Our first few days

On Friday night (it was actually early Saturday morning at this point) when we finally got up to our post-delivery room, we got all settled with our things and the nurse said that I should try to nurse her.  I attempted to get her to eat, but she was pretty sleepy and not interested.  At that point I was kind of exhausted, but still running on some adrenaline from delivery.  After about 20 minutes the nurse suggested that she was burning off more than she was getting and it would be better for her to have a bottle.  Since the skin to skin wasn’t keeping her awake, and I didn’t have a lactation consultant there to help with her latch, we decided to give her formula with a bottle.  We were more concerned with her putting on some weight, since she was so small, and keeping her blood sugar where it should be.  When she was born, her bilirubin level was low and she had a great sugar level, but we didn’t want that to quickly change.  The next 24 hours she would have to have her blood sugar checked, since was so small.  The foot prick was the worst, although she hated getting her temperature taken the most. 

That first night with her was wonderful.  I held her until she fell asleep and then I put her in the bassinet cart right next to me to finally get some sleep.  At this point, it was about 3 AM.  They had to come back in at 4 AM to check her again and then at 5 AM I was to wake back up and feed.  Needless to say, I didn’t get much rest, but I really didn’t feel all that tired.  I was more wired from the birth and that adrenaline of mommyhood that kept me going.  D slept on a lovely fold out bed that was about a foot short of his height.  I think he would have slept on anything at that point.   

The nurses were checking me as well.  I felt completely fine and chose to continue without any medicine.  I would have some uterus surging when I was feeding, but I wasn’t in any pain.   I also was able to use the restroom quickly after birth, so they didn’t have to monitor my hydration.  I was still wearing their super sexy granny underwear.   They tell you that you will leak for 4-6 weeks after birth, and I didn’t want to get my own clothes dirty at that point. 

At the 5 AM feeding she still wasn’t latching on me.  So frustrated, I gave her another 20 ounces of formula.  Her blood sugar was still really good, so I felt a little better going this route.  The nurse was nice, but there was something about her that I didn’t quite feel comfortable with.  She was so adamant that I give her formula, almost disregarding my hope to want to breastfeed her.  Looking back, I wish I would have spoken up a little more to the nurses.  At one point we discussed using a nipple shield, so Isla would have an easier time latching.  I had to ask a few times before this was brought to me.  I didn’t mind using it, but looking back now, I wish I wouldn’t have and had more help initially trying to get her to feed.    

That next morning, my parents came up and brought us breakfast.  I enjoyed a large chai tea latte and a cinnamon bagel.  Delish!  We always got the lovely hospital food, but it was really hit or miss.  I’d generally pick at it and D would take his share in addition to what other food we got.   I also got to enjoy a shower, which was much needed that afternoon.  It felt so good to be clean.  My hospital attire consisted of stretchy pants and a robe. 

This was the first time my parents and brother got to hold her and were completely in love.  We were thrilled my brother could drive back from his current job in Louisiana.  Isla had perfect timing to have me go into labor on a Friday afternoon. 

Isla got her hearing test done that morning and passed with flying colors.  The nurse explained how the test would work and got her all set up.  She said she hardly ever has a baby pass that quickly. 

That morning, around 10 AM, the lactation consultant came in to see me.  I really enjoyed talking with her.  She gave us the tools to have Isla breastfeed and supplement formula, or my colostrum, with a syringe instead of telling us to continue to feed with a bottle.  My plan of action was to try and feed her for 30 minutes and then to pump for 20-25 minutes and then feed her 20mL with the syring.  The lactation consultant was thrilled to see how much colostrum I was able to pump that morning.  I think it mostly was because I didn’t feed her myself that first two times, but I was happy to give it to her. 

The syringe feeding went well.  I actually really enjoyed having D be a part of feeding her the first few days.  He was so good with her.  I would have her feeding on me and he would place the syringe in the corner of her mouth and slowly let her have the formula or colostrum.  Her morning weigh in showed that she had lost some of her birth weight and was down to 4lbs 2oz. 

That morning, Isla met our friends Rhian, Megan and the Mackerts.  In between moments of visitors, we were able to nap when she slept.  The overnight nurse let us know that at some point we needed to bring up our car seat, since Isla would need to pass a car seat test before being discharged.  Basically, because of her low weight, she had to sit in her seat for 90 minutes and they would monitor her vitals to ensure she could take sitting in that position for that long. 

