Well, my baby is 2 weeks old today! I love him to pieces and I can't wait to bring him home! For some reason the last few days have been a little rough for me. So I'm feeling the need to vent - just a little...
During Callan's first week there, we had an experience with a nurse that we didn't particularly care for. We finally got to hold our baby with our very favorite nurse, Janie. The next night, we showed up, I got in a gown so I could do some "Kangaroo Care" (aka skin-to-skin), and the nurse comes in and looks at me like, "why are you in a gown?." She acted like we had no right to hold that baby or even touch him for that matter. We finally got her to get him out and let me hold him. I held him for about 15 minutes and she came in to check on him and asked how he was doing. I said, "good, he's just hiccuping away." She said, "hiccups are a sign of overstimulation. We need to put him back." Then she literally walked over and snatched him out of my arms and put him back in his isolette. I was so mad I just wanted to cry my eyes out. Plus, I was supposed to practice breastfeeding with him and obviously didn't get to.
So last Monday, I had a nurse I really liked and I felt like I could talk to her. I asked her what to do if there was a nurse we didn't care for. She told me they get "fired" from certain babies all the time and they don't get their feelings hurt because sometimes personalities just don't mesh. I told her it really wasn't a big deal and I probably wouldn't do anything about it. She said, "well, you're starting to cry." The next thing I knew I was totally bawling. She actually had to go get the charge nurse so I could talk to her in my room because I couldn't stop bawling. She reassured me that it was just the whole postpartum hormones adjusting thing, but I was SO embarrassed! I could not stop crying, but we got it all taken care of. Every night I worried about walking in and finding hiccup nurse and I was so glad I didn't have to worry about that anymore.
So Sunday was the day we were going to try to pass off stage 1 breastfeeding. On my way to the hospital Sunday afternoon, the nurse practitioner called me and told me Callan had been acting so hungry all morning and was really wanting oral feedings. So they skipped him right up to stage 2! I was so happy! The nurse that day was so optimistic about him getting out of there before the end of the week. She even told me to bring in his carseat so we could to the carseat test and everything. Sunday went really well. Callan nursed well and Tyson got to come in that night and feed him his first bottle. (Pictures later sorry). We had nurse Janie that night so we were super excited and relieved he was in good hands. He ate his bottles really well for Janie all night.
Today I get there and the nurse says he wasn't interested in his bottle. The nurses have this thing that they call "getting dumb." They say that in week 35, the babies "get dumb" and forget how to eat. One nurse told me that it's because the baby's brain triples in size that week. The bottom line is - no parent wants to hear that their baby is getting dumb! When I nursed him, he did fine. So who knows if the nurse just wasn't trying very hard, or if he really did have a moment and forget how to eat. It's so frustrating because we're not there to know!
So I was sick with a stomach ache all morning. I came home from the hospital and had Lipton, a bath and a Sprite and decided I should ask Tyson to go feed him a bottle at 9:00 just in case I had a flu bug. (I feel better now.) So Tyson shows up and guess who he sees... HICCUP NURSE! Hiccup nurse did not want him to feed Callan a bottle because he had had one for his previous feeding and they don't like to do them back to back. Tyson persisted and fed him his bottle. Callan doesn't burp very well so they usually have to suck his air out of his stomach through his NG tube. After Callan ate his bottle (like a champ) Tyson asked the nurse to suck out his air. She said she would do it in a little bit. 30 minutes went by so Tyson finally did it himself because Callan was so uncomfortable and crying. He sucked out 40ml of air.
When Tyson came home and told me this, I had to call and ask the charge nurse to please review our list of people who cannot care for our baby (which consists of hiccup nurse only) and switch her assignment. I feel terrible about hurting her feelings, but I also feel like I'm on the verge of turning into a psycho that you would see on the news who unhooks all the baby's monitors and smuggles him home! I just want my baby! And if I can't have him, then I want people taking care of him who are going to hold him and love him like I would.
Ok I think I got it all out. I feel like I'm slowly going crazy. But I guess tomorrow is a new day. Pray for good nurses.
