The Day(s) After Daniel Was Born

I usually intend my posts to be funny.  There isn't much funny about this one.  No matter how minor the problem, when you find out there is something wrong with your newborn baby, it's devastating.  Here I'll tell you about it....


I didn't get to bed the night Daniel was born until about 4am.  I sat in the recovery room for about 2 hours, and cried because there were no private rooms.  No private rooms meant that I had to go sleep in a room with some random person. Nobody was allowed to come with me! I hated it.  I finally got to my room around 3:30. My "roommate" was hysterical crying.  I didn't want to say anything so I pretended I was sleeping.  At about 5:00 the courier came to pick up the cord blood and then at 6:00 Daniel was delivered to me so I could feed him.  I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and there was nobody around to help me.  I tried my best, and that was that.  It was amazing holding him and attempting to feed him.  He latched on very well and I fed him for quite a while. At around 7:00 the nursery staff came and took him back to the nursery.  Between 7:00 and 10:00 so much happened.  My gyn came to check on me, a nurse came to take blood, another Dr. came in to check on me. I slept for maybe 2 hours all night.  


Something's wrong with my baby?!?!?
At 10:00 Daniel's pediatrician came in to see me and told me that there was something wrong.  She explained to me that Daniel was born with too many red blood cells which, if not taken care of immediately, could have been very bad. She told me effective immediately Daniel would have to stay in the nursery and have IV fluid.  She tried to break it lightly, but running on no sleep, have just given birth, and being in a room with a stranger, I completely broke down.  I cried... (almost) the entire time I was in the hospital.  I googled the condition and it made it a million times worse.  I cried even harder.  Another pediatrician came in about an hour later and yelled at me-"What are you crying about? No crying here! Stop crying!!!" She explained the condition as being dehydrated, but that's not what google said, so I continued to cry.

Me Crying

It was the day after Daniel was born at around 1:30 and he still didn't have a name.  I LOVED the name Daniel and wanted (my whole pregnancy) to name him Daniel after my dad.  Timothy LOVED the name Ryan.  It was either going to be Ryan Daniel or Daniel Ryan.  We flipped a coin. I chose heads, and I won! I was so happy, I stopped crying for about 5 minutes.  


Somehow I held it together when visitors came.  I didn't even really know and understand what was wrong with Daniel, so I didn't want to have to break the news to everyone else.  I just told everyone he was dehydrated. I didn't want to talk about because I would have started to cry again.

Me, Mimi, PamPam, and Grandma looking at Daniel

Mimi, me and Daniel

  


I tried very hard, but I couldn't stop crying. Everyone on the floor had their babies with them and mine was confined to the nursery.  I wasn't even allowed to feed him.  They had to monitor the amount of fluids he was getting every 2-3 hours, so I wasn't even able to nurse him.  This was even more devastating. I stayed with him in the nursery as much as possible, but some of the nurses weren't very welcoming.  I felt like I didn't even know my own baby. 

Watching someone else feed my baby.

It was Memorial Day weekend so I'm assuming the best staff wasn't working. Nobody advised me and I walked the halls aimlessly when no visitors were allowed.  My roommate had some crazy, religious music playing and was singing crazy songs.  I went to the nursery when I was "allowed", but even then I never really felt welcome. On Saturday morning I went in to see Daniel. A nurse was feeding him and told me she felt bad that I had planned on nursing and now wasn't going to be able to.  WHAT?!?!? I wasn't going to be able to nurse? Another nurse explained that if I wanted to even have a chance of being able to nurse Daniel, I would have to start pumping.  Once the nursing staff came in for the day, I explained that I need a breast pump.  The nurse told me that they save the pumps for their NICU moms and I wasn't allowed to have one.  She gave me a manual breast pump (yeah, it's probably exactly how you're picturing it.. one boob at a time).  I laid in my bed "pumping".  Nothing was coming out.  I was determined to make it work and continued to try when I got home. 


On Saturday afternoon it was time for me to be discharged, but Daniel was going to have to stay in the hospital. Talk about crying.... 


