The Remainder of Our Hospital Stay

Dear Conrad,

We spent a large part of your first week in the hospital, due to the fact that you were born via c-section. That first night with you was a mess of emotions for both your dad and me. With all the reading and preparing we tried to do, we still weren't ready for what being parents would be like! (For instance, when you had your first dirty diaper, your dad and I looked at each other and said, "Do you know how to do this?")

I made this pumpkin garland just for your hospital bassinet.

Even though we got help taking care of you, we just didn't sleep well in the hospital. We were so tired all the time. I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to handle those sleepless nights.

At first, nursing you was easy. I thought I was going to be one of those lucky moms who didn't have any problems breastfeeding - one of those moms everyone else was jealous of. But the longer we were in the hospital, the harder it got. To be honest, I'm not sure how much nourishment you were getting originally. I have since read that it takes longer for milk to come in after a cesarean than it does after a regular delivery. You got so jaundiced, and lost so much weight. By the time you left the hospital, you weighed 5 pounds 13 ounces - a 10-ounce loss from your birth weight.

The wreath that Gigi and I made for your baby shower hung on our hospital room door.

Because we were so tired of being the hospital, by Friday we were practically begging the nurse to discharge us. I'd gotten the okay from Dr. Franken. We'd packed everything up. Why can't we leave yet? Eventually they let us go at 4:00 pm, but then had to call us and ask us to come back to the hospital because they never retested your hearing. See, you didn't pass your hearing test the first time, which is pretty common for c-section babies. Lots of fluid stays in the ears after that surgery. The hospital's policy is to test three times, and for some reason, they never bothered to do the second or third test (even though we were there for days.) However, they were very kind to schedule a hearing appointment for you with their specialist, and paid for it as well.

I should have counted my blessings while we were in the hospital, though, because things got a lot tougher when we took you home....