Hospital Stay

I don't remember everything about the hospital stay, so this will just be the highlights. I probably should have gotten B to take dictation, or to add to the baby blog but, hindsight is 20/20, right?
Oh well.

Once DJ was born, and I was ready to hold him, I tried to breast feed him. By this time, my sister had made it to the hospital. I'm SOOOO glad she did. I'm not sure if I could have used any more help during labor, though maybe she could have convinced me to take the epi. But afterward she was awesome. She wrangled the nurses. She instructed me on the use of my meds. She gave me breastfeeding lessons. She was the second star of DJ's birth day.

My first experience breastfeeding was super cool. DJ has a PH.D. in nursing. His latch left something to be desired but, he has a short frenulum (the thing that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth) and that's really the culprit. Even so, he did a pretty good job. I have pictures of that experience, which is neat. Though I'm not sure who took them. I also don't know if I want to show them to anyone, on account of most of the pictures are of my boob. Hmm... I started on my left boob. Funny, that's the one that seems to have the best time lactating and has the least nipple soreness now. Hmmmm...

After that, they put me in a wheelchair, gave me the baby and rolled me up to the maternity ward. Then my nurse came to greet me. I was instructed that I had to drink plenty of water and pee twice or I wouldn't get my IV out. I wanted that thing out BADLY so I chugged water like crazy. My sister, who is a nurse, was with me and helped me go to the bathroom and take care of my busted business. She also helped give me tips and made super nice with the nurses.

Side bar: I remember being at her delivery for her first daughter, and it seemed like none of the nurses like her. I think they felt that as a patient, she was butting into their territory or over stepping her bounds. They seemed unwilling to help and generally kind of snippy. But the nurses for me seemed to like having an extra nurse around. They seemed to look to her to help keep me in line and answer my questions. Perhaps it's just my perception, but that's how it felt.

At some point that night they had to take the baby to do observations. I don't much remember that. I think it must have been right as I got into the room and I was so preoccupied with all of my business I didn't really notice that he wasn't there. Later that night, I had him in his plastic crib and I rolled it next to my bed so he would be right there. When he cried for feeding, I didn't even have to get out of the bed to feed him, I just raised it so I could pull him into the bed with me. I slept with him on my chest for a little while. I loved the feel of him, he was so small and cuddly. I tried to be as quiet as possible so Braden could get some sleep.

At some point in the middle of the night, DJ had some congestion. The nurse showed me how to use the bubble tubey thing to suck the boogers out. That was neat. I was walking around on the first night. I think I had a little insomnia at some point. So I took DJ around the ward. They were all impressed with my recovery.

The next day I had a PARADE of people come in and out of my room. They took the baby for morning observation. A bunch of people came through with bills or information or forms for us to fill out. Half the time I had a boob out with DJ on it. No one seemed to mind.

The day went quickly. A few friends visited. My sister came back and my mom came to spend the next night with me. She showed me all sorts of tricks to do with the baby. Diaper stuff, feeding stuff. It was good to have that second night to get used to things.

One of the most vivid memories I have is when they took DJ for observation on the second night. Mom was worried about the dimple on his butt, and the nurse noticed that DJ had an undecended testicle. We also asked about the Mongolian spot on his butt. So the nurse sat with us and did her evaluation of him right there so we could watch. It was interesting to see it and she listed all of the things she was looking for and how she would note it on his chart.

The undescended testicle is not that uncommon, apparently. It should come down on it's own by his sixth month or they would do surgery for it at one year. The dimple in his butt is only that, and not a hole, which is good. The spot is just a spot and should go away on it's own as well. Once she was done with his evaluation, she said I could take him to the nursery where they would finalize the evaluation and bring him back by 1 for his feeding.

In the mean time I went to sleep, happy in the idea that he'd be waiting for me in the room when I woke up. I woke up at 1 on the dot and he was not around. I didn't worry so much but I was disappointed. I got up and put myself together, then went to the nursery to fetch him. When I got there, they weren't sure if they had him or not. They let me in and we found him, and the blanket I had for him. I covered him back up and rolled him back to my room. I was talking to him on the way back, telling him I missed him and that I was glad to have him back and I started crying. I didn't think I'd get so emotional about him so soon, but I did. I wanted to be near him all the time. He was brand new, I'd hardly gotten time with him yet. I didn't want to miss any. So I fed him again and snuggled with him. Snuggling him always makes me feel better.

The next day we were released. The process took a while because we were waiting for our receipt. I got him into the car and was rather disturbed with the way his head was tilting forward in the car seat. It was enough to make me ok getting the infant carrier. They need to make car seats with an extra leveling apparatus so that you can get them properly flat in bucket seats. In any case, we got him home safe and sound.