Saturday, August 1, 2020

Recovery

I am officially 4 and 1/2 weeks post op. In some ways it feels like the longest 4 weeks ever and in other ways it has flown by! Here are a few things I have learned about myself:

-I’m terrible at resting. 
-My attention span is short
-I’m terrible at asking for help
-It’s hard for me to get into a tv show or movie
-My husband will tell you I’m stubborn

Week 1: REST
The big thing I remember from the first week was rest. Most of week 1 I was in and out of sleep. We got home from the hospital on Friday and I was honestly feeling pretty good. The car ride home from the hospital was terrible, but once home, it was alright. The 4th of July was Saturday and I was doing okay. I even did a craft with the boys and that evening we did fireworks. I sat the whole time, but overall I felt pretty good. Starting on Sunday, I’m not sure what changed or maybe I just did too much on Saturday, but I was in pain. If I didn’t stay up on my meds, I could feel it and I had to lay down a lot. Our nanny started on Monday that week and I was so thankful for her. Trevor worked from home that week and between him and our nanny learning the ropes, my only job was to rest and I did just that. I started watching Virgin River on Netflix, but sometimes it was hard to connect all the pieces because I was in and out of sleep through it all. I did okay for a few days, but after that I was sick of resting and bored. But if I got up and moved too much I was in a lot of pain. So I did my best because my doctor said my recovery really depended on me. If I did too much, it would take longer and I wasn’t interested in that! 








Week 2: ROUGH
The big thing I remember about week 2 was it being rough! I honestly thought each day I would feel better and better but week 2 was significantly harder than week 1. I didn’t have any more meds, I’m not a huge fan of taking the stuff they sent home with me but I felt like I needed every ounce they offered for this. Even after delivery for all 3 babies I hardly took any pain meds, so I was surprised that I finished all of this pain medicine. If I stood for too long I was in a great deal of pain and if I walked too much during the day I would start cramping really bad. I remember Thursday of the 2nd week I was in tears! I had the worst cramping and I was feeling really defeated. Like it was contraction cramping all over again! I thought I had a pretty high pain tolerance but I was not doing so well. 

Trevor’s work also seemed to pick up a little and I could tell he was stressed. Trevor has great personality traits and qualities for dealing with a lot in a high stress environment. He is very structured, organized and methodical. But he is also cool, calm and collected. He rarely gets frazzled and he somehow manages to get everything done effectively. I could tell that he was struggling this week trying to take care of everything at work and everything at home. At one point he said, “wow Jillian, I feel like you. I haven’t had time to sqeeeze in even a shower.” I could tell it was all catching up to him. I felt for him and really understood, but there wasn’t much I could do to help that week. I prayed for him a lot and his endurance to juggle it all. He honestly did amazing, I just bring this up because it was honestly the hardest week. 

We had a meal train through all of this, HUGE shout out to everyone who served us in this way!! You have no idea how much this helped! I couldn’t be on my feet for more than 10-15 minute spans and for Trevor to not have to worry about preparing dinner for all of us in addition to what he was juggling was a huge blessing to us! I am so grateful for you all!! 



Super dad! 


More ice cream! Ice cream always makes it better! 



Week 3: in sticking with the “R” theme I’ll say RISE
What I remember from week 3 was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I felt great almost every morning. I told you I’m pretty terrible at resting, so I would hit the ground running in the morning and by about an hour after I got up and going I would run out of steam. I’d feel good and honestly I didn’t have a lot of “pain” that week but I would exhaust myself. So I ended up re-watching Virgin River. Haha! I tried some other shows but would lose interest pretty quickly and since I slept through a lot of Virgin River the first time, I decided to watch it again awake! Haha! I also worked a lot this week and that felt good. I can lay down and work for the most part, so I’m glad I had that to be honest. My brain was wide awake and ready to go but my body was not following suit. 




First walk!


Finally got cleared to hold this sweet thing! 


I got to attend this guy’s last t-ball game!


Week 4: RECESS
We took a small recess from everything going on. During week 4 we took our family vacation to Michigan. I feel like this trip was just destined to happen. Trevor and I were actually supposed to be in Hawaii but the trip was postponed. My surgery was scheduled just in time for my doctor to release me and tell me that it was okay to travel with certain limitations. And because of Covid the guy that owns the house that we stayed in was very understanding of our last minute travel arrangements. It was an amazing week, but wow! It made me appreciate Trevor even more! The house we stayed in was a 3 story house and since I still can’t lift much he did all the heavy (and light) lifting! He carried Holland every time she had to go up or down stairs, he lugged every bit of luggage either up or down, he cared for all 3 kids at times so I could avoid doing the stairs as much as possible, he wore Holland every time to and from the beach! Seriously, he is our hero! I ended the week staring at my beautiful little girl praying that she finds a husband as good as her dad is to me! So thankful for him and our time together this week!




Week 5: REGROUP
I’m still not fully recovered and I still feel it when I do too much, but we’re getting there. I have a feeling this week and next week will be revolved around setting new norms, establishing new routines and just getting a new rhythm down. To be honest, we haven’t really found our groove since Holland’s been born. It’s been a wild 3 months and I’m ready for a bit of “normalcy” ...whatever that is! Haha! 


I’m on my own this week. It’s my first week with no help! Please pray for me tomorrow to have endurance and strength. I’m not expecting much from my day, but I’m excited to sit and play with my kids and enjoy them!

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