The Worst Hospital Stay EVER!

For as wonderful as Blaine's birth had gone, the hospital stay was equally as lousy.

Now, for starters.  I have to add that I'm not huge on the hospital stay in the first place.  Sure it's nice having some meals brought to me and being "taken care of" but really, I could get that at home just as well if I asked. Among the worst are the interruptions, noises, lousy food, uncomfortable bed and accommodations, hospital germs and just the obvious fact that I'm not at home in my own familiar surroundings.  What can I say? I'm a creature of habit and a hermit! I just like being at home.

Having already had two babies and two hospital recoveries going into this, I would like to say that I'm fairly used to the whole hospital situation.  It's certainly not new for me.  So, albeit, not my favorite part of having a baby, I know what to expect and can deal with the discomforts just fine.  This recovery was a whole different ball of wax though.  

Blaine was born at lunchtime. Lucky for me, one of the slight perks of this hospital was that food could be ordered from the cafeteria whenever we wanted it (during the day only though I might add -- what about the women who have a baby in the middle of the night?!) So we ordered almost right after he was born. You know, that period of time when you feel like you could eat an elephant. Not just because you haven't eaten in who knows how long, but because for the first time in months you actually have room in your body for food!! No complaints with the actual hospital food. It wasn't amazing but it wasn't bad.

I didn't need stitches this time because I didn't tear! But I did need a shot of pitocin to stop my bleeding. Never had that before. So once that was controlled and I had delivered the placenta, I got all padded and "diapered" up. Then we moved to the recovery wing. And we were put in the room directly across from the nurses station.

Note: Nurses are loud. Even during the hospital's "quiet hours."

The afternoon was pretty uneventful. I tried to sleep when I had the chance but I still had too much post-birth-high hormones to sleep. So I showered and settled in with baby snuggles for awhile.

My midwife came and checked on me.

And Blaine's pediatrician came to check him.  Perfect all but a hypospadias.  So we would have to see a pediatric urologist about his circumcision.

Grammy and Grampy brought the girls to come meet baby brother. The girls were craaazy. It was dinner time. They were hungry. I was hungry. And by that point, I was ready to go to bed. We didn't even take a single picture. I feel bad that the first family time altogether didn't go better, but it was just bad timing. I'm still sad we didn't get any pictures.

My dinner finally arrived right as Grammy and Grampy were leaving with the girls. Apparently just because you can order any time of the day does not mean they will bring it anytime soon. (I had ordered it almost an hour and a half before it finally came). Blaine wanted to nurse by then. And Owen's sister, Wendy and her family came to visit them too. Their visit was short which was good cause I was ready to eat and crash. As was Blaine.

It was 7 PM by then. So I settled in for a nap while Owen went to grab himself some dinner.

And that's when the hospital interruptions began in earnest.

Nurse to check my vitals.

Nurse to check Blaine.

New nurse introducing herself for shift change.

Old nurse saying goodbye and good luck.

New lead nurse introducing herself for the shift change.

New nursery nurse introducing herself. Also for the shift change.

Old nursery nurse saying goodbye and good luck.

All separate interruptions.

Owen came back some time after those. I obviously hadn't slept.

Then there was the food service quality control questionnaire person.

Housekeeping to empty the garbages and change towels.

Nurse for my vitals.

Nurse for Blaine's vitals.

Separate visits again.

We got about an hour of sleep and then the hospital has this fabulous idea to take all the newborns back to the nursery to be weighed at midnight *sarcasm*. It's fast and not a big deal, but seriously?! Why midnight? And Owen and I are fiercely protective of our newborns so he went and watched through the window while they weighed him.

More vitals checks.

Me.

Then Blaine.

And...every time they checked my vitals, they of course did the wonderful uterus squish. Not unique to this hospital, but super NOT fun anyhow.

We got another hour or so of sleep when we heard another door knock for my absolute favorite interruption of our stay. The nursery nurse.  Coming to do Blaine's bath.  At 4 AM.  Yeah.

Blaine had had an off-reading on one of the oxygen level tests within the first hours after birth, so the hospital's procedure was to wait to bathe the baby until two normal reads had happened.  It was around dinner by then and the nurse wanted to wait until family had cleared out and he had nursed and was happy.  Then the nurses had a shift change.  And it got missed and forgotten.  No big deal to me.  I figured he would get it in the morning, but his nurse must have been going through her charts in the middle of the night, come across a note for an unbathed baby and decided that it needed to be fixed right then and there.  Never mind the fact that our room was dead silent and pitch black when she knocked and came in!  I mean, it's not like I'd had a baby recently or anything and that I might actually NEED some rest.  I'm pretty sure I was rude when she said she was there to do Blaine's bath, but really?  Seriously?!!  I sent her away and told her she could do it in the morning.

We had a little break from interruptions for an hour or so after that one (maybe the nurse warned the others that there was a cranky mom in there) but I had been interrupted so many times at that point that my body thought it was daytime and that it was starving.  You know the feeling?  Ugh.  I couldn't fall asleep by then.  And I had to wait a couple hours before I could order breakfast.

And by then I had basically been up a full 24-hours with just a few catnaps.  Oh, and I'd had a baby during that time too.  I. was. so. tired.

So, when the pediatrician came to check Blaine that morning and said something along the lines of, "See you again tomorrow." as he was leaving that I panicked and had Owen chase him down the hall to see if he would sign off on Blaine so we could leave that day.  He was more than happy to, he had just assumed we would stay 48-hours like most women do.

My midwife signed off on me also but we still had to wait a few hours until Blaine was 24-hours old so the hospital could get the PKU test done before we could be discharged.

There were more vitals checks for me and Blaine.  Another round of shift change introductions and good-byes.  Housekeeping again.  Lactation consultant.  Some nurse from a free hospital program that provides home visits to weigh/measure the baby and make sure things are going well.  Blaine did eventually get his first bath.

He was not happy at first...

...but he calmed down some.

After his bath, we had a few more interruptions.  No sleep.  We gathered all our stuff.  Got the PKU test and HOME!!!

Like I said, not huge on a hospital stay to start, but I have never been more excited to leave and be home!!!  I felt like every time I got Blaine calmed down and asleep, so I could sleep, someone else would knock on the door and wake me up.  And the nurses were LOUD! All. night. long.  And it just seems silly to me to not consolidate some of these interruptions and be more considerate.  With Miriam and Liesl, the same nurse would check my vitals and then the baby's.  All one trip.  Not only does that seem more efficient to me, but for heck's sake....they work with women who have just had a BABY!!!!  I really wish I had kept count of how many times we were actually intruded on, but I honestly though they would leave me alone during the middle of the night at least.

For our next baby, (because there will likely be a next baby and likely born at this hospital), I decided I'm making a big poster to put on the door to warn all who might enter that I'm a cranky mom who is likely to be really rude if they wake me up and as such they should tread carefully.  Rude?  Maybe.  Appropriate and necessary   Definitely.