Recovery Part 4

3/2/12
I am hurriedly typing this post as my foot rocks my daughter in her bassinet for her nap.  This is not the most quality pieces of writing you will read!

Something I forgot to mention in the previous post was that I noticed it looked like Genevieve was "tongue tied".  This is when the frenulum (the string under the tongue) is attached too tightly to the tongue or too close to the tip, restricting movement of the tongue.  Nurse Alison, when filling in for my day nurse, agreed that it looked tied and gave me some resources if I wanted to get it snipped.

Can you see the tongue tie attached to the tip of her tongue?

This night was the worst night by far!  The night nurse made me feel like crying.  Would it hurt her to have smiled or been concerned for me?  She wasn't bringing me my meds, so I asked for a Percocet as the pain was starting to climb again.  She asked me what my pain level was, and I said about a 3 or a 4.  She said she couldn't give me a Percocet unless my pain was a 5 or a 6, so I told her the pain was now a 6.  I'll play your little games.  The last thing I wanted was to wait for the pain to get so high that it was difficult to bring it back down.  I'd already experienced that my first full day at the hospital.

Genevieve was very sleepy this night.  She wasn't waking to eat, and she wasn't producing poopy diapers.  I'm pretty sure she didn't go more than 4 hours without eating, but it certainly was longer than any other time.  We were keeping a close eye on her, of course, and recording her feedings and wet/poopy diapers.  The nurse kept questioning me about her care in a kind of scolding tone.  I know I'm a brand new mother, but give me some credit.  I'm not 10!  Genevieve had already produced more poopy diapers at the hospital than expected, so I wasn't too worried.    

3/3/12
Sometime after breakfast, Dr. Brown came to check on me.  She talked to us about being discharged saying that we had the option of staying as long as Sunday.  I thanked her for giving us the best birth possible and got all teary eyed.  She gave me a great big hug and said to come back and see her for my VBAC.  She is one amazing doctor, and I'd be honored if she delivered any of my future children (if we decide on more).

Dr. Brown holding Genevieve

The morning nurse came in, and she was the biggest breath of fresh air!  Her name was Gerry, and she was Irish and so full of energy.  She talked so sweetly to G and genuinely seemed to care about her and me.  She was going to go check my chart for my medication schedule.  I told her the time written on my whiteboard was the time I was supposed to have received medication and not the time I am supposed to get it that morning.  Sure enough she went and checked my chart and was floored that I hadn't had any medication since then and brought me what I needed.  It had been at least 12 hours since I'd had meds!  I was nursing the baby when she returned with my medication, and that's when a lactation consultant came in.  She said that my night nurse told her I was needed.  That made my new nurse upset, and she told the LC that I was doing just fine and that she needed to go check on two other women who really were struggling.  I felt so much better because my night nurse really hurt my confidence.  I began to wonder if I was doing something wrong.  

I told her about the care I'd received from my night nurse, and she was so sorry that I'd been treated that way.  I thanked her for her concern and got all teary again.  She teared up as well and gave me a great big comforting hug.  I truly needed that!  I wish I'd gotten a picture of her with G because she was just the best.  Apparently she used to be a midwife in Scotland before coming to America.  We talked about her experiences, and she listened to my teaching stories.  Instead of us watching the video about going home with our newborn before being discharged, Gerry sat with us and went over everything we needed to know and then some.  She was such a great resource, and the fact that she took that time with us meant so much.  I really do need to send her a thank you card.

Here are some pictures from this day before we headed home:

See how her head is higher up on the right?  That's Plagiocephaly.

Hahah, the socks are knee highs!

Well, the baby is stirring, so it looks like I will save our going home experience for the next post.  This one was getting quite long anyway!  Oh, and I'll tell you about her final pediatrician evaluation before we left the hospital.  Veeeeery interesting!  You won't want to miss it!