Baby Story Volume 2 – Hospital Stay
After all the work was done and Sara Ellen and I were both nice and clean, we got comfy on the bed I had just delivered on (cleaned up of course) and were wheeled up to the PostNatal Ward or BarselAvdelingen. A nurse pushed us for a short distance and after bumping into a door frame or something apologized, saying she didn’t have a lisence to drive it. 
Then she passed us off to an orderly, who when I asked, confirmed he did have a lisence to drive the wheeled bed and took me right into the room I would occupy for the next five nights.
I shared a room with two other new mothers. We each had a space closed off by curtains and shared a sink, cubby-closet and table with chairs. My little area had a big window looking past part of the hospital out to snowy trees. There was snow over the next few days and I had a great view of it covering the trees. Out to the right of it was a body of water and to the right of that a town which could be seen when I walked down the hall into what I think they called the entertainment room. Each of our spaces had a mobile side table with a tray which could be lowered when not in use. I also had a chair and wall lamp. The toilet was in a room just outside our door to the right and on the left the shower room. Connected to our room (and shared by another room) was “Spedbarn” or Infant something or other where we could bath our babies, change their diaper and where nurses could weigh them.
Visiting hours were from 6-7 though spouses and siblings (of the newborn) could visit until 8, and dad’s seemed to be around all the time. Mom would visit until 7 then wait and knit in the lobby while Tim visited until 8. I’d usually fall asleep pretty soon after and Sara Ellen would wake me up about every two hours. Seems hard but I slept better than I ever have, falling right to sleep and sleeping deeply until she calls. This still holds true. (Nowadays, even on her more wakeful nights when it seems I’m up a lot, I don’t seem to be as exhausted later on as I expect.) Between 6 and 7am, a cup of something like cream of wheat was brought around to mothers already awake. Breakfast was served at 9, buffet-style (though dished out for you) of breads, meats, cheese, boiled egg, jams and even peppers or cucumbers. This is very typical Norwegian. Lunch was at 1pm and was a hot meal. Wednesday was fish cakes that looked like pancakes, boiled potatoes and mixed veggies, and pudding with jello for dessert. The fish was actually pretty good and I could have finished it but Sara Ellen summoned me and it got cold. Afterwards I ate the dessert while writing in my journal. This is how I’m able to relate all this in more detail to you. At dinner time they served basically the same thing as at breakfast except for the egg and it was self-serve. Around 10 they put out breads, cheese and more jam. I also kept juice, crackers and grapes that Tim bought at the nearby grocery in my space.
Tuesday night and Wednesday I worked on nursing and would have to fight her a little as she prefered her no-work-needed fingers. Nurses and my mother helped a bit. I didn’t realize it would hurt at first. It really did, I almost cried, but I’ve gotten used to it now and it doesn’t hurt. The first day or so I noticed my arms hurting from holding her. But I prefered it that way over being slow and fatigued from having her inside. My stomach was squishy, I could turn around my spine and could get around better despite pain and soreness. A few hours of hard work/labor just faded away. All the pains then and even the tiny bit of soreness I still experience when I pee pale in comparison to having her. (I want to give a true account. ) One of the pains I had sometimes during pregnancy and in the beginning of labor was what we think was a nerve being pinched from her head resting in my pelvis. The night before she was born and while I was in labor it was really bad. I actually wanted medication for that but not the contractions. Thankfully as her head moved down as I pushed, the pain went away. One of the funny things I noticed in the first days was that my short gray sweatshirt no longer sat in the middle of my abdomen but fell like it’s supposed to.
The nurses give all the help you need, but if you can, most things are self-serve. Bedsheets and towels were on a trolley in the hall and the laundry bag in the shower room. Used dishes went on another trolley. I changed her diaper myself for the first time on Wednesday. Around midnight I went in the Infant room to try nursing because she often cried then (we were both still learning) and I didn’t want to wake my roommates. I called for some help and the nurse first changed her diaper. She noticed Sara Ellen shivering and her arms wouldn’t relax when moved out so she wanted to check her bloodsugar. The person who would administer the test wasn’t available so the nurse told me to get some sleep and she would feed the baby. They keep stores of expressed milk. Babies in Norwegian hospitals are given 100% breastmilk. There is a bank for it mom’s can actually donate to. When I wasn’t getting her enough yet, they gave her that. While we was gone I actually had a much harder time falling asleep, thinking about her and other things. I was tired when the nurse woke me up later to try nursing. She gave me an aid to help get something in Sara Ellen’s mouth because my breast’s were so full that it was hard for her to latch on. Later the test results came back. Her blood sugar was low so she needed more milk supplements and she was slightly jaundiced so she spent some time under light. She was brought to me every few hours to stimulate my milk production and they taken away again. It was a little hard but I used to time to write or take a shower. We later saw a visiting pediatrician and he checked her spine, hip alignment which she did not like a all (he was pushing down on her legs). She was in good general shape but he reiterated that she’d keep getting blood tests to check her blood sugar and light treatment for jaundice. Away she went again. Tim and I would text back and forth and he would ask how “his girls” were doing. 
Thursday Tim delivered roses and a teddy bear from our Opera friends. I think on Thursday a nurse brought in this plastic bag almost as tall as me with a post it stating my name. Without opening I found out it was balloons from Opera, probably sent by the Office Manager Anne. That night Tim brought flowers and a card from the office along with our friend Lynn Rosentrater. She brought more goodies! At 7 Lynn left and Mom went to wait while we had family time. We dropped off Sara Ellen in the nursery where she got tested and light then I followed Tim, for the first time, to the lobby to say goodbye. I got a couple bananas (I hadn’t had any recently) and a twix. 
On my way to my room I heard a screaming baby in the nursery and went to make sure it wasn’t mine… but it was!! 
She was having blood drawn. A lab tech had pricked her foot and was squeezing drops out to fill a small vile. But it couldn’t have been small enough. Sara Ellen was miserable and when the lab tech was finally finished I picked up my munchkin to comfort her before putting her back under the light. The other blood tests took just one drop. It’s actually the squeezing that she hated, not the prick.
Friday just Mom came to visit as Tim was out for Opera’s Julebord or, company Christmas party. Earlier that day Sara Ellen’s blood sugar was about 2.4 or something and 3 is good, so she was making progress. She was brought to me from light treatment later without a shirt and I didn’t put one on. I’d been keeping the window open because it was so stuffy and apparently new mothers still keep pretty warm. Anyway, a nurse came in sometime while Mom was visiting, saw Sara Ellen without a shirt and the open window and freaked out. She took her to put on a shirt and kept her (though Mom could have) while I went for my “going home” meeting with a nurse. She said that particular nurse was a little nutty. (I later discovered it to be true though she was still nice. She later helped me pump for the first time with a machine. More on that later.) After our meeting she checked out my stitches and how I was healing. She reported me to be in good shape. Afterwards I got my baby back and Mom and I visited. When she left she took the balloons with her. She called later mentioning all the funny looks she’d gotten. They hadn’t gone unnoticed in my space either. My roommates daughter was “fascinated” and one strolling couple passed and came back to look. Later on Sara Ellen got her blood checked again and it had dropped to 1.6! I was so upset because I felt I was to blame. The nurse I met with reassured me that blood sugar levels fluctuate in the beginning. It did indeed increase I think that night. But before that happened I called Tim in tears. We wouldn’t be going home Saturday which would normally be the departure day after 4 nights.
My roommates both left Friday. One, a brunette, had her baby Monday so Thursday night was her 4th night. For the other, a blonde, this was her second child for which you only get 3 nights as you already know how to care for a baby. We agreed 2nd time mom’s still deserve a 4th night as you could probably use more time when you’ve got a rambunctious 2 year old waiting. I didn’t talk to them much but they were very nice. Our babies were all coming and going. The brunette’s daughter came out a bit blue at birth and was also having her blood sugar tested. I was thankful Sara Ellen didn’t come out that way though neither of us went into labor until a few days after our waters broke. The blonