Dillards 34: Finding Contentment

[Coconut Flan]

33 minutes ago, breakfree said:

We do get an individual maternity nurse here who comes to your house immediately after you're released though and is with you 6 hours a day for the first 8 days though, so that partly explains the system.

That would drive me around the bend.  The last thing I needed after giving birth would have been a stranger in my house every day. 

[NotQuiteMotY]

I think the standard in the US is two days for vaginal and three days for a C-section. I believe the change was because the hospitals were having too many women come back with excessive bleeding so the standards were changed, though you can always check out early. I'm surprised there are people saying that's long!

[Dugg@rTime]

With my second birth, I wasn't in hospital for very long at all. I arrived there at about 7pm ish, he was born at 8.09pm and we were home meeting big brother before midnight. I had wanted a home birth, ex wasn't keen. but aside from the disruptive car journey there, I was happy to leave the mess at the hospital, lol.

Then the midwife (I'm in the UK) came round the next morning* to see how we were. I love the idea of a post natal nurse for 6 hours a day though, that'd be great, helping establishing BF etc

 

*and daily for the next 7 or 10 days, I don't remember exactly. That baby will be 21 in October  so it's been a while...

[BabyBottlePop]

1 minute ago, NotQuiteMotY said:

I think the standard in the US is two days for vaginal and three days for a C-section. I believe the change was because the hospitals were having too many women come back with excessive bleeding so the standards were changed, though you can always check out early. I'm surprised there are people saying that's long!

Yeah: when my brother was born in the mid 90s my mom was out and home in 12 hours. Our next door neighbor saw my dad putting the birth announcement sign up and she said, "Can I go see her at the hospital?" My dad said, "She's inside!" 

[justoneoftwo]

Just now, NotQuiteMotY said:

I think the standard in the US is two days for vaginal and three days for a C-section. I believe the change was because the hospitals were having too many women come back with excessive bleeding so the standards were changed, though you can always check out early. I'm surprised there are people saying that's long!

H wanted to go home early, I refused until the doctors said so.  They had a checklist of things that they wanted to happen first.  We tried to speed those up, but when a doctor says you really need x to happen before you go home I'm surprised when people don't listen.

Then again I was surprised with the 4th degree questioning about if I could be pregnant at my 6 week visit, they said no "sweet fellowship" before that, who doesn't listen to medical advice?  Especially when they explain why? Clearly I listen too much to doctors.

[SapphireSlytherin]

Dunno about the origin of the Big Saturday Announcement, but I've seen it a lot too.

[Million Children For Jesus]

C-section babies have nice shaped heads, as opposed to cone heads, and less facial redness. That's why they tend to be so cute. Jill labored, so Sammy was still red, but he has a nice, round head.

As far as I've experienced, (in the U.S.), my friends and family who had vaginal births had 1-day hospital stays, unless there were complications. For a c-section, a 3-day stay is standard. I only stayed 2 days with my c-sections for a variety reasons, and my doctor signed off on that because everything looked good. A woman can leave as soon as she wants, even if it's against Doctor's orders, as long as she signs a liability waiver.

[BabyBottlePop]

2 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Dunno about the origin of the Big Saturday Announcement, but I've seen it a lot too.

If another sibling is pregnant, you'd think they could freaking wait a little to annouce.

[viii]

Samuel looks a lot like Israel. He also looks pretty jaundiced, especially in the yellows of his eyes. 

I agree with the poster who said the Jill picture almost appears to be the first time she's holding him. 

[singsingsing]

This is the first I'm hearing anything about a 'big Saturday announcement'. Where the heck did that rumour come from?

[Dugg@rTime]

No sweet fellowship for 6 weeks?

i understand if you don't feel like it, but that's not something I was ever told. In fact I'm sure one of the questions at the 6 week check up was whether I had resumed relations.

