Well, Emma was released from the hospital Saturday (July 4th) morning, and my doctor came in not too long after that and said that I needed blood pressure meds that he would have the pharmacy send up. I thought we would be leaving any time, but we waited and waited and waited for them and then waited for the nurse to take my IV out. They finally released me and Jason and the nurse wrestled with the car seat for a long time while I stood there with Emma. It was about 100 degrees in the shade, so we were all tired and hot. The car seat still wasn't in correctly, but the nurse pretty much shoved us out the "door" and told us it was fine. We fixed when we stopped to getgas and then went to Walgreens to get my bp meds.
We were going to go out for sushi but had gotten plants at the hospital, and they would have been wilted and dead before we even sat down, much less ate, in that weather. So we settled for drive-thru Taco Bell and headed home. We went to Jason's cousin Michael's house for dinner and then came home to bed. Emma went to church for the first time at 3 days old and then over to Granny BB's for lunch. Then we had to return to the hospital for a quick blood draw to test her billirubin and Joe Paul came with us to drive Jason's car back. (I still wasn't allowed to drive but I had driven myself to the hospital for my non-stress test and Jason had driven his car there and we didn't have enough drivers for both cars when it was time to leave.)
Jason and Joe Paul worked some more on the a/c while Emma and I sat in front of a window to soak up some sun. The doctor called and said Emma needed to be re-admitted for photo-therapy, so Jason and I packed up and headed back.
The first night was heart-breaking. We could only take her out of the little basinet long enough for me to nurse her, and she was not used to be left completely alone and (she thought) ignored while she cried. And then the doctor told me to quit nursing and they put her on an IV (she was dehydrated) so we couldn't get her out at all. I think I cried as much as she did that first night. The next morning (Monday)a different doctor was on call and told me to resume nursing, although she didn't eat well for the remainder of our stay (I was told the IVs will diminish a baby's appetite) and she got a little more skin to skin contact and cuddling again. It was still hard on her. Jason and I talked to her and sang to her almost constantly. The second night I rolled the basinet over to my hospital bed which I raised all the way up and let her hold on to my finger, but the basinet was still a little higher than the bed and my shoulder was killing me the next day(Tuesday). But the good news is that her billirubin was getting progressively lower and she was allowed to come home. Jason had to return to work, so Brenda came to pick us up and bring us home. It was a long and exhasuting first few days.
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