Hospital Stay

I wish I had a hospital bed at home. That thing was so comfortable, you could bump up the knees or the head of the bed for perfect breastfeeding positioning. I could raise the entire bed up or down to access her little bassinet. :)

I loved my hospital experience overall. Vidant (the hospital) promotes breastfeeding on demand- so it's not scheduled or set to a certain time. They also promote in-rooming, there is NO newborn nursery. Cadence was in the room with me at all times, unless she was being weighed or rounded on in the mornings by Pediatrics. They even did her audiology screening test in the room:

Which, of course she passed. It tests frequencies to make sure that the 8th cranial nerve is picking up the sensation. Pretty neat.

When the pediatrician did her health screen, cadence passed everything, except her heart rate and her left hip. Her heart rate was a little low (in the 100s to 110s) initially, so they ordered an EKG (which was performed in the room as well), and read by the cardiologist. Heart rhythm looks fine, low HR is just normal for this sweet little lady. Her left hip showed signs of dysplasia, or "popping our of joint". They recommended a follow-up appointment with the orthopedic, which was set for 1 week after her birthday.

We had some visitors in the hospital- lots of family and friends stopped by to meet our sweet little lady.

I had some fantastic nurses, but I especially loved my night nurses! Meagan (Wednesday labor&delivery nurse) was halarious, and enjoyed joking around with us, keeping the mood light. She was especially helpful in PACU/recovery at 4am, and let me facetime with Nana (most of that conversation I don't remember, thanks to the pain medicine, but apparently it was a good conversation). My Friday evening nurse (Felicia) was also very helpful. She was able to watch over cadence outside of the room so I could sleep for a few hours, and when I woke up Cadence was blissifully sleeping in her bassinet next to my bed. (Yes, I cried when Johnathan wheeled the bassinet out of the room. I didn't want my baby out of the room, but apparently I needed some sleep). Felicia scheduled medication administration and vitals check at the same time, and only disturbed / came in the room 4 times that evening. I was able to get lengths of sleep! :)

Saturday was discharge day. The nurse went through all the information about what to do when we arrived home. JR went out to the car to get the carseat (I made sure that he only got the carrier, not the base. He informed me that he was not stupid and would not have brought in the base. As we were walking out the door about 30 minutes later, we saw a dad walking in with the carseat- with base attached. Chuckles!) I got a discharge form, as did Cadence, and the nurse made sure we didn't have any questions. In the car we went. I rode in the backseat to make sure she didn't need loving on the way home, but when I went to take her picture I realized my iPhone was missing! (They found it in my hospital bed and Pops brought it to us). JR drove so safely and slowed appropriately for all of the bumps. It took twice as long to get home as normal, but it was safe ride :)

So Cadence wore our family heirloom bonnet home- Everyone in my family (cousins, myself, sibilings) have worn the bonnet home (even the boys), and most of the women have carried the bonnet as a hankerchief in their wedding boquets. :)

What an amazing experience.