Enough of the Hospital Already!

Jackson, Drew & I spent the first 5 days of his life in the hospital. I can't say enough positive things about Overland Park Regional Medical Center. The nursing staff is absolutely top of the line and some of the nicest people I've ever met. But no matter how accommodating they were, it was still a hospital. And we couldn't get out of there soon enough.

Day 1
Jackson spent his first day in the NICU. Before being released to the "regular" nursery he had to demonstrate the ability to eat/keep down food and maintain his body temperature. Much like his Daddy, eating wasn't the problem. However, he did have a hard time maintaining his body temperature at first. Therefore, he stayed in NICU and spent most of the time under warming lights. Of course, this also meant his heart rate, breathing activity, etc. were monitored 24 hours a day. We were able to visit as often as we wanted and either Drew or I fed him every 3 hours.

Another highlight of Day 1 was getting to meet Gram and Gramps Elser.

Day 2
Day 2 brought a great surprise. I arrived in the NICU to find Jackson in a regular crib...no more warming lights!




There were more visitors, too. Nana Wags arrived in town on Day 2 and later Bill & Carolyn Kelly visited.



Best of all, by mid-afternoon Jackson was released from the NICU and got to spend the rest of the day in our room. That night we all climbed into Mommy's hospital bed for our first family picture.


Day 3
This was a tough day. We had expected it to be our last day in the hospital. Under normal circumstances, is would have been the day we were released, but because of my blood pressure problems I had to stay an extra day. Overnight during some routine blood tests, the nurses discovered that Jackson had a pretty severe case of jaundice. That meant he could no longer be in our room with us and was back in the nursery under lights. Of course, we knew this was nothing serious. In fact, it is quite common and it is certainly better than the NICU. But that didn't stop me from absolutely losing it when they took him out of our room. It had been such an emotional few days and to be teased with him for almost 24 hours only to have him taken away almost broke my heart in half. We continued to do his feedings every 3 hours, but spent the rest of day 3 watching the clock and praying we could go home on Day 4.


Day 4
More bad news. Now I was released from the hospital, but Jackson's jaundice still hadn't broken and he needed to stay. There were a few hours where we thought we were going to be sent home only to leave Jackson behind. As it turned out, the nurses that I raved about earlier went to bat for us. Even though OPRMC doesn't have an official boarding program, they allowed Drew & I to continue to stay in the hospital even though I had been officially discharged. We had no care and no hospital privileges, but we could stay in the room and see our son at will. I will be forever grateful to the nurses who pulled that off for us! The highlight of day 4 was discovering that Jackson could receive his light treatments right in our room. Drew told a bit of a fib. He mentioned that I was having a hard time not being with the baby and that I had "broken down" a couple of times. The nurses sprung to action and set up all of his lights right in our hospital room. We couldn't hold him except for during feedings, but just having him near us made all the difference in the world.



Day 5
By now, Drew & I were both at our absolute wits end. One more night in that hospital room (poor Drew sleeping on a very hard pull out chair) was likely to drive us crazy. Luckily, the news was good. Jackson's jaundice was under control and we were released! I think we packed, dressed the baby, loaded up the car and headed out in a matter of minutes. It had been 5 days and we couldn't wait to get our little boy home and our new family started!




Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and looking back there were a lot of positives to our extended stay at the hospital. Most importantly, Jackson received the absolute best care possible. It would have been so much scarier to have arrived home only to discover a problem and end up back in the hospital. The extra long stay also gave me a chance to talk with the nurses and lactation consultants in great detail about some of my questions and concerns. And finally, we were able to get some decent sleep (me more than Drew) during the overnight hours while Jackson was tended to by the nurses. I think this was especially important considering all my body had been through between labor, delivery and the blood pressure issues that followed.


But that still doesn't change one fact...there's no place like home!