Simon comes home

posted by Jeff | Monday, March 8, 2010, 1:23 PM | comments: 0

It has been an interesting, and stressful, 24 hours coming home from the hospital. The good news is that Simon's fourth day is going pretty well.

The first mess was just trying to get out of the hospital, due in part to a lot of incompetence. First off, the doctor's didn't get Diana's meds instructions into the discharge paperwork, so as we were ready to leave, we had no idea what she was going to need, or even that there was a prescription for Percocet. I'm kinda willing to give the doctors a pass on that, but the day staff at the hospital should know better. No one explicitly told us we could even go (though Simon was in the clear after a visit from the pediatrician's practitioner earlier that morning), or thought to cut Simon's security tag off. Then we were supposed to "wait 30 minutes" for the hospital pharmacy to get the Percocet, which turned into nearly three hours. On one hand, that meant the three of us could get a nap, but it only made the frustration of wanting to get out worse. We said screw it, and took it to Walgreen's on the way home. The day shift people were no Nurse Stephanie, that's for sure.

Not surprisingly, Simon loved the car ride home, and was out cold the whole way. He started to get hungry, almost in the desperate sense, thereafter, and just wanted to feed over and over. This went on much of the night, and that was difficult. He passed out on me for about an hour starting around 1, and Diana got a nap in there. Then I got up at 3 and 4 for short periods as he wanted to eat some more. This was the point where I finally started to fall apart, for the first time really since any point in the pregnancy. I just didn't know what to do, and got frustrated that the techniques I used at the hospital weren't helping him to settle down. We briefly got to reverse roles, and Diana got to be the straight-thinking one. The dad role at this stage is a lot like coaching. You're expected to be the strong leader and guide your team, but you don't really have anyone who can prop you up.

There was also a difficult moment when we tried to get the gauze around his circumcision wet enough that we could get it off, but it just didn't happen. His poor little penis is all red and the gauze of course looks terrible at this point. When we failed to get it moist enough, all we could do is feel bad.

I somehow ended up in bed, and some time after 6, Diana dropped Simon off in my arms, where we both slept for about two hours. The constant desire to feed continued on during the morning, and I eventually got him to settle by letting him suck on my thumb. I was in awe. He won't take the pacifier at all. I understand now why Diana's feeling a little pain when he first latches on, because wow can that boy suck.

He saw his new pediatrician for the first time at 11:30 today, and she's absolutely wonderful. I liked her within the first minute. She was concerned about his weight a little, and had us supplement his breast feeding with a little formula. He f'd up half a bottle in almost no time, and passed out immediately after. In fact, he's still sleeping. The doc said it's absolutely no problem to supplement at this point, and that once Diana's milk starts up, he should get enough of that in a couple of days and his weight will swing back the other way pretty quickly. She was very reassuring, and impressed with his strength and general vigor. Diana in particular felt immediately better. She also told us to keep lubing up the gauze on his penis, and that should get it moist enough to get off.

There's a wonderful peace in the apartment right now. It might not last long, but that's OK. We got to see the cute baby again today for the first time in about 18 hours.


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