The hours following delivery are kind of a blur. There was a whirlwind of excitement and it felt as thought hours passed by in seconds. By 10pm the night she was born I was moved into the maternity wing of the hospital. They only had semi-private rooms available, so I was roomed in with another mother who had given birth the day before.
Visiting hours were over, so shortly after being moved all my company left for the night and I was alone to bond and get to know Alison. We had nurses come in and monitor both of us every 2 hours throughout the night. Ali managed to breastfeed well and then fall asleep at 2am. To my surprise she slept straight through until 7am when Rob returned to the hospital to visit. I didn't get much sleep that night as the adrenaline was still pumping and I was just to excited to be staring at my daughter.
The next day passed quickly as we had a few visitors pop by to say hello. The nurses continued to monitor both of us every 4 hours and the best news I received is that I would likely be able to go home the next day. Unfortunately I didn't know that "going home the next day" was code for "you're in for a miserable night."
As visiting hours drew to a close and nursing staff changed shifts, the new nurse came in to explain all the tests Ali would be put through before she could be discharged. There was a hearing test, a jaundice test and a test that checked for genetic disorders and any potential mental issues. These would be performed throughout the night, which boiled down to no sleep for either of us.
The hearing test was first. As the maternity wing grew quite around midnight they wheeled Ali down the hall to a room and put sensors in her ears. A sound wave was passed through each sensor and it displayed on the monitor whether she passed of failed (obviously passing meaning she was able to hear it). The nurse made my heart race for a few minutes as the test kept coming back "re-test". Apparently they sensor wasn't bouncing off the right part of the ear drum. Eventually it got sorted out and she passed with flying colours!
When we returned to our room, another nurse was waiting to administer the genetic testing. Once again we were wheeled off, but this time was much more invasive. They had to take a small blade and make a puncture wound on the heel of her foot to draw blood. She had to bleed enough to fill up 6 circles completely on a piece of testing paper. It took about 15 minutes and the nurse had to squeeze her heel very hard to keep her bleeding. Lets just say she was not a happy camper. As a new mom, its very difficult to listen to your child scream in pain and know you cant fix it.
They finally finished and we returned to our room again. We had some time, so she was able to nurse and fall asleep in my arms. As I was looking forward to getting some sleep myself I move her to her bassinet only for her to wake moments later. I'd pick her up and she'd stop, put her down and she'd start. There was no way that little lady was sleeping unless it was on mommy. Being that I was in a hospital bed, I obviously couldn't fall asleep while holding her so I had no choice but to battle thought my exhaustion and hold her so she could get some rest.
It didn't matter for long as once again another nurse came in and explained that she would be testing for jaundice. They would now be pricking her OTHER heel and squeezing blood out to fill up a vial. Are you kidding me? This test took about 5 minutes, and you guessed it!, she screamed the entire time. No wonder she didn't want to leave my arms! Every time she is put down someone causes her pain.
8am rolled around and all the tests came back with fantastic news! We could go home! Thank goodness. I was so sick of this place. Before we were to leave there was one more visitor that had to come, the lactation consultant.
The first night Ali nursed she didn't latch properly and although she was able to eat, she left me with giant blisters on both my nipples, which were causing quite a bit of discomfort as I had to continue nursing during our stay.
The wonderful lactation consultant came in and helped to make sure that the she was now latching properly and discussed any concerns I had. She was able to give me a prescription for a cream that would help heal and numb the pain as I continued breastfeeding. I was pleased to hear that Ali was getting tons of milk and that my flow was developing quite well. She expected my full milk to be in by tomorrow. The latch was perfect so at this point we are just powering through the pain until they heal. It should get easier day by day.
By 10am Rob had arrived and we were outta there! It was wonderful to come home as a family and know our new life was just beginning!
