11 things I learned in the hospital

1. Keep the baby with you - this goes against most advice that recommends keeping the baby in the nursery, and at some hospitals it might work better than it did with us.  They took the baby for the night and said they would bring him back in a couple hours.  I kept waking up expecting them to bring him to eat, but they didn't for a long time, like four hours or something.  The next day we had a different nurse who was very concerned that he hadn't been eating frequently enough and scolded me.  I didn't know what I was doing and was trusting the nurses to bring him when he needed to eat.  It was just too hard to control when I could feed him and take care of him when he was in the nursery.  I was up all night anyway since they kept coming in to check on me.  The next day and night we kept him in the room with us and it worked out much better and I felt more in control.

2. It's your baby - I couldn't wait to take home our little guy so I could take care of him the way I wanted and when I wanted.  At first I felt like I had to go along with whatever the hospital was doing.  They tend to just sweep in and take over unless you say otherwise.  I learned after awhile that I was the mom and had the ultimate say in what was going on.  We changed his clothes into something that fit him better and was softer and wrapped him in our swaddle blanket.  

Also, the nurse the second morning said his temperature was low and wanted me to do some skin to skin before his circumcision.  Right after we got set up a woman came in to do his hearing test.  When the nurse came back she was concerned that he hadn't got his skin to skin contact.  Apparently we were supposed to tell the other lady to wait on the hearing test.  This nurse was kind of harsh, but I appreciated her attention and information on how to care for our little guy.

3. Don't bring clothes for you - Even though the nurse said that we didn't have that much stuff, pretty much all the clothes I brought for me were not needed.  I just wore a gown all day.  You should bring clothes for your baby daddy though including some pjs.

4. Bring comfy slippers - I had these super comfortable slippers that I wore whenever I shuffled to the bathroom that I liked.

5. Bring lots of snacks - I delivered Quentin at 8:22 pm, after the cafeteria was closed and dinner service.  All they had were sandwiches, which isn't really helpful for someone who doesn't eat wheat.  They finally found a fruit platter.  Cottage cheese never looked so good.  I was starving! The food was good, but I just never had enough.  I was much more hungry nursing than I ever was while pregnant.  Also, they don't provide food for your baby daddy so make sure you have something for him.  Sometimes the cafeterias aren't open on the weekends.

6. You will lose all sense of modesty - Having your lady parts on display during the delivery is just the beginning of the invasiveness.  They watch you to make sure you're ok while you go to the bathroom and check you every few hours to make sure you're healing ok.  The lactation consultant helps you while you bear your chest.  It feels like a different world where it's perfectly normal to run around naked.  I had a random nurse come in while I was pushing to switch work hours with another nurse that was in my room.  They just walk in regardless of what you're doing.  When we were getting ready to leave it felt weird to have so many clothes on.  Looking back on myself pre-marriage I would have freaked to have my body on display in such a way.

7. Enjoy the time with your baby - I was excited to go home, but I remember the time in the hospital as relaxing.  It was a time that I didn't have to worry about dinner or trying to figure out if the baby is ok.  I just enjoyed my baby.

8. You will receive multiple bills from your stay - There's a bill from the hospital, the contractor who does the hearing test, the OB, the anesthesiologist, the pediatrician, and a bill for the tools used for all of it.  It doesn't come neatly packaged into one bill like one might hope.  They will not tell  you this while you're in the hospital.  Hopefully your insurance is taken by all these separate people.

9. Make sure you stock up on supplies - Before you go, get all the diapers, wipes, pads, and medication you can.  The insurance pays for it so make sure you take it with you.

10. Bring different sized outfits for baby - I just brought one newborn sized outfit for Q and much to my surprise his torso was too long for newborn clothes.  We got him home by not doing up the legs.  Next time I'll bring a 0-3 mo outfit too just in case.

11. You can have the epidural at any time - I wrote that I wanted an epidural in my birth plan and I was waiting for them to ask me if I wanted one.  From all the articles I had read I figured they would be trying to get me to do this and that, all sorts of medical interventions, but we were alone almost the entire time until it was time to push.  I labored for three hours when we finally asked about it.  The nurse said that all we had to do was ask and she would get the anesthesiologist.  I held on for another hour and a half until I couldn't take it anymore.  Of course I had to wait another 30 minutes before I got any relief.