Dad's Story - Part 2 - The First Few Days

(Be sure to check out my last post first)

Monday, November 20, 2006

After getting home and posting the good news on the baby's blog, I settled down for a good night's (morning's) sleep. Meg's mom was already en-route and arrived about 7 o'clock or so, although I stayed asleep.

I got up around 11 AM, had breakfast, got showered, dressed, etc, and then posted some pictures on the blog. Then, I headed to the hospital to meet my new family.

I got there and found Meg with Maddie and her Mom. Meg was feeling better, though only got about 1.5 hours of sleep, due to the many interruptions you get in the hospital. My goal for the day was to share the good news with everyone.

So, I got out the phone list, which had been carefully organized into sections: "Call when we are admitted to the hospital, call when we start pushing, call when the baby is born, call the next day when there is time." Well, if you remember from the previous evening, there wasn't any time for those first two categories. However, I had to tackle the "call when there is time" list.

So, taking up a few hours, I called all of our friends and family. I also called the handbell choir and canceled the practice I had scheduled that evening. We would still be playing on Sunday, however.

In the meantime, I enjoyed time with Meg and Maddie. I didn't quite feel like Dad yet at this point. There are lots of people in the hospital to take care of the baby, and I was so busy with making phone calls that I didn't have the chance to get much hands-on experience. I, however, did change my first diaper.

Meg and Maddie also struggled more with nursing. It was not going well. It only partially worked if one or two nurses were there to help. I began wondering how we were going to do this when we got home.

As the day and evening when on, the room just seemed to get more full with people. My family came over, and Maddie got to meet her Aunt Laura, and Uncle Nick. Aunt Caitlin was also there. It was nice to have so many people there, but the room was only so big, and Meg and I were able to breathe a sigh of relief when everyone went home.

All day, however, my neck was still hurting, and it seemed to be getting worse. I was so happy, but really wasn't enjoying myself. I didn't quite feel like myself the whole day.

I still hadn't finished my lesson plans which I started on Sunday, so I REALLY had to get them done. Rather then finish them at home, I decided to stay at the hospital with Meggie while I worked. I said "bye" to Meg and Maddie, and headed home around midnight or so, because I had to go to school the next day.

Before going to bed, I gave Max one of Maddie's receiving blankets from the hospital so he could get used to the smell. Max pretty much likes anything you give him, but he was really interested in this blanket. When Max and I got into bed, I was holding the blanket to my chest. He came over and took it from me, brought to 'his side' of the bed, and rested his head on it and fell asleep. It looks like Max will be a good 'big brother!'

Tuesday, November 21
Today I learned that I apparently can't wake up without Meg there. My usual morning routine is to set my alarm for 5:33 (yeah I know, just accept the weird time, there used to be a logical reason for this). I hit "snooze" until 6:18, get up, get showered and dressed, have breakfast, watch the news, and then head to school around 7:15 or so.

My PLAN was to get up even earlier, and leave earlier, since I didn't have anything ready to teach that day. Well, I ended up waking up at 6:52! No time for breakfast, I showered, and put a very confused Max back in the crate, as Meg's mom and sister were still asleep.

I rushed off to school, grabbed breakfast AND lunch on the way to school, called Meg to tell her how important she is to me... I NEED HER TO WAKE ME UP! I also tried to figure out how I was going teach today, since I wasn't prepared at all. I finally decided that I was going to be my own sub today, and just use my emergency sub plans.

School was pretty hectic and nerve-racking. I didn't really want to be there in the first place. Everyone was very happy for me, and wanted to hear the story, and see pictures, which was nice, but I was really busy, and didn't have a whole lot of time to stop and talk. Then there was the matter of personal days. I wanted to take of Wednesday and Monday, to give me a 6 day weekend. However, both of these days surrounded the Thanksgiving break, which is a contractual issue. I had to get permission from the superintendent to do this, which involved leaving a message with his secretary, and then waiting in suspense all day as I wondered what on earth I would do if I didn't get these days.

After teaching (playing a video) all day, I had finally had gotten approval for my days from the principal. So, I spent the rest of the afternoon getting everything ready for my substitute for the next two school days. It didn't matter to me that I was staying at school late, because I would have the next 6 days off!

