Cali-Gal #2

I know that it's April...but I better update the rest of the hospital drama before I forget it forever...

Wednesday night/Thursday morning

Caleigh was born late on a Wednesday night. I am so thankful to Amber for always being willing to be on call when I am in labor. She was willing to head to the hospital at any time to take pictures for me. I had Caleigh at 9:06 pm and was kept in the hospital room for over an hour because the labor and delivery wing was so full there was no where for me to stay. Not that my experience was anything like Mary’s but it was ironic that Caleigh was born around Christmas and there was no room at the Inn for us either…We were kept in the labor and delivery room until they had prepared my previous ante-partum room. I was wheeled back to the room I had originally started in. Amber stayed till around 3 in the morning when I finally passed out from exhaustion.

Thursday December 30, 2010

I told the nurses that Caleigh was exclusively a breastfed baby, so when she woke up they should bring her to me. THEY DIDN’T! So I woke up around 7 am to Cole Wilkins coming to visit us and they still hadn’t brought her in!!! AHHHH!!!! I was soooo mad. Apparently, the magnesium from labor had to be continued until my blood pressure went down and that’s why they didn’t bring her in. They were worried that I wouldn’t be able to care for her with the exhaustion of labor and the magnesium drip. It didn’t matter though; Caleigh was an amazing nurser right from the beginning. I know it sounds silly but I prayed the whole pregnancy that she would nurse better than Hailey and it looks like it paid off!

Around 10 am Donna brought Hailey over to meet Caleigh and see mommy and daddy! It was awesome to see her. She came in the room and was up in my bed in seconds. Who knew she could climb like that? Matt, Courtney and Walker came by too. Walker had fun playing with Hailey. The Kirkseys joined us later in the day and Hailey and Camryn had a blast playing with my bed and all the buttons. They had so much fun that even after they left I was still reminded of them playing…They had set an alarm on my bed that went off if I got out of bed. The first time it went off I freaked out because it was SO LOUD!

After everyone left I kept Caleigh in the room with the rest of the stay. I figured if they couldn’t follow directions the first night, they probably wouldn’t the next. John went to a near by Red Box and brought some movies for us to watch. I actually really enjoyed the film “Easy A”. Weird premise, but good movie.

Caleigh’s nose was already starting to pop back by the end of today. So I was starting to believe that it would in fact get better. We kept joking that we should call the plastic surgeon.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Dr. Benge came in first thing in the morning and told me that my pressure was not lowering so I was going to have to stay another day. Bummer. It’s New Year’s Eve and I am going to be stuck in the hospital. I told John to head home and relieve his mom and spend some time with Hailey. We made plans for the Kirkseys to come hang out and I planned on just catching up on some sleep. Our TV broke while I was on bed rest so we had to order a new one and it had come today, so Jonathan and John were going to put it together so it would be ready when I got home on Saturday. I stayed in bed all day and ordered the famous Willowbrook Club! I seriously ordered it for EVERY meal while I was in the hospital. It was a sandwich with turkey, ham, bacon and cheese. So stinkin’ good! I also enjoyed tomato soup and grape juice. Had to have them with every meal. J The cook staff probably thought I was crazy!

Around noon the pediatrician came in my room and told me that Caleigh was being discharged. WHAT?!?!? I informed her that I was being kept another day and she would have to be allowed one more day. “No.” What do you mean no? “No. She cannot stay. There is nothing wrong with her, so she cannot stay another day.” I started crying and the pediatrician just stared at me. “Sorry, but she cannot stay. You will have to make arrangements for someone to pick her up.” I informed the nurse that she was a breastfed baby and I couldn’t be apart from her. “It says here you gave her a bottle yesterday.” WHAT?!?!? Are you kidding me? The nurses gave her the bottle without my permission and I have to suffer from it? I could have jumped out of bed and strangled that doctor. That is, if I hadn’t been so sore from pushing out the baby.

The pediatrician finally left, after staring at me like I was the crazy one, and I called in a nurse to talk to Dr. Benge about the situation. He came by to visit me again and informed me that if my pressures weren’t down by 4 pm I would have to stay and Caleigh would have to leave…but he pulled some strings and she could stay till midnight. OH GOODY! My newborn baby can stay till midnight on New Year’s Eve. Great. Then my husband and both my daughters can be on the road at midnight during the craziest and drunkest night of the year. No seriously, that’s a great plan. (Lay on the sarcasm here please). I ended up turning off my phone, and laying as still as possible for the whole 4 hours, so I could leave.

It all ended as well as it could I suppose. By being still and reading my bible I was able to bring my pressures down by 4 pm. It was still high, but not high enough for Dr. Benge to want to keep me. The nurse started the discharge papers, but by the time they were done it was 9 pm. John and I drove home with Caleigh in the back seat. Jonathan stayed at the house with Hailey so we didn’t have to bring her as well. When we got home Jonathan had hooked up the TV and it looked so nice! Hailey was super excited to see me and couldn’t stay out of my arms. J I really had hoped to record them meeting for the first time, but I was soooo out of it from the magnesium and everything that I didn’t have my wits about me enough to get out the flip. We watched the ball drop in New York and ended 2010 with a bang! Or really, a crying newborn. J

Thank you Lord for blessing us with 2 beautiful daughters.