That day seemed to fly by and before we knew it, we were having dinner brought to us and enjoying a little more time with my family before we were settling down for bed.  There were NCAA tournament games on, so D was able to enjoying a few of those with some beer my brother brought up for him. 

That night, the same overnight nurse was there.  She said that the NICU nurse would probably have time to do the car seat test through the night.  Around 12:30 AM, she came in to get Isla and said that (unless we wanted to sit there and watch her) we could get some uninterrupted sleep during the test.  She said it would be a little over 90 minutes and she would be back in.  Around 4 AM Isla was brought back into our room, since she needed to feed.  The nurse proceeded to tell us that she actually couldn’t conduct the car seat test because our seat was for 5lbs and over and Isla weighed in at 4lbs this morning.  She said she was holding her and changed her diaper with 3 stools and 4 wet while she was out there.  I was a little dumbfounded at this point.  First, we were concerned that she couldn’t fit in our car seat.  The nurse proceeded to tell us that we could sign a waiver that would allow her to be in that seat, or we could go buy a car seat that fits that small of a child.  She left us to feed her, and the more I thought about what I was just told, I was pissed.  Why was our child away from us for almost 4 hours with out our permission given they couldn’t even do the test??  I’m sure the nurse thought we would want to sleep, but that’s not her call to make.  It would have been different if she would have asked us and we said yes, we’d love to have you hold her for 3.5 hours while we rest.  Shortly after that she was off her shift, so I wasn’t able to say anything to her about it.  It was very unsettling to me. 

The new nurse was actually from labor and delivery and just filling a shift up in the maternity ward.  She was my favorite of all the ones we had.  I told her about the car seat test and asked when that would happen again, since it hadn’t happen over night.  We were hoping to get discharged that morning.  We were dying to get home. 

The on call doctor came in pretty early that morning and discharged me.  He basically just asked me if I thought I would like to go home.  Made sure to talk through the medication options I had and asked me to make that postpartum appointment, which I had already made.   Looking back, I’m a little surprised that he didn’t do an exam on me, but he seemed to think I was good to go.  I felt so too, which is why I didn’t question it too much. 

Isla was taken by this nurse at 9 AM to get the car seat test done again.  We had hoped to get some sleep that morning, but that wasn’t the case.  Shortly after she was taken, a lady came in and got information about her birth certificate.  Around 10 AM the hospital pediatrician (since ours didn’t travel to this particular hospital) came in to check on Isla and discharge her.  She chatted a little with us, before leaving to find Isla.  Around 10:30 AM Isla was brought back into our room by the nurse.  As soon as she was in the room, she said that Isla was taken out of the car seat, and she would have to do it all over again.  At first I thought she was joking.  The other nurse came in a few minutes later and explained that the pediatrician came to the NICU and took Isla out of the car seat with 10 minutes left to go in the test.  Apparently she couldn’t wait the additional 10 minutes, which meant that Isla had to do the test all over again.  Seriously?  How is that even possible?  That meant in 24 hours, I would have Isla taken away from us for almost 5 hours.  I really wanted to cry at this point.  The nurse was so apologetic and mad for me.  She wasn’t in there at the time, or she wouldn’t have allowed it.  I had to breath it out, since there wasn’t anything we could do about it at that point.  

Isla stayed with us for a few hours before she was taken back to get the car seat test done a third time.  This time Isla made it through the whole test and didn’t have any issues.  While she was gone, we had more paperwork that we had to go through.  Who knew there were so many forms to fill out and that you wouldn’t be given your child’s birth certificate, but have to pay for it?  I was a little surprised by that.  We also quickly packed up our stuff and D took it down to the car while she was gone.  We were ready to leave as soon as they’d let us. 

Around 3:30 PM that day, we were both discharged and allowed to go home.  It was the best feeling in the world to walk out of the hospital with our little girl that day.  When we got home, my parents and the Simms family were at our house.  That meant the pups were all crazy excited.  They didn’t really notice Isla until that evening.  The first time she cried that night, they both were on the bed and leaped over to her side.  They seemed very concerned with her and wanted to help.  Our little family felt complete that night.