Callie, Kimber: getting ready to go home!
Kimber with her bili-blanket & mask.
Callie
Can you tell we were ready to get home?? (Callie, Kimber)For journaling purposes, and because I know everyone is dying to know all about it, I am going back in time 7 months (yes, it has been that long!) to talk about the first few days after Callie & Kimber were born. These were the days I was supposed to be home with my babies, getting cozy, and preparing for and celebrating Thanksgiving. Instead, I was stuck at the hospital. Seriously, how comfortable and cozy can one really be at the hospital?
First off, I will say that I believe VERY strongly that Jeff & I should call our parents and every single one of our siblings within a few hours after we have had a new baby. That's a lot of people. But I'm pretty sure we have done it every time. Except this one. I don't really know what all happened that first day but I know I didn't call everyone. I remember falling asleep in the middle of the two phone conversations that I did have - the morphine made me so extremely drowsy. I felt really terrible the morning after when my sister-in-law called wondering how everything had gone. She and my brother had been on pins & needles for over 24 hours waiting to hear about the babies and hadn't gotten their usual call from me. I was seriously in la-la land for that first day.
Finally, at about noon on Tuesday, I was able to get my IV taken out and get up and try to use the bathroom. To put things in perspective, with all 3 of my boys, I was walking out of the hospital and going home after 24 hours. To not even be able to get up for that long was so different. After that point, I got up frequently, since I had to take care of two babies (yikes!) but I could not believe how painful it was every time I tried to get up. I felt such empathy for people who have had C-sections...it was such a different experience for me.
Funny side note - I was not able to eat solid food for a long time, I think it was either Wednesday night or Thursday morning (I had been there since Monday morning). One evening, when I got my liquid dinner tray, I was complaining to Jeff about them forgetting my jell-0 cup. I was so frustrated because I felt like my body was not going to be able to produce enough milk because I was only getting approximately 250 calories per meal. Plus I was hungry. I was actually quite emotional about it and it was at this time that a friend of ours who works at the hospital stopped in to say hi. We visited for a few minutes and then he asked if there was anything we needed. Jeff told him I wanted my jell-o. So then we related the whole story to him and I was so upset about it all that I even started crying. I was just going to say that I never cry in front of people so that was a big deal, but I'm beginning to realize that I've been doing a lot more of it lately:) Needless to say, a few minutes after he left, our friend peeked back into my room and dropped off TWO jell-o cups for me:) I have hardly ever been so embarrassed.
During all this time, Callie & Kimber were the sweetest little babies ever. It was so fun to hold them and to see them together. From the beginning, they have both been pretty easy-going. It was difficult for me though because their personalities were so different from the beginning and I didn't really think about that. For example, Kimber was a very vigorous eater and was very strong and would eat quickly. Callie was more relaxed and ate at a much slower rate. They didn't settle down to sleep the same way, and they didn't just naturally want to eat and sleep at the same times. I really wanted to get them on the same schedule but it seemed so overwhelming to me at the hospital. I loved holding them though and was so in love with them. And amazingly enough, Jeff & I were both able to tell them apart from the very beginning. They are very unique and different from each other.
Long story short, I got discharged on Thursday (Thanksgiving) but the girls did NOT. They both had elevated jaundice levels and we had to move upstairs to the pediatric unit so they could be under the lights. Since I was no longer a patient, I couldn't get medication from the hospital any more and since it was a holiday, the pharmacy wasn't open and I wasn't able to get my prescriptions filled until Friday. Thursday was so miserable for me and I was feeling very sick by the time we moved upstairs. I was so overwhelmed and alone since Jeff was home celebrating Thanksgiving with the kids when we made the move. When we got upstairs, one of the first faces I saw was another friend of mine who is a nurse at the hospital (married to the first friend) and I have never felt so grateful to see someone that I knew in my life. It was such a blessing to have her there. She and the other nurse got us all settled in and even took care of me (even though I wasn't a patient). I am so thankful that she sacrificed her Thanksgiving holiday with her family to be there, it made all the difference to me.
We spent Thursday afternoon and all day Friday in the pedi unit with the girls wrapped in the bili-blankets with goggles. I will not lie when I say that it was about the most miserable time of my life. I have never wanted to be home so badly as I did then. It was late Friday evening when the doctor finally gave us the go-ahead to go home and we didn't waste any time in getting out of there. Jeff, his dad, Madlyn, & Cole were all there to help us load up and make the journey home.
We got home around 8:30pm and I was so happy and relieved to be here. I think Callie & Kimber were glad to finally be out of those big awkward blankets and home with all their brothers and sister (and Grandma & Grandpa L.)!
