Day #3 (Wed., Jan. 6, 2010) – Welcome Home Katie!
At 12:30am Katie was squawking a bit, so I got up to check on her. My exhausted wife was sleeping next to her. I thought I might need to get her up for another feed, but when I went back to my bed Katie stopped squawking and I fell asleep.
Here it is 4:30am…the first night after the birth that my wife and I got a good chunk of sleep. Katie is eating again. Can she ever squawk when she is hungry. I checked her diaper and all is fine. She “burped” a bit, but I guess it will be once the milk comes that we will get those classic burps.
I went to the snack room to get some ice and as I left our room I saw the “Type A” nurse at her station. By the time I got half way to the snack room the she was checking out a binder there as well. She looks so intense and dutiful and a bundle of energy. Too bad she didn’t use more compassion and common sense rather than such intensity. She’s the type who would wake you up to ask you if you are having problems sleeping.
It seems that Katie is so fascinated with the world. She is looking up and around and already seems to have some neck muscles. We found a black/white feeding cover that I dangle in front of her and she seems to follow it around. My wife says that at this age their little eyes can pick up blacks and whites and reds.
Nice “poopy” in the diaper. Never thought the day would come when I looked forward to this sort of thing…
I still don’t have this child swaddling “burrito wrapping” art down pat just yet. When the nurse did it Katie could not wriggle her hands free. She can with my burrito. She loves to get those hands going…
5:00am – I think we have the hang of the feeding thing down pat. Katie feeds, then falls asleep while feeding. I take her from my wife and try to “burp” her. She lets out some little squeaks and I check her diaper and change it if needed, then swaddle her. By this time she is either asleep or up and mouthing for more food. Using classic programmer speak:
IF (sleeping == true) THEN
EXIT
ELSE IF (mouthing == true) THEN
CONTINUE
We are noticing that little Katie already seems to have some neck muscles. While I am burping her she is lifting her head a bit and noticing the world around her.
5:18am and little Katie is ready for “Round #2”. My wife just said “If not Round #15”. It appears that feeding is so pleasurable to Katie that she just drifts off to sleep in the middle of it. You know, it’s kind of like if you have been working in the fields all day. When you get home, you are hungry and tired. If you are eating, you might relax a bit and close your eyes only to find that someone has taken your plate of food away. Too bad at this age you only have some signals to go by, you can’t really ask them what is going on. Correction, you can ask them, you just might not get an answer. Or, as my wife just said, they might answer, but you just don’t understand.
They have this basic pink checklist that we fill out regarding feeding and changing and what happened at various times. The nurses seem to really hinge on this information.
5:35am – I just got back from updating our “Type A” nurse with the new feeding/diaper results. I could hear little Katie screaming all the way down the hall. Here we go for another round. Is it Round #3? I’m starting to lose count due to my lack of sleep. Good thing we have this pink sheet of results.
5:47am – Looks like our “little burrito” might be done eating now… Let’s hope…
6:09am – Here we go again. I think this is Round #4? If Katie keeps this eating up she will be a tall star basketball player one day.
6:50am – Katie was back in bed, but she is mouthing yet again.
6:55am – My wife and I were joking at how tired we were, and it’s just about time for someone to come in and prod her and ask her what her pain level is? I said I’ll stamp on their foot and ask them what their pain level is. Is it closer to the happy face or the face with the frown with tears coming down?
7:30am – I went downstairs and got an omelet and brought it back to eat. The nurse who was here last night (much more relaxed than Mrs. Type A) is back.
8:00am – My wife’s breakfast finally arrived. She ordered yogurt and didn’t get it. She ordered toast and up came white bread.
8:30am – Hmmm… How come they don’t have any Kleenex or tissues in this room?
10:00am – I had a bit of nap, I was exhausted. When I awoke Katie was crying and there were four more people in the room. We must have had 50 people come and see us by now. They were giving my wife an update on the baby and it looks like they are not concerned with my wife’s high blood pressure. Looks like we are going to be going home after all.
10:30am – Another talking head arrives. She was telling us about the complaint office here if we happen to have any issues we need addressed.
11:00am – I went to put Katie back to bed from her mother’s arms and her bed was soiled from pee. Not sure where that happened, but we now need new bedding. My wife used the red button to contact a nurse and someone answered then hung up. I went to the nurses station and they said that in the future we should click on the red button. Whatever…
11:12am – Another person (I think the lactation nurse…but I have lost count) is here with a clipboard for yet more questions. Our blankets have not arrived yet, so our baby can’t nap, but at least we have all kinds of people concerned about our answers on how they can improve out stay… 🙂
11:45am – Our nurse brought by some forms for us to sign…I guess we are on our way home.
11:50am – Another guy came to our door asking us if we would like a newspaper.
12:30pm – They brought my wife lunch and she is eating it now. I’m trying to keep Katie occupied so that she will not cry. She loves to suck on my little finger…seems to be one of the few things that will keep her quiet and calm.
1:15pm – I heated a cup of water for 3 minutes in the microwave. We then soaked a pacifier in it. Katie has a long ride ahead of her, so if we can keep her occupied for the ride home, so much the better.
1:45pm – The nurse asked me what I did for a living. I told her I was a programmer.
2:00pm – The nurse came and cut the band off of Katie’s foot so we could leave without alarms going off. She told us that most people bring their car seats to the room, then put the baby in them, then go to their car…but this is the first time we heard of this. After debating this we decided that my wife would bring Katie to the entrance and I would go get the car.
2:30pm – The nurse called the transportation services to come and get my wife and luggage. I walked over to get the car out of the parking deck. I found out why the deck was open on Saturday night when we arrived…free parking til Monday morning. All-in-all the price of parking was $24 instead of $40. I was waiting for my wife at the Children’s Entrance when they wheeled my wife and baby to the car. I put little Katie into her car seat and we drove off to home.
3:30pm – We stopped off at the drugstore to get my wife’s prescription for pain killers filled. Katie drove all the way here without a peep, but started to wake up and squawk once the car stopped. We then decided to take Katie home, and I would come back and pick up the prescription.
3:45pm – We took Katie upstairs. Photo op with me, my wife, and little Katie. We turned on the heaters to warm up our bedroom. I then drove back to the drugstore to get the pain killers.
4:30pm – Time for my wife and I to get some sleep.
5:20pm – My wife and I got up and little Katie is still sound asleep. I made some bread and cheese and jam for wifey and some herb tea as well.
5:30pm – Time for Katie’s feeding. She is sound asleep, but she did feed. It seems that if you rub her fingers that helps her to feed…for some reason?
7:30pm – My wife is having a hard time feeding Katie in the bed, so I brought the rocker from the baby’s room into our bedroom. She says that it is perfect…just the right angle so that both Katie and her are comfortable when they feed.
9:00pm – I made Orange Chicken and an Apple Turnover for dinner this evening for my wife and I. I haven’t had anything since breakfast. Little Katie is sleeping in her mothers arms in our bed beside me.
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
————————————
1) There is no place like home.
2) Rocker’s rock!