I left school and headed to the hospital to visit Meggie and Maddie. Meg had another pretty tiring day, and didn't get much sleep last night. Meg's mom visited her during the day. Soon after I got there, my parents arrived to visit. Meg had just started another attempt at nursing, and I wanted to give her some alone time, and I wanted to get something for dinner, so my parents and I went downstairs to the hospital cafe (which was actually pretty good, and cheap!) to give Meggie and Maddie some success.

After my parents, we attempted to watch Gilmore Girls, however, didn't get to see much of it between taking care of a baby, and the many visits from various doctors and nurses.

I ended up staying at the hospital until really late. Meg was very bummed about the nursing not going well. We also felt like crappy parents when the night nurse took her away, and explained that we didn't feed her enough (we couldn't even get her to nurse, so we were feeding her formula with a syringe, and no one told us how much we had to feed her). Meg did have success with the pump that night though, so it looked like we were stuck pumping, and then syringe-feeding her until we got this worked out. I stayed for a while for moral support for Meg, and because I really missed her. It really wasn't coming home unless she was there.

I finally headed home (after 1 or so), and got some sleep.

Wednesday, November 22
I overslept again, though it was not a major problem, as my only plans for the morning were to get the house cleaned and straightened so everything was nice for Meg and Maddie.

While cleaning, the stork guy arrived, and put it on the lawn. This was a surprise to me, as my parents ordered it. I would've never thought to do that.

After getting the house ready, I drove to the hospital, with the carseat, as we were going to be taking Maddie home today. I stopped at a drug store to buy some ibuprofen, as my neck was still killing me.

Meggie and Maddie were up when I arrived. Still no success with nursing, but at least we had somewhat of a backup plan now (pumping and syringe-feeding). We got the room cleaned up and everything packed. We had a few more visits from doctors and nurses, and were allowed to leave when we heard from everybody.

Leaving the hospital was a little stressful. We had packed a winter coat for Maddie to wear, which didn't work, since she could swim in it. We didn't really have anything else warm enough. This was also the first time Maddie went into the carrier, and also the first time we heard her really wail. To this day (only 4 weeks later to be fair), she still hates getting in her carrier, but usually mellows out when the car starts moving. We also left the hospital with a lot more than we checked in with. I had to borrow a cart from the hospital just to get everything out.

We finally got the car loaded up, and Maddie had settled down, and we headed home for the first time. When we got to the house, Mom and Cait had went out shopping to give us some alone time. We introduced Max to Maddie (Max still doesn't quite know what to make of her).

It was nice to finally get a chance to use all of the stuff we had acquired this summer and fall. It was also nice not to have to care for a baby in a 12x12 hospital room.

Soon Meg's mom and Cait got back. They had brought us dinner from Peter's. Meg and Cait played with the baby while we ate, and soon my parents and Laura arrived to bring the stuff over for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Our first night was a little interesting. We were still sticking with pumping and syringe feeding, though weren't really sure we had the idea. Maddie slept more during the night than I had really expected, I guess since I had heard so many horror stories about baby's not ever sleeping at night.

Thursday, November 23, Thanksgiving
My parents came over early in the morning to start the turkey in the oven. Thanksgiving was at our house, although we weren't hosting it. They left us with instructions to baste the turkey every half hour, and told us they would be back later.

In the morning I had made an attempt to get the house cleaned up, but was kinda tired, and dealing with the stress of caring for a newborn. Meg and Maddie also made one of their last attempts at nursing. After an hour or so of helping Meg try to get Maddie to latch on, all three of us were in tears. Out of desperation, I called my mom for advice. She said to give her a bottle (which you aren't supposed to do if you are trying to nurse), because the most important thing was that Maddie got nourishment. Meg gave her a bottle, and for the first time ever, it seemed like Maddie was happy. We knew that this was the right thing, even though it wasn't what we planned. At this point, we figured Meg could just pump what we needed to feed Maddie, and that way we wouldn't have to formula feed.

Eventually my parents came back over, and Meg and I were instructed to take a nap, since we were both tired and stressed. While we slept, the rest of our family set the table and prepared the meal. Meg eventually got up to socialize, while I got some more sleep. In the meantime, my grandparents arrived, and soon I got up for dinner.

Dinner was delicious, and was fun, even in our sleepy state. Afterwards we took a bunch of pictures, relaxed, and talked. Soon the house was empty, and only Meg's mom and Cait were left. Meg and I managed to get some more sleep that night, though found sleeping with a baby in the room wasn't all that easy, even when she was quiet.

To be continued...