Hospital Stay

So...I have to say that our stay at the hospital was less than pleasant.  I have a whole list of complaints that I am going to unload, but first, I have to praise the majority of the nursing staff that I interacted with.

4 of the 6 nurses were absolutely spectacular, compassionate, and it really felt like they were on our side.  The other 2 weren't bad, but they definitely weren't great either.  The doctors, on the other hand, well...there really isn't anything nice that I have to say about them.

Our stay in the hospital started the night of October 3.  I had a spectacular nurse that night and was really hoping she would be the nurse helping with the delivery.  Unfortunately, Baby C held out just a little too long, but I did really like the nurses that helped with the delivery.  I did not sleep at all that night, but Brian got a bit of shut eye in the sleeper chair.  My mom stayed awake 90% of the night with me, the little sleep that she got was on the floor, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful mom!!

Tuesday was rough.  Right after Mikey was born I was very weak and throwing up.  After that subsided I was in a great deal of pain in my lower back and crotchal region (with good reason).  I tried to get some sleep, but it didn't really happen.  It turns out that the reason for my weakness was that I was quite anemic and needed to get on an iron supplement pretty immediately.  Baby C received some shots and had some blood draws due to the fact that I spent the entire night on antibiotics (since the amniotic sac had been ruptured for so long).  They wanted to make sure that he did not have any infection...turns out that someone sucks at their job.  They took Mikey from me not 1, not 2, but 3 times to do a CBC (complete blood count) and all three attempts were epic fails.  The moron in the lab waited too long to run the samples and the blood clotted...so they saw it fit to use my baby as a pin cushion.  Thankfully, Brian and one of the nurses said ENOUGH after the third failed attempt.  After an exhausting day of feeling like garbage I still did not sleep a wink that night.  Ugh...I hate hospitals.

Wednesday didn't suck quite as bad, but at this point I was absolutely sick of explaining to nurses about the chronic hypertension that I DO NOT have.  I'm going to burn my medical chart before we PCS.  At one point throughout the day the pediatrician came in wanting to get another blood sample for the CBC.  When I told him to "go piss up a rope" he did not appreciate that very much.  Okay, okay, I didn't actually say that to him, but I might as well have.  I told him that the hospital staff's inability to do their job correctly 3 times was enough.  No one was going to unnecessarily poke my baby again just to screw it up, yet another time.  He tried to threaten me with not releasing the baby and with other things to which I just rolled my eyes.  He did not know that I worked in a hospital and know a lot of ins and outs...so I knew that he was just blowing smoke up my ass to try and get his way.  The same nurse that had said "enough" before stood up for me, took the pediatrician outside, and then found a solution to the problem.  She then came back in and praised me for standing up for Mikey and standing my ground against the doctor, she said a lot of people won't do that.  On the 4th attempt at the CBC (with Brian supervising and with a different lab) we got immediate results saying that everything was perfect.  They then wanted to poke poor Mikey one more time for a PKU test...we said no, you can wait til tomorrow morning right before we leave, so they said ok.  I did not sleep at all that night because Mikey decided that he just wanted to scream...and scream he did...all...night...long.  The only hour of sleep that I did get was when I had a major migraine and the nurse took him away to weigh him.  I think I was out before she was out of the room.  Thankfully this all night screaming fit was (so far) a one time thing.

Thursday was supposed to be the day that we were discharged and I got the all clear, but since Mikey had lost 10% of his birth weight they said that he could not leave.  The pediatrician then proceeded to make me feel like I was starving him and like I was a horrible mother...so I cried...a lot.  Just being in the hospital was super stressful for me and I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't sleep.  The hospital gave me boarder status, meaning that I could actually go home if I wanted to, but there was no way that I would leave my baby there. I then told Brian that we were going home tomorrow...no matter what.  As long as Mikey didn't lose more weight we would be allowed to leave, they also said that he wouldn't gain, but he should sustain.  So I proceeded to feed my baby for 18 of the next 24 hours.  No sleep...just feed.  Feed for an hour and a half, break for food and bathroom for 30 minutes, feed again.  Thankfully, Mikey was down with my plan to get home and ate like a champ!  The pediatrician came back the next morning and said that Mikey had lost more weight and said that I wasn't feeding him enough.  I lost it, sobbed, freaked, and they said they would weigh him again just to be sure.  They weighed him again on the scale that he was weighed on at birth and whattaya know...he had actually gained weight.  Makes me wonder if the extra night there was necessary.  We then started his discharge process, packed up, and peaced out.  We couldn't get out of there fast enough!

And as far as weight gain goes...yeah...he's packing it on, he's back up to 9lbs and there are no signs of him stopping.

So...now that its all written out the stay doesn't sound that bad, but it stressed me out beyond belief and I couldn't be happier to be home with my precious little boy and my wonderful husband!  I love those boys of mine!