We were situated in our new room, and I was able to feed Jocelyn again and change into new clothes by about 5 PM. This timing was so much nicer than the twins. I think the fact that it was still daylight out definitely contributed to my overall “humanlike” feelings. I still had energy, and had just enough time to enjoy the evening before visiting hours were over and it was back to just the three of us again in our cozy little room (with an ocean view). I looked back at pictures of the twins, and I didn’t change clothes until the twins were about 36 hours old, and I probably didn’t leave the room for about that long also. I liked the nurse, her name was Liza. I was surprised when she mentioned that Dr. Vaughan, our awesome pediatrician had been called, and he was going to stop by on his way home from the office. I definitely did not expect to see him until the next morning. He gave her a good report, said I looked great, and said he would see us the next morning. Just a few more blessings that were wrapped up into this 2nd/3rd experience (never am quite sure how to think of it).
Marcia brought the twins up shortly after Dr. Vaughan left. When we had talked to the twins earlier on the phone to announce the birth of their baby sister, Marcia showed them the picture text message we had sent. We were able to hear their reactions on the phone. Mackenna said, “she came out!” as her eyes got all big and wide, Marcia told us. Micah had a very serious, thinking face on. Marcia also told me that she said, “I love my baby sister” twice in the period after the phone call. They were so excited as they charged into the hospital room. They looked at her in the bassinet bed thing for awhile, and we could hardly hold Mackenna back when it was time to hold her. The twins and I climbed in bed and each twin got a chance to hold Jocelyn. Mackenna was first, then Micah. I then heard a sweet voice from Mackenna, “can I have a second turn?” A little while later, it was time to hold her again, and we were in a different position, one where Mackenna really was truly holding her more. I still had my arm around her, and Mackenna looked up at me, and in kind of a negotiating voice, asked if I would please move my arm so she could hold her all by herself. She really was in love. I had gotten the twins some big sister/big brother presents - a few more “Cars” for him and a new purse with some squinkies for her. Micah may have been more excited about the cars than his sister, but he did show some love and excitement for her as well. It was a good first visit.
The twins left, and we got some dinner, it was close to 8 or 9 by this point. The night shift brought another great nurse (sense a theme here?), Cherrie. I wasn’t sure when I first met her, she seemed kind of old and “stuffy,” but she was really kind and compassionate throughout that whole night shift. I don’t know if it was just a unique fluke, or what, but I definitely felt like the nurses treated me much differently this second time around. They would come in, ask if the baby had nursed or peed or pooped, hear my response, say “great," and leave. Much less invasive and pushy. It was nice to feel like they trusted me. Later, we got to talking about her family. She had seven kids, and a whole slew of grandkids, and she seemed to really like her job. We talked a little bit about big families, and it was interesting to get her perspective (although the details of our conversation are a little fuzzy to me right now. Maybe I was tired as I was talking, or something. Haha.)
Jocelyn’s first night went pretty well - you know, for someone who hadn’t been out of the womb for 20 hours yet. She must have nursed sometime around 9ish, because at midnight, she was still sleeping, and I didn’t know what to do. I actually called the nurse to ask if I should wake her up or not. She said no, that I should get some rest. I dozed some, but I did wake her up shortly after that. I wasn’t sleeping all that well, and I really wanted to make sure I was nursing her frequently enough - both for my body and hers. At this point, I sent an email to Christa pointing out just how different this experience of having one baby was than having two. I actually had called and nurse and asked what I should do because my baby was still sleeping. That would have sounded absolutely insane the first time around. I knew that things could change in an instant, but up until that point (and really, still until now), I would be lying if I said that having one baby was anything but easier than having two! She slept until 3ish, and then it was somewhat downhill from there. She wanted to pretty much eat hourly until 7. She did sleep after that, but by that point, it was time for shift change, midwife rounds, pediatrician rounds, vitals, my exam, etc. Somehow, both Curt and Jocelyn slept through all of these visitors. Haha. That really made me smile. I guess, from this aspect, I can see why some people want to rush right home from the hospital. If we had been home for this night awake time and morning sleep time, I could have been sleeping also; no doctors or nurses would have kept me up with vitals and exams. However, coming home would have meant the chaos of two lovely munchkins, not the serene peace and quiet that I might picture in my head. I guess, if I could have all the experience and confidence of doing this for a second time around, without all the chaos of my other little people, home wouldn’t have been a bad place to be. Looking at the situation from my view of reality, I’m very glad that I was able to stay in the hospital until Friday. (Jocelyn did get weighed sometime that first night/next morning, and we found out that she hadn’t lost any weight yet - still 7 lbs 3 oz! The nurse commented that whatever I was doing with her constant eating must be working.)
Both of my first two nurses commented about Jocelyn being at an increase risk for developing jaundice because of all the bruising on her forehead. When the first nurse said this, I just kind of nodded and smiled like I knew what they were talking about, but when the second one said it also, I asked what the two had to do with each other. She said that jaundice is caused by a build up of dead red blood cells, that your liver is supposed to dispose of but hasn’t been able to keep up. The liver will work to filter the blood first regarding the bruise and the dead red blood cells there, leaving an excess of red blood cells in the rest of the blood stream, causing jaundice. Thankfully, yet another reason to be thankful, Jocelyn never developed anything close to jaundice. She would have a “ruddy” complexion at times while being examined, but her overall color stayed fine, and she eventually passed her bilirubin screen with flying colors. (She does appear to have sensitive skin, however. Her skin will get pretty red after it has been pressed up against my skin or anything else. Not sure how this is going to go in the diaper area. We are still working on that.)
One more "hospital" part of Jocelyn's story to share. If you are still reading, stay tuned...
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