Amelia's Birthday

Amelia was born at 3:16 am and I realized at about 5 AM that we hadn't told our parents yet. They were all sitting in the waiting room, wondering if we'd had the baby yet, while Nathan and I were in the birthing room in a daze. I told Nathan, "you should probably tell the parents what's going on." It was weird to have him leave the room as I'd been with him every minute for over 24 hours.

I wish I could have seen him tell everyone. I'm sure he was a bit upset, due to the oxygen issues. He came back to the room and helped me to the restroom so I could attempt to nurse our sweet baby. Around 6 AM, the nurse asked if the grandmothers could come in as they were getting anxious. I realized I hadn't been thinking clearly at all. They could have come in very soon after Amelia's birth, but I just hadn't thought about it. So they came in, watching as I tried to nurse while I was also crying because the NICU was busy preparing a space for Amelia.

I could not believe she would be going to the NICU and not to the recovery room with me. I had planned to keep her with me so I could nurse her often and bond with her. Instead, Nathan and his mom went with the NICU nurse and Amelia and my parents and Nathan's dad went with me to my room. I wanted to be with my baby, but shift change was quickly approaching and I wouldn't be allowed in the NICU for that hour anyway.

I got to my room, which I was sharing with another new mom and her baby (kill me now). The nurse showed me how to use the bed and all the other buttons around the bed. Nathan came in a few minutes later (couldn't stay in NICU due to the shift change) and we both just kind of lost it for a bit. This part of bringing a baby into the world hadn't even crossed our minds. I had the best labor and delivery I could have imagined, but that all went to the way-side when the nurses had to take Amelia away and start giving her oxygen and trying to suck all the goo out of her lungs. Between the support of our families and each other, we made it through. We waited for the shift change hour to be over and then headed down to the NICU.

This is Amelia's first space in the NICU.


It was so wonderful to see how it all worked. (I was not very happy to see a pacifier in her bed though, as I explicitly said in our birth plan no pacifiers or bottles.) I don't know what I expected to find there, but I was so glad to meet Amelia's nurse, Patty. She was so nice and I could immediately tell that she loved babies. She helped me give Amelia her first bath (well, I actually watched for most of it, I was very intimidated by all the wires) and was just very reassuring overall.

Amelia didn't really enjoy her first bath so much.


She was much happier when it was all done.


I was also surprised to see privacy screens were available for nursing. Thank goodness! I was so clumsy with breastfeeding, I didn't have a clue. All the research I did prior to Amelia's birth seemed to be gone from my brain. I was so glad there were lactation consultants available to help me during the day. Amelia had to stay in the NICU for ten days though, so bottles were unavoidable. Such is life!