First Outing

Ellie had her first outing this morning: to the ER for me! Don't worry, I'm fine. Over the past 24 hours I started having SEVERE swelling in both legs. I mean SEVERE. I've never seen anything like it. It's from the tips of my pudgy toes to about 5 inches above my knees. At first, I wasn't too concerned, but in the course of about 2 hours (2-4 a.m. this morning) It went from below the knees to the 5 inches above. At that point, I called my OB's emergency answering service. After my description she promptly told me to to go the ER. They were concerned about a possible development of preeclampsia. I had never heard of it happening, but some women develop it after giving birth.

So, we packed up Ellie, who had been up all night, and my mom took us over. They tested for protein in my urine and it came back negative - a sign that show that this wasn't pre-e. Also, since I have the swelling in both legs, they weren't too concerned about blood clots. My OB arrived at the hospital at 7 and after performing a c-section, the ER doc contacted him. My doc felt that it is most likely delayed swelling from the much larger than normal amount of IV fluids I received while at the hospital. I have been told to walk as much as I can tolerate at this point, and when not walking or nursing, elevate my feet above my heart. He doesn't want to give my any diuretics since I am nursing, so we're giving it two weeks and watching it closely.

All in all, that's good news to me. It was one of those things that I felt funny going in because I felt fine otherwise, but it was weighing heavily on me and was definitely not normal.

Ellie was fantastic on the trip, by the way. She ate just before we left the house, and since she had been up so long, never made a peep in her car seat.

So, the big question is Do you want to see a picture of my grotesque legs? I guess we'll take a poll. :-)