Hospital Stay

This is going to be so scattered, but I want to remember these things and write them down before I forget! I had heard horrible things about our "local" hospital and was really  nervous about our stay, but I ended up loving it so much I wouldn't mind having all my babies here. I got two uninterrupted hours of skin to skin with El and she nursed like a champ from the get go! They took her from me to weigh her and get her length and then we both got into the wheelchair and headed to our room, 161. Before I even got in there, a nice and hot breakfast of eggs and potatoes (so yummy!) were waiting for me but my cute nurse had a lot to fill me in on and teach me. Breakfast had to wait. I ate while the nurse gave her her first bath (we have the cutest video of this. She was not happy!) and then just held our little girl for hours. I loved our first nurse, hated the second and third. El had a lot of fluid and stuff in her nose and throat and was gagging a lot to get it out. It was causing both her and I to panic. My second nurse could have cared less and made me feel so stupid as a new mom. During our first night with Ellie, she had a hard time breathing. The third nurse we had was this little asian lady that I could hardly understand. I think she thought my baby was deaf because any time she'd talk to her, she yelled at her. Since she was having a hard time breathing, Derek and I took turns sleeping while the other held El upright. The nurse would come in every hour to test her pulse and oxygen levels and called the respiratory therapist several times. He wasn't concerned about her breathing. I loved our fourth nurse so much. She worked her tail off to get us discharged that second day. She made me walk around the hospital... nobody tells you how awkward it is to walk after having a baby. We loved the guy that did her hearing test. She was not loving having to lay in the cold bassinet and he let us swaddle her tightly and let Derek hold her during the test. She passed! Then we just had to wait several hours to find out if we were going to be discharged. Finally the pediatrician came and my OB cleared me to leave. Derek took everything out to the car while I dressed her and got her buckled into her car seat. I've never seen her cry so hard! I was so excited to go home, but she clearly was not. We were wheeled to the front where Derek picked us up and we made the long drive home!

These amazing pictures were taken by my cute friend Laynah!