1 Week Old-- and What a Week It Has Been

Shortly after I posted on Tuesday, I took a nap. Before that nap I was feeling a little chilly, which was strange, but I just put my quilt over me & went to bed. It wasn't much longer before I woke up with violent chills. Took my temperature: 100.2. Chills got progressively worse. They were extremely painful. Took my temperature about 4 minutes later: 102.5. Sam called my doctor. The nurse assumed it was mastitis so she had us come into the office.

It's not mastitis. It's a kidney infection-- and a bad one at that. I was admitted to the hospital that afternoon & am still here. They were so many white blood cells in my urine that they were not able to count them. I've been on 2 different IV antibiotics & also morphine. I had a CT scan the night I got here & it revealed that while I do have a stone in my left kidney (that's not bothering me) my right kidney is clear, other than my infection. That is a huge blessing because if there had also been a stone passing, I would have had to have surgery that night.

Max has been able to stay with me so I can nurse him but another adult has to be here. So poor Sam sleeps on the ridiculously uncomfortable couch & my mom spends time here during the day so Sam can go home for a bit. Max has been a trooper but I feel very guilty that he is so so tired because of the morphine.

We finally go some blood culture results back that would tell us what type of bacteria I have. It's a quite unusual strand of E Coli; one that is extremely resistant to typical antibiotics. In fact, one that I've been on hasn't been helping at all. But luckily (because I have the best doctor on the face of the planet) I am on one that is because she suspected it might be one of the difficult ones. The bad news is that all of the oral antibiotics that would treat it would not also allow me to breast feed. She is currently talking with some drug experts to find out if there's anything that she doesn't know about that I could take. Or another option, so I can go home eventually, would be to come down here to the hospital once a day & get a shot of the antibiotic.

One major condition of me going home is that I have to be fever free for 36-48 hours. So far no fever today! I also asked to be taken off the morphine this morning, mostly to help Max out, but I am managing the pain ok on my own so that's good too. I MIGHT be able to go home tomorrow night or Saturday morning. A lot will depend on if I get a fever again & what my doctor finds out about the drug.

Anyway-- Maxwell is 1 WEEK OLD today! Although, with all that's happened, it seems like much longer than a week ago. He is SUCH a sweet baby & I love him to pieces. I am very grateful for the sacrifices Sam & my mom are making so he can stay with me. I am missing Nathan & Alexa like crazy. It's too hard to bring them up here-- it actually makes it worse for them-- so I don't get to see them until I go home. But thank goodness they have grandma. This whole ordeal has been nothing short of horrible but I am grateful for the timing of it. I am grateful for a supportive husband & family & for the Priesthood blessings I've had as well as the prayers offered on my behalf by friends & family. Things could be worse, right?

**UPDATE** An Infectious Diseases Doctor just came in to see me. GREAT NEWS! There is an oral antibiotic that is safe to take while nursing. So I should be able to come home tomorrow night-- as long as I don't spike a fever. YAY!