as weird as it sounds, especially when you're trying to sleep. After I was released from the hospital, I was left with a prescription of percoset and some reccomendations for other medications non-prescription. Such as, Milk of Magnesia to help me with a bowel movement and pepcid to keep the acid in my belly down.
Physically after the surgery, I felt relief. I felt so much better. I sat up instantly, walked to the bathroom 30 minutes post-surgery and my incision DID hurt, but in comparison to the pain I'd been walking around with for two days prior, it was a breeze. Most of the pain was soreness when the baby kicked the inner stitches. On the inside, I was stitched up with dissolvable stitched for my muscles, and on the outside I was glued shut. They couldn't risk stitching the outside since I was so pregnant, if they for some reason couldn't handle me stretching, they would rip open and cause so many problems, and if I were to gain very much weight before I had the baby, it could stretch it open in between stitches. All in all, I was dissapointed to not have a more gruesome battle wound, but they say it scars less, so that's something nice about it.
My incision has actually healed very quickly and about four days after the procedure i went in for an appt I made because I was concerned about the contractions I was having, they were making my belly intensely sore and the baby had gotten very fussy during contractions in comparison to when she just sat still during them, and the doctor took some of my tape off of the incision, and it had healed shut already! I am allowed to remove the tapes whenever I like now, but my allergy to the tape has made it a little painful to do so, and I really just would rather wait for them to fall off. I get to start taking baths again and enjoy a pool once more at two weeks recovery.
I'm hoping that Little Foot will wait at least that long to make an appearance. It would be perfect timing. At two weeks into my recovery, not only do they expect the muscle to be mostly healed up, (which will make pushing during delivery a little less straining), but we'll have made it to 37 weeks. For those of you without children and not familiar with pregnancy terms and important dates- 37 weeks is full term!! Any baby born after 37 weeks, is no longer premature. We have had a hard pregnancy, and weren't confident in the beginning that we'd make it full term. We'd had a lot of pre-term labor scares and even a car accident. We didn't think we'd make it to 34 weeks and our OB shared the same concern. We had no idea we'd make it this far, and through a surgery!!! It feels like a huge acheivment on my part and I've never felt so proud.
This recovery has been pretty easy and I really have had the best support team. My partner has been there every step of the way, even when it meant crying through a night of contractions, or a midnight shower. He's gotten up at ridiculous times to make me something to eat or to get my meds, and I can't count how often he got up to help me out of bed or the tub when I was feeling really tired or sore. Anyone facing a surgery, or a hard pregnancy, or both, just know you can do it! Just stay positive and never stop thinking of the reward at the end, whether it's just improved health, or a precious new addition to your family, you really can!
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