The first night home was horrible. It may sound weird, but after carrying a baby for 9 months and then being separated from him, it was tough. Everyone told me to enjoy a good night sleep, but that was impossible.  I was without my baby for the first time in 9 months.  I slept a little and cried a lot.  I got up the next day very early, so I could return to the hospital to see Daniel.  

The Birth!

Wow it's been quite a while since I last posted.  Working full time with a baby is no joke! Thank God Daniel has so many people who love him that also help us a lot!! I have a million things that I should be doing instead, but I'll finally write about the birth of Daniel Ryan.

Timeline of the day Daniel was born:
6:00 Water breaks - fiasco with the PH strips in the bathroom
6:30 My mom comes to get me and bring me to the hospital.  We stop at the bank first. (?!)
7:00 Arrive at the hospital. 2cm dilated.
7:15 Walk into the tiniest room I've ever seen.
10:45 My sister arrives
11:00 Timothy arrives
12:00 5cm dilated
12:45 Epidural
8:45 9cm dilated
9:45 Start pushing
10:15 Epidural turned off. Dr. tells me to "rest"
10:45 Start pushing again
11:46 Daniel is born

At 6:30am on Thursday May 26, 2011 my mom came over to bring me to the hospital.  I had just moved into a new place so I didn't have much stuff.  With my water leaking, I decided to put Bounty paper towels in my underwear for the short ride to the hospital.  Surprisingly they worked very well.  I got to the hospital and the doctor did a test to see if my water actually did break.  It clearly did and I was 2cm dilated.  I was admitted into, which we would later find to be, the worst room ever. I walked in and there were mirrors everywhere.  Not thinking I said "what the hell are all these mirrors for?!" That's not really my thing.  I told the nurse she could get rid of them. My contractions were pretty bad, but nothing more than what I had experienced when I was in pre-term labor.  My mom was with me initially, but said she couldn't stay because she couldn't bare to see me in pain.  Once my sister arrived my mom was out in a flash!

The day was really boring.  We watched stupid TV shows including Wipe Out and that stupid singing show with Wayne Brady.  There were about a million episodes of each on.  I read trashy magazine, and was actually pretty comfortable the entire day.  Laying there I actually thought to myself "I could do this again!"  We were waiting for me to be dilated but the Dr. wouldn't check because, since my water had broke, they didn't want to introduce any infection.  I asked how I would know when it was time to start pushing and the nurses kept telling me "you'll know.. you'll feel pressure".  I felt absolutely nothing, so thank God they actually decided to check at 8:45 after laying there for 13+ hours.

I swear the room we were in was a broom closet converted to a overflow room.   It literally was the size of a broom closet and didn't have any air conditioning. The room was so hot, we couldn't even close the door.  They put a curtain over the door, but how embarrassing.. the whole damn floor heard every sound coming from my room! To be honest, it didn't even cross my mind at that point, but thinking about it now.. yeah a little embarrassing.  Whatever! lol I started pushing at 9:45.  I guess I was unsuccessfully pushing (of the Dr. and the nurse were too hot to stay in the room) because the Dr. told me to rest, turned off the epidural and said he'd be back in 15 minutes.  I didn't really rest, I just laid there thinking "WTF? I'd like to leave this room to cool off as well!"  The Dr. came back in 30 minutes and I started pushing again.  The Dr. and the nurse took turns walking out to cool off.  About 20 minutes before Daniel was born I lost it.  I was dripping sweat, and honestly didn't think I was going to be able to do it. It had to have been 80 degrees (at least) in the room. The nurse finally brought me ice packs to put on my neck and head.  I was so mad, I guess my pushing skills became more successful because Daniel was born shortly after.

It was amazing.  Probably the most amazing thing I'll ever experience.  But to be honest, I was glad it was over.  It was hard work and it was really gross.  All the blood and guts, and pulling out the umbilical cord.  I gagged. But above all it was amazing. Daniel cried like a goat. It was so cute. He was perfect in every single way.

While I was pushing, there was an episode of Rookie Blue on.  One Republic's song "Good Life" was playing in the background.  I cried hysterically every time I heard that song for about 2 months.  I'm OK now! It's Daniel's song :))))