Going Home Day
I feel very fortunate. The labor and delivery went very well, we have a healthy baby and the doctors, nurses, and staff were wonderful at the hospital. The nurses that I had were very nice and did everything they could to make me comfortable and help me with the baby. The nurse I had for the night shift was really sweet and told me she would try to keep the baby in the nursery as much as possible that night since I looked so tired. She also asked if I wanted anything and when I said just ice water would be nice she left and came back with the water, a couple juices and 4 packs of crackers.
At 10:00 am Derrick, Elizabeth and I went to the baby bathing class. In the class were 4 other babies with their mom's and dad's. There were also a couple nursing students present to observe the class. It was an educational and funny class because you had all these nervous parents in a small room and all these crying babies who were upset at getting washed and jostled around.
At 11:30 am the three of us went to the breastfeeding class. Again there were nursing students there and 4 groups of parents in the same room we were in for the bathing class. One of the parents was the woman who had the c-section that delayed my going into surgery. She ended up having a 9lb 5oz baby boy named Nathan. She was going to be in the hospital until Thursday (since you get 4 nights if you have a c-section). In a way I wanted to tell her thank you but thought that would be strange telling her that. I felt bad for her because she told us she had a bad experience with a nurse in the hospital who made her latch and unlatch the baby until she got it correct. We also learned that she originally was to have twins and the one twin died early in the pregnancy. And then to have such a rough labor after being a week overdue and to end up having a c-section... I feel very lucky.
The breastfeeding class was good. I had already gone to a breastfeeding class awhile ago at a local hospital and thought a refresher would be nice. I was glad I went to the other class because this one didn't show you how to latch the baby on. She just explained what to expect when we go home and how a baby will have marathon/cluster feedings at times. I was already experiencing this with Elizabeth in the hospital. She seemed to want to eat every hour. But we did learn that it is best not to use a used breastpump because you don't know what may have been wrong with the other person (especially a stranger). So I plan on putting the pump back up for auction on ebay eventually.
After the class was done we went back to the room and got ready to leave. Elizabeth was given her Hepatitis B shot and was weighed for her departure at 7lbs 15oz. She had lost some weight but that was normal because she was just drinking colestrum and not milk yet from me. Earlier in the morning she was tested for hearing and passed her test.
Here's Elizabeth all ready to head home:
The happy family on the way out of the hospital:
The ride home was good. Elizabeth fell asleep while we were driving. It felt weird for me to be leaving the hospital and be outside. I was only in the hospital for three days but it felt like a long time... :)
Elizabeth sleeping on the ride home:
When we got home we found that my girlfriend had had a sign company come and place a sign on our lawn announcing the birth of Elizabeth. It was a sweet gesture on her part.
We also had to call our pediatrician when we got home. Elizabeth had not poopied since she had gone while inside of me and the hospital advised us to call her doctor. The nurses at the hospital had tried twice to encourage her to poop by kinda giving her a baby version of an enema. It didn't work both times. When we called the nurse at the doctor's office, she told us that if she hadn't poopied by 8 am the next day to call the office and we would have to bring her in. We also scheduled our first checkup for Friday with her doctors office.
At 10:00 am Derrick, Elizabeth and I went to the baby bathing class. In the class were 4 other babies with their mom's and dad's. There were also a couple nursing students present to observe the class. It was an educational and funny class because you had all these nervous parents in a small room and all these crying babies who were upset at getting washed and jostled around.
At 11:30 am the three of us went to the breastfeeding class. Again there were nursing students there and 4 groups of parents in the same room we were in for the bathing class. One of the parents was the woman who had the c-section that delayed my going into surgery. She ended up having a 9lb 5oz baby boy named Nathan. She was going to be in the hospital until Thursday (since you get 4 nights if you have a c-section). In a way I wanted to tell her thank you but thought that would be strange telling her that. I felt bad for her because she told us she had a bad experience with a nurse in the hospital who made her latch and unlatch the baby until she got it correct. We also learned that she originally was to have twins and the one twin died early in the pregnancy. And then to have such a rough labor after being a week overdue and to end up having a c-section... I feel very lucky.
The breastfeeding class was good. I had already gone to a breastfeeding class awhile ago at a local hospital and thought a refresher would be nice. I was glad I went to the other class because this one didn't show you how to latch the baby on. She just explained what to expect when we go home and how a baby will have marathon/cluster feedings at times. I was already experiencing this with Elizabeth in the hospital. She seemed to want to eat every hour. But we did learn that it is best not to use a used breastpump because you don't know what may have been wrong with the other person (especially a stranger). So I plan on putting the pump back up for auction on ebay eventually.
After the class was done we went back to the room and got ready to leave. Elizabeth was given her Hepatitis B shot and was weighed for her departure at 7lbs 15oz. She had lost some weight but that was normal because she was just drinking colestrum and not milk yet from me. Earlier in the morning she was tested for hearing and passed her test.
Here's Elizabeth all ready to head home:
The happy family on the way out of the hospital:
The ride home was good. Elizabeth fell asleep while we were driving. It felt weird for me to be leaving the hospital and be outside. I was only in the hospital for three days but it felt like a long time... :)
Elizabeth sleeping on the ride home:
When we got home we found that my girlfriend had had a sign company come and place a sign on our lawn announcing the birth of Elizabeth. It was a sweet gesture on her part.
We also had to call our pediatrician when we got home. Elizabeth had not poopied since she had gone while inside of me and the hospital advised us to call her doctor. The nurses at the hospital had tried twice to encourage her to poop by kinda giving her a baby version of an enema. It didn't work both times. When we called the nurse at the doctor's office, she told us that if she hadn't poopied by 8 am the next day to call the office and we would have to bring her in. We also scheduled our first checkup for Friday with her doctors office.
posted by Anne Marie at 12:00 AM
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