Oh no More to the Birth of Dougie!

So the next thing on my list is this. After having an epidural that I didn't get medicine with, therefor no pain relief, I got the dreaded spinal headache. Firstly, they tell you all the possible side effects and you just think "I don't care, shut up and give me the drugs so I can feel better". Secondly you think you will not be one of those people that has one of those things happen to you. Well truth is, if its a side effect you can in fact be the victim of one or more then one. The day I had Dougie I felt good but that night I started to get the worst headache, when I was laying down I felt ok but once I started to raise my head my head hurt & my neck hurt so bad. I told the nurse & she though it might be a spinal headache. I just figured I pulled a neck muscle. She told me she was going to let anaesthesiology know and she also got me a heating pad. I started to feel a little better and was in denial so I figured everything would just heal up on its own. The anaesthesiologist told the nurse to give me some Norco (which I declined as I had never had a heavy pain killer and I wasn't about to start taking them, also I was nursing and I worried about the effects on Dougie). The next morning I felt pretty good so I talked to the anaesthesiologist and told him so. He figured whatever it was had gone away but told me to call if I had any more problems. I just wanted to go home. Once I was discharged I went home & it was kind of late so I went to bed. The next morning my head & neck hurt so bad. It only hurt when I raised my head even just a little bit. The pain was excruciating. It traveled up my neck, up the back of my head all the way around into my forehead and eye sockets. I couldn't even walt to the bathroom, it hurt so bad. A few days after dealing with the pain I called the hospital back. They told me it was a spinal headache and to drink lots of caffeine. I drank tons of Mountain Dew & coffee. Plus I took Tylenol & IB (which didn't do a thing for it). When Dougie was 4 days old I had to take him to the DRs. I hurt so bad I literally laid down in the waiting room. Once in the private room to have Dougie checked, I talked to our Dr. He told me to go and have it fixed. I was really nervous to have a blood patch. I had already messed up by having the epi and I didn't want to make another mistake. I trusted our Dr though as he is a friend and our Dr so I called out to Cooperstown and talked to anaesthesiology. They told me to come in and it was only a 5 minute procedure. So off to Cooperstown we went. I went into the ER as I was told to. They got me into one of the rooms, hooked me up to IV and I had to wait. I was in the ER over 3 hours. Meanwhile Arthur had all the kids in the truck and Ariel had to stay with me in the room in case Dougie needed to nurse. Once they were ready for me I was wheeled downstairs into the OR area. I waited there even longer. I was crying because I was scared and I missed my family. Once again I felt like I had failed. The nurses were very nice and reassured me that everything would be fine. Once the Dr was ready for me I was sat up on a table and curled over, just like having an epidural. They drew a huge tube of blood from my arm and handed it to the dr who injected it into my spinal area. It was very quick. The pain relief was instant! Then they laid me on my back & I had to stay that way for 2 hours before I could go home. They took me back to the ER room and there I waited. After having 2 bags of IV fluid I had to pee so bad!!! Dougie had to nurse and I couldn't move so I nursed him flat on my back! It worked great. Once the 2 hours were up I carefully got up and went to the bathroom, oh how good it felt to be pain free. I was careful as we went home, I reclined the whole way. Once home I went to bed, it was late and so I slept. Let me tell you. The blood patch was a breeze and I would suggest it to anyone that has a spinal headache. Don't wait, just get it. I thanked God for such great Drs, nurses & awesome pain relief.