[FakePigtails]

20 minutes ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

With both of my kids' (vaginal) births, we stayed in the hospital for two nights. I think part of the reasoning for that is monitoring the baby's health, particularly bilirubin levels. (We also had to come back for testing the day after we left the hospital, because both my kids were borderline jaundiced.)

I remember hearing that when some insurance companies started requiring a one night stay, they ended up with more babies needing to come back for treatment for jaundice. In a country with home visits from a nurse, that could be taken care of that way. 

Samuelito is pretty good-looking for a newborn imo. Less "alien life form" looking than some I've known. 

Same here, and the maternal side is a big thing too. My BP, temp and stitches were checked regularly to watch for infections and postpartum preeclampsia. I didn't even mind when the BP and temp checks fell in the middle of the night since it was to catch anything bad going on.

I also had the option of leaving early but we would have had to bring the baby back for the heel prick test and by waiting we saved ourselves an early outing and I got extra help breastfeeding and generally taking care of the baby - and of course she was being observed for any problems too, which was very reassuring. I probably wouldn't have minded an extra day for all of that but didn't need it enough to ask (and possibly deal with the damn insurance company).

[justoneoftwo]

3 minutes ago, Dugg@rTime said:

No sweet fellowship for 6 weeks?

i understand if you don't feel like it, but that's not something I was ever told. In fact I'm sure one of the questions at the 6 week check up was whether I had resumed relations.

This is all making me think my Dr was overly cautious in what he said, thinking I would not listen completely or something.  Which is weird as I was a completely compliant patient the entire pregnancy.

[Dugg@rTime]

In the pic with Jill holding Samuel there's a blue cord? line? around her left arm. It's a pretty distinctive style. Does anyone know what it might be for?

[MoonFace]

1 hour ago, eleanora3 said:

We finally have some baby pics http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/counting-on/photos/introducing-samuel-scott-dillard/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=TLC&utm_medium=social&utm_content=DCIobj - Page Views DCItype - Photo Galleries&sf97720884=1

(Can't eliminate the top photo)

In the bottom photo I thought that was a skinny leg next to Jill and thought that Dwreck was in deep trouble weight wise

 

[evolutionbaby]

 

1 hour ago, justoneoftwo said:

That makes sense, we were surprised how long they wanted to keep us.  We are in the US and they seemed to think we were out of there super fast.

I'm in Canada too. My daughter was born at 6:18PM and they wanted us gone the next morning. I refused to leave and stayed another night...I was in no way ready to go home.

15 minutes ago, Dugg@rTime said:

No sweet fellowship for 6 weeks?

i understand if you don't feel like it, but that's not something I was ever told. In fact I'm sure one of the questions at the 6 week check up was whether I had resumed relations.

This was recommended to me by my Dr. too. Not that I wanted anything to touch me down there during those 6 weeks!

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

17 minutes ago, Million Children For Jesus said:

A woman can leave as soon as she wants, even if it's against Doctor's orders, as long as she signs a liability waiver.

I wouldn't have minded a third night, even with middle of the night visits from the nurses.

12 minutes ago, FakePigtails said:

I probably wouldn't have minded an extra day for all of that but didn't need it enough to ask (and possibly deal with the damn insurance company).

Yep. The hospital staff fed me, cleaned up after me, and were willing to be the "bad guys" and ask visitors to leave if I wanted rest. Like a very weird hotel.

And (TMI) I wasn't even slightly interested in resuming "sweet fellowship" before my 6 week checkup. I needed to heal!

[SapphireSlytherin]

14 minutes ago, Dugg@rTime said:

In the pic with Jill holding Samuel there's a blue cord? line? around her left arm. It's a pretty distinctive style. Does anyone know what it might be for?

Looks like a standard hospital bracelet - although it's very loose if that's what it is.

