We didn't get much sleep or rest the first night in the hospital. I was uncomfortable despite staying on top of my pain medicine regime. My shoulders, back and neck were all sore from throwing up for hours the night before. Thankfully that all stopped around 4am and I was able to order a very luxurious breakfast from the hospital cafeteria. It felt like fancy room service after the night I had. The omelet meal tasted delicious.
Leo and I were doing really well. Kevin was wiped up from sleeping on an uncomfortable couch and getting up all night long. He changed every diaper and jumped at every peep Leo made throughout the night and day.
I was doing my best to nurse Leo and supplement with formula. That was going really well. No lactation consultants were visiting rooms due to the COVID-19 restrictions, but they did call to check in with me. Nursing was going fine so I didn't really need anything.
I tried to rest when Leo slept and in between nurse interruptions. We facetimed, texted and tried to keep in touch with family and friends. We weren't allowed to leave our room. In the past I'd walked the halls to get a change of scenery and help with my recovery. This time we had to stay put and not wander around.
I was feeling much less nauseous, was able to get up on my own and had a really great day time nurse. She was smart and knowledgeable. She got to remove all of my extra things - boots to avoid blood clots, fall risk bands, my IV, etc. It felt wonderful to get all of that stuff off of me.
I ate all my meals and snacks this day. I was starving. The hospital food was pretty good. Leo had his hearing, vision and lots of other checks. Our pediatrician came to check him out. It was great to see her. He passed with flying colors. He also got his first bath. He hated it, but smelled so good afterwards.
The nurses brought in a sweet birthday cake for Leo from our favorite local bakery. I didn't want to get my hopes up for this to happen because of all the extra restrictions going on at the hospital. I was THRILLED when his cake arrived. I brought a zero candle to the hospital so I could take his picture with his cake to celebrate his BIRTHday. I did that for Olive and Fletcher, too.
Kevin had to hop onto some Zoom work meetings and work while we were there. Then he headed home to say hi to the kids, give them big sis and big bro gifts and help my mom for a bit. We'd originally planned for him to go home that night and stay with the kids. But I asked him to come back and stay with me instead. I was still having trouble doing the basic things and I knew I'd need his help taking care of Leo again that night. *Best decision ever.* I could not have managed to take care of myself and Leo without his help!!
I took a nap and rested while he was gone.
He hurried back to the hospital that night just before the 8:00pm lock down. A big storm was rolling in at the same time. We called home to tell my mom where our flashlights were and prayed the storm wouldn't be as bad as it looked on the radar. It blew threw pretty quickly. We headed to bed only to be interrupted a zillion times for vital checks, nurse checks, etc.
Leo was snuggly from the start!
Day 3:
We were DYING to get discharged and go home. We had a really bossy, go getter day time nurse. She was going to get everything done for us ASAP and get us discharged. I loved her! My blood work came back within the normal range which meant I would not need a blood transfusion before leaving. Hooray!
I had grand plans of doing a newborn photo shoot in the hospital since I had to cancel the Fresh 48 photo session I had planned. Remember - only one visitor allowed for each person and no one extra? That meant NO newborn photographers. I did my best to snap pictures of Leo, not over do it and to get some sweet images to introduce him to the world. I packed plenty of cute blankets and accessories to take pictures. It felt good to do one thing that I had planned. I'm not a photographer, but I was happy with the pictures I took of Leo. There's a sneak peek below. I'll share the rest of them later.
We did all the things - shots, Leo had a quick procedure, pediatrician check ups and more and hurried up and waited for our official discharge. It happened around 3:00 and we zoomed home. I was still sore and everything felt very tender, but there as a buzz about going home.
We felt like pros leaving the hospital with a newborn. We weren't nervous about driving home with our baby. We couldn't wait to get home to introduce Leo to Olive, Fletcher and my mom.
I was so thankful to have Leo's delivery behind me and to be healthy enough to go home 48 hours later. We were eager to leave the hospital and all the extra drama surrounding it right now. Looking forward to hunkering down at home.
We welcomed Leo home and have been loving life as a family of 5!
Awww, sweet mama, good job!! I really enjoyed reading this, thank you so much for sharing it!
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