Memories and hospital bills

Oregon in November. You can still get outside if you have a jacket and a good attitude. It's funny because I see so few people walking or riding bikes in the winter but in the summer there are people everywhere. So I enjoy the tranquility of winter outdoors here.

I took this photo about 5 minutes after the first photo, if you wait long enough, you will find blue or gray skies here this time of year. Anyway!

I want to share a few more stories from delivery that I didn't get to share yet. I'm starting to get statements from the hospital so it was a reminder about why I left the hospital a day early. In general, the nursing staff was completely awesome and I felt like they were caring and wonderful people. But the day after delivery we had a bit of a mishap, I told my nurse I was nauseated and thought I was going to throw up. She said she would be back with a medication to help me but she took her lunch break and another nurse came in with a syringe that she put in my IV. Within minutes my speech was slurred and I felt like I was losing consciousness. I told the nurse that I was going to pass out and she said, "Oh, you are feeling sleepy because of the medication I just gave you." Sleepy? I couldn't talk, this was more than sleepy. Basically I had to sleep off the medication for the next 6 hours while Bill watched our newborn baby. That worked well for everyone. NOT. Our nurse came in later and started crying, she felt so bad about what had happened.

The next day, a new nurse showed up and wanted to check my c-section incision. A bandage had been taped over it but for some reason this genius thought gauze was just lying on top of it and she tried to lift it off, when it didn't budget she actually tried to rip the bandage off without thinking about tape. That felt great. And that was it. I was done with the nurses. I asked when I could go home and by nightfall that day, I was home. Who knows how much money I saved us by leaving a day early.

One nice thing about the nursing staff is that you can room in with your baby or ask them to take the baby to the nursery. Most women room in so the nurses are thrilled when you ask them to watch your baby. Bill asked me to send the baby to the nursery in the middle of the night so we could get some sleep. I wanted to die before I let go of that baby, but out of respect for him I asked the nurse to take the baby. I spent the next 4 hours waking up and trying to stop myself from pressing the call button to bring the baby back. It was brutal. I have to tell you, there have been a few nights recently when I wished there was a nurse take the baby for me.

Dinner is about to come out of the oven, another victory for me, I got to cook while the baby slept. You know your life has changed when you are excited to cook dinner and do the dishes!

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