Hospital Stay

Day One, Friday

The first priority was meeting some of the most important people around. Mom and Dad had been introduced in the operating and recovery rooms, and there were brief family introductions in the hallway on the way up to the Maternity ward. We finally had some time to sit down with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Katie (who needs an updated T-shirt!) There was also a brief video chat with Kiwi Nana and Grandad, and Uncle Jonathan.

Day Two, Saturday

Day two saw another introduction, Aunt Anna, after the first inspections by the Pediatrician for Iva and the Gynocologist for Mom.

Day Three, Sunday

Day three was several tests, and a couple of labs taken. We learned that hearing was good, the heart was good, and lungs/respiration were good. Later in the evening, the hospital provided a “celebration dinner” for Mom and Dad. The hospital food was already pretty good, but this was even better! Sunday night, however, was very long. Iva wasn’t happy, and between lack of sleep from previous nights and some misinformation we weren’t sure what to do. The night nurse kindly offered to take Iva for an hour, which we accepted, and then got some sleep.

Day Four, Monday

After the long night on Sunday night, the doctors and nurses were concerned with mental and emotional states and required that we stay another day. This put a damper on our good spirits on Monday, but we soldiered on. We took further advice from one of the hospital’s lactation consultants, and did our best to rest.

Day Five, Tuesday

We finally had a good night on Tuesday, and both the Pediatrician and the Gynecologist signed off on our discharges. Mom finally got the staples from her C-section removed, and then a well-earned massage. We had a brief meeting with one of the nurse directors/managers, and we laid out several of our concerns from the stay, things that went well, things that could have been better, and things that we felt were terrible and absolutely needed to be addressed. We won’t get into these, but suffice to say that we were happy enough with our stay and with the response from the assistant director that if it works out, we’ll be planning to return to Reston for our second child if/when the time comes.