Sometimes life does not go as planned, one has certain ideas of how life should be based on previous experiences or dreams and ideals. Although I normally do not do personal posts I decided to share some of what has been happening behind the scenes the past month. An experience that I like to refer to as my Grey’s anatomy moment.
Today, exactly one month ago we welcomed our little princess into the world. She is absolutely perfect and has the most beautiful hair! I was discharged from hospital three days after the c-section with baby and I in perfect health, but that evening I started feeling odd. I was nauseas and realised the pain medication was not working quite as well as it had before. Baby was also not feeding well at all throughout the night.
Whilst my husband (a doctor himself) took little manny to school. I woke up in severe pain and went to comfort the princess who was fussing in her cot, but found that it took all my strength to pick her up and walk with her to the tv room. My vision was blurry from pain – I knew I had to get to a hospital. I managed to phone my hubby who arrived home five minutes later.
We called our gynae who told us to come to the rooms immediately. On arrival I was not able to walk anymore but my hubby had found a wheelchair to push me into the rooms. The doctor took one look at me and immediately admitted me to the ICU and ordered some tests be done. Baby was taken care of by the lovilee receptionist of the doctor whilst hubby rushed me to the hospital across the road from the rooms.
On arrival at the hospital I was again carted in with a wheelchair in incredible pain that felt like it was consuming my whole body every time we bumped over a tile on the floor… and here is where my memory gets fuzzy…
My Grey’s anatomy moment
I have no idea how I got from the wheelchair onto the bed or how I got into the hospital clothes, what I do remember is opening my eyes and seeing doctors and nurses working like crazy to get drips in, blood pressures done, physical examinations and more. It was the perfect Grey’s anatomy moment, one of those that I have seen on tv plenty of times. The scary thing was that it was me lying on the bed. All I thought was that this could not be my time to die, I had a four day old baby, a four year old and a hubby, I wanted to live! I heard one of the doctors saying that there was no time for tests… I needed to get to theater right away. I saw my hubby’s face in between all of this and knew something big was wrong. The anesthetist spoke saying that everything was going to be fine, I was in good hands…
I heard the voice of one of the nurses telling me to wake up and I tried desperately to open my eyes but I was just not able to, the effects of the anesthetics had not worn off as yet. When I finally managed to open my eyes, I was told that I was going to be ok, but that my hands and feet were bound so that I could not pull the huge pipe out from my throat. This was where I got most scared, I did not want to die. I was dozing off again but was awake most of that night, too scared to close my eyes and desperately wanting the pipe out from my throat. I wanted to talk… to say something… to do something…. anything. I was much relieved when it was removed the next morning!
My hubby explained to me somewhere throughout the night that I had emergency surgery to try and find the problem and origin of the pain. (We later found out that it was septicemia brought by me contracting a strep B bacteria). I had a full hysterectomy. I stayed in ICU for five days and another two in a normal ward. I was excited to be discharged and even though I had another one day stint in hospital and had to have fluid drained from my lung last week – I am glad to be able to now spend time at home with my family.
My aim with this post is not to be a drama queen, but to thank each and every person that prayed, supported and sent their love over the past month. There were people praying that I will never even meet in person, people whose prayers literally saved my life! Had I gotten to the hospital a mere few hours later there would have been no hope. My gynae, the doctors and nurses were amazing and my family, especially my mom was a pillar throughout it all. She had to take care of baby, try to figure out the whole bottle feeding thing and more. I am so blessed to have friends and family who bent over backwards to care.
Something that I have held onto throughout this whole ordeal is the following verse from Jeremiah 29:11
‘For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.’
May we be grateful for every person in our lives this Festive season, and aim to inspire and touch other’s lives with something #lovilee every day!
Image: Carike Ridout Photography
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21 Comments
Kari, dankie dat jy jou storie gedeel het. Dit wys strength en geloof. Baie bly jy is weer gesond.
Dankie girla
Aw Kari, jy’t my sommer in trane gehad.x So dankbaar dat jy okay is.x
🙂 die lewe is so onvoorspelbaar, maar ons is reg om weer ‘n verskil te maak!
Dankie dat jy gedeel het xx
Is mal oor jou blog!
Baie dankie vir jou positiewe terugvoer Somien
Karenkie my friend :(:(:(:( my tears rolled now and at the time but I knew everything was going to be ok, our most gracious Almighty is merciful, wishing you a healthy recovery and to you Eugene, Caleb (Little Manny) and Leah lots or peace, joy, serenity and love now and always, love you stax
Aneesa
Thank you so much Aneesa, thank you for your smsses and support as well 🙂
Wow, sorry to hear about your ordeal! You are so brave! So relieved you are ok!
Thank you
So bly jy hou aan God vas. Hy is ons redder steeds en sal altyd wees! Dankie dat jy deel en dankie Here jy is beter nou. Nou lê jou toekoms voor jou. Liefdetjies.
Dankie vriendin!
Ah Kari, I so get your post! Thank you for sharing your story. I had a similar situation with the birth of my first son. It took a few weeks to come right physically and emotionally. Be kind to yourself and have as much grace as possible! I put so much pressure on myself to bounce back right away, and it ended up taking me longer in the end and more anxiety than it’s worth. Sending hugs & cuddles to your sweet newborn xo Kristi
Thank you so much for the advice Kristi and so sorry to hear that you also had a hard road.
Baie bly ek kon help. Dit was nie ‘n grap om na 32 jaar van bottel voeding te leer nie. Ons het dit gemaak.
Alle eer aan die Here vir Sy genade en liefde wat ons gedra het.
Dankie ook aan al ons familie, vriende, kennisse en almal wat ons in hierdie tyd bygestaan het. Dit in tye soos hierdie dat ons besef ons is nie alleen nie. Dankie ook vir al die gebede, boodskappe e-poste, besoeke, kos en vele meer.
Dankie aan Eugene vir sy bystand. Dit was baie moeilik vir hom om as dokter hierdie storie te beleef met sy eie vrou. In so tyd besef ons wat dit beteken om by mekaar te bly en te oncersteun tot die dood ons skei.
Prys die Here vir sy groot genade en liefde. Sy goedheid duur tot in Ewigheid.
Leyah, jy en jou boetie, Kaleb, kan bly wees dat mamma geveg het om te bly leef. Waardeer haar elke dag.
Jesus het julle so life.
Wow, what an ordeal. God is good!! Praying for complete healing and strength.
Thank you Lalannie
Sjoe Karen. Groot skrik. Ons is bly jy’s beter en dat die Here jou deur die krisis gedra het.
Baie dankie, ons pad het met God begin en eindig ook met Hom!
So hectic Kari, glad you and baby are all ok.
Enjoy this special time with your family.
Thank you Kyle!