Hi ladies! It was one heck of a week that I am going to try to sum up here.
We got to the hospital January 5th at 5:30am. I got hooked up IV wise and got blood drawn. They hooked me up to the fetal monitors and got me ready for my section (epidural and such). They took me in and at 8:07am Josalyn was born 7lbs 7oz 20 inches long. I heard her cry and they held her up over the curtain. Joe got to watch her be born. I focused on listening around the room because it started to hurt. The anesthesiologist asked Joe if I was in pain and gave me more meds. I heard baby's apgars 9 and 9. Something about my uterus being boggy and a shot of pit. Joe got to hold Josalyn and I got to touch her before they took her away.
We went back into recovery and I kept waiting on word about when I could see her. Just before my 2 hours were up they told me she was having difficulties and had her in the nursery. I got moved to postpartum and was waiting on word of when I could see her. Finally my dad hunted someone down. They told me that she had to stay in the nursery and that she was on antibiotics. When I first saw her she was only in a diaper with a clear plastic hood over her head giving her oxygen under a warmer. I got sick from my IV pain meds while in there and didn't get a chance to see her again till the next day. I did get an electric pump to try to bring the milk in.
I finally got to hold her the next day but I had to have oxygen blowing in her face. She still couldn't nurse because they had her on the IV and she was still struggling with breathing. I was getting worried about being able to breastfeed since it seemed to me like I wasn't getting any milk during pumping and I wasn't sure when she'd be allowed to nurse.
Her third day they fed her (by syringe per my overly hyper insistence) some of my milk. She had two syringe feeds before the neonatologist gave me permission to nurse her (with stipulations). We also found out from him that she probably had pneumonia but that they didn't want to go in for a sample because of the pain associated. She was set for one week of being in the hospital (including her first days). It was good to know something and to see her improving. Every bit less of oxygen she had to get felt like a victory.
Tuesday she got switched into a baby bed from an isolette! She was on room air and almost off IV fluids! Nursing was starting to go amazing. We knew that soon enough she'd be able to room in with us. I got released and the hospital has a couple of boarder rooms... at no charge to us! I didn't want to leave her at all so that was awesome to be able to stay.
She got to room in with us Wednesday and Thursday. I don't think Joe and I put her down much at all! And on Friday morning her ped came in to the room and simply said 'go home'. Those were two of the most beautiful words ever.
Joe stayed with me the entire time at the hospital. He came home to shower and get the mail; Loralei got to come up and spend during the day with us for at least a couple of hours if not all day. She stayed at various relatives and a couple nights at our place with family too.
I am so glad it's all over and we are at home together! She's a breastfeeding champ BTW and I have a ton of milk in the freezer. Turns out I am really related to cows and my milk came in quick!