[MadeItOut]

4 hours ago, Jaedzia said:

Some of this sharing reminds me of my paternal grandma. She lost her middle son at two years of age due to sepsis(same thing my daughter was born with but lived). Until her late 80s, she would go down monthly to the grave and clean it up and plant flowers. She would have kept doing it pass her late 80s except that the last time she went down she became so very ill that she ended up in the hospital. My uncle and father put their foot down and told her she just couldn't go anymore. I think it broke her heart. She passed away a few years later in her early 90s. Sometimes I feel my family is cursed with the number of babies that we have lost. My great-aunt, my grandma, my mother, and my sister. I'll count my blessings. 

My heart goes out to every member here who had to bury a child. I'm so very sorry. 

Graves are odd things. Only one of the 13 of mine who passed had remains we could bury. She is in a communal plot for early loss babies in the community. I love that it's there to visit whenever we're here (we live elsewhere), but I will never forget the day of her funeral it rained and I just desperately wanted to stand there with my umbrella and keep her grave dry forever.

[Jaedzia]

I'm glad to hear the USA is allowing the new mothers to stay longer. I was kicked out in 24 hours with both my babies. The second was no big deal in regards to an easy vaginal birth and I took the baby home with me so no complaining. The first time I had a horrible very painful tear(I screamed in pain whenever I peed) and I had to leave my baby behind in the NICU. I went straight to the nursery when I got home and cried my eyes out. Stupid hospital.

I'm glad there are some pictures out finally. Samuel looks great and hopefully his mother is ok, too. Hard to tell. 

[Million Children For Jesus]

1 hour ago, breakfree said:

 

You guys should be in the Netherlands- ....

snipped

...We do get an individual maternity nurse here who comes to your house immediately after you're released though and is with you 6 hours a day for the first 8 days though, so that partly explains the system.

This sounds amazing! It's like a butler the insurance company pays for, and so much better than dealing with my mom or my sister's bullshit. Their "help" was a nightmare. 

[justoneoftwo]

Just now, Jaedzia said:

I'm glad to hear the USA is allowing the new mothers to stay longer. I was kicked out in 24 hours with both my babies. The second was no big deal in regards to an easy vaginal birth and I took the baby home with me so no complaining. The first time I had a horrible very painful tear(I screamed in pain whenever I peed) and I had to leave my baby behind in the NICU. I went straight to the nursery when I got home and cried my eyes out. Stupid hospital.

I'm glad there are some pictures out finally. Samuel looks great and hopefully his mother is ok, too. Hard to tell. 

My understanding from friends is that if your baby is in the NICU but YOU don't need care they will kick you out.  In theory I understand, in practice thats just cruel.  They should have rooms set aside for parents.  I also think they should have beds in maternity rooms for dad's to sleep in.

[Jaedzia]

3 minutes ago, MadeItOut said:

Graves are odd things. Only one of the 13 of mine who passed had remains we could bury. She is in a communal plot for early loss babies in the community. I love that it's there to visit whenever we're here (we live elsewhere), but I will never forget the day of her funeral it rained and I just desperately wanted to stand there with my umbrella and keep her grave dry forever.

:*(

[Minionmayhem]

I think it really depends on the state. I had 3 c-sections and was out a smidge under 48 hours each time. I didn't want to leave that early the first time because it felt so awkward to be put in charge of a human while I felt like my guts were falling out, but they had me go anyway and somehow I managed to pick up my pain meds on the way home.

We survived it, thankfully and with the third section I was happy as a clam when they asked me the next day if I was ready to go. 

[FreeCalifornia]

Just now, justoneoftwo said:

My understanding from friends is that if your baby is in the NICU but YOU don't need care they will kick you out.  In theory I understand, in practice thats just cruel.  They should have rooms set aside for parents.  I also think they should have beds in maternity rooms for dad's to sleep in.

Depends on the hospital. Our local hospital has single patient NICU rooms with private baths and beds for the parents. Parents are encouraged to stay.

this however is a nice feature and certainly not standard at all hospitals.

My Son was admitted to the PICU at 13 days of age and although I didn't get a bed, they did wheel in a convertible bed/chair and I stayed there his entire stay. Wasn't comfortable especially healing postpartum, but weave it work.