Hospitalized with Hezekiah

Some of you know that we ended up being hospitalized yet again, this time with Hezekiah only 10 days old. ARG! ;-) For those of you that thought I was peacefully recovering at home after my homebirth, well, I WASN'T! :-)

I must have cut a bit of Hezekiah's finger as I clipped his nails. ( be sure to sterilize your clippers in alcohol) His finger got terribly infected. Saturday June 27 the family and I had an enjoyable day out followed by a wonderful homeschooling seminar with Sally Clarkson. ( I LOVE Sally Clarkson's ministry) My friend Erin noticed that Hezekiah's finger looked swollen/infected. She encouraged me to take him in. It was the weekend and I DID NOT WANT TO GO TO THE ER! Especially as Josiah was hospitalized on the 27th. I so didn't want this to be another way they are similar. The thought of returning to CHOC again gave me a panic attack. I wanted to wait until Monday for the doctor, but my hubby didn't feel right about waiting with such a little one so we got the kids in bed and in I went. Yay me. Canaan said " mama your not spending the night again and staying a long time like you did with Josiah right? cuz I didn't like that." I replied " no baby I'll be back really soon." HA! Lord keep my poor child from becoming phobic of seeking medical attention for fear that it ALWAYS LEADS TO HOPSITALIZATION!

Ok, I honestly thought they'd drain the finger give him some antibiotics and send us home. NEWSFLASH, if you EVER go in the ER with a newborn, bring a blankie and a toothbrush "cuz your staying put!" I was SO disappointed. The same sweet wonderful nurse that gave Josiah an IV line effortlessly and painlessly was there and worked on Hezekiah. I believe her name is Karen Andes. She is amazing, LOVES her job and outta win an award for nurse of the year! I was there a while and she brought me a meal and insisted I eat and drink to keep up my milk supply. God's mercy as I didn't eat again for a LONG time! This visit cost us SO MUCH MONEY!! Unlike the Oncology floor there aren't any refrigerators in the room so bringing food from home isn't optional. They give ONE meal voucher for lactating mothers, as if a nursing mother only needs to eat one meal. ( I wouldn't mind that so much except I KNOW how much they charge for the stay ( ended up being over $19,000 for 5 days, so adding meals for the nursing mama would have been great.

I wonder if I'm probably on some list somewhere. I requested a bed as opposed to a crib for Hezekiah as we co sleep. I heard the nurse say "tell her we aren't giving her a bed and having her roll over and kill her baby here on my watch" I told the other nurse " tell her I heard exactly what she said, I'm a nursing mom, I have 5 children all are alive, and what on EARTH did they do before the advent of cribs. People ALL OVER the world sleep with their babies and have for thousands of years." She got annoyed and went and got the head nurse who told me that "you can roll over on your baby and KILL HIM, it's against hospital policy and your not getting a bed." I reminded them that "I was here exactly 1 month ago today and slept with my child the entire time. I'm not a first time mom, I nurse my newborn every 30 minutes or so and am not getting up every half hour to nurse him, fed him, place back in a crib. (to me that seems dangerous to be an exhausted overtired mother)I told her the same that I told the 1st nurse and said look, my baby sleeps with me whether its in the chair, or the bed. A bed would be safer than us crammed in the tiny pull out chair. She told me, if I got the bed I could never shower or go to the restroom" I told her "thanks fine" ( I'd put him in the stroller" she rolled her eyes and in her most condescending tone, told me "FINE! I'm going to write it in your file that you are not complying and going against hospital policy, to which I replied that I'd gladly sign it! ;-)


I am not a first time mom, nor am I easily bullied and know what is best for my child. That doesn't include a mother that is crazy because she's so exhausted from lack of sleep getting up every half hour that her eyes are burning out of her skull! I was irritated to be there in the first place. We have never had a problem with co sleeping at any hospital, or even with Josiah (at the same hospital) a month earlier! Needless to say, I got my bed! Sorry for all the photos, I had NOTHING ELSE TO DO FOR FIVE DAYS!! I had a ton of milk as I am used to tandem nursing. I asked for this...(breast pump not a karoke machine) to this in one sitting... by golly I feel sort of bovine-ish.


Afterward they had a social worker or some hospital worker come and take down the names ages of my children! weird, and seems so very illegal. Not sure what they need that info for. Anyhoo, they kept us 5 long days before they let us go. It was actually kind of nightmarish. I was crabby, hungry, missed my kiddos, postpartum recovering. The funniest most torturous part is that there's nothing you can do while there except maybe watch TV. Only all they ever had playing were those irritating Disney shows where the teens dress like adults and talk about things not suitable for most children, underdog, Spanish TV and MICHAEL JACKSON on EVEY single station. EVERYDAY ALL DAY! This is the same kind of footage the World Trade Center Buildings got! OVER and OVER! Seriously, he's THAT important?

It was also pretty disgusting because every blanket or gown they brought me had hair on it. The bathrooms were pretty unclean, and the floors. If there's one place that SHOULD be clean, it should be the Hospital. I am still recuperating from all the germs and dirt and hair now that I'm home! I'm so twitchy and phobic from the whole ordeal. I think it was the floor I was on. When I was there a month ago, it wasn't that bad! I keep cleaning and washing as the CHOC adventure #2 was so gross. I'm not sure what the purpose was for our being there. I didn't get to share the Lord with anyone like before, the nurses may have seen tiny glimpses, but nothing that stood out to me, so not sure what God had for us there. Sanctification? the nurses? Rest ? I stopped feeling dizzy after my stay there. Anyhoo, I pray NEVER EVER to need to go to CHOC again. (other than for Josiah's check ups)
Wanna hear a funny joke? Knock Knock, Who's there, Guess why we paid to have a homebirth...Why? Well because I didn't want to spend all that precious time of the early days of being poked and prodded by nursing staff! hahaha guess what happened the whole time we were there? We were poked, prodded and woken up every hour to give antibiotics or to be asked "gee sorry to wake you AGAIN, how long did he nurse? which breast left or right, how many minutes total? When did he have a bowel movement, when did he last urinate? It's 3 am, you weren't sleeping were you? We just wanted to ask how long he nursed opps, time to check his vitals? ( why, i have no idea, he's hooked up monitored anyway, they can see them on the screen just fine!) The funny thing is on the VERY last day they drained his finger and it cleared up really well, enough to send us home. It would have been GREAT had they done that when we first got here. Here we are in this pic leaving CHOC yet again! This time Hezi is out of the womb. Isn't he cute? Farewell, goodbye, may we never meet again inside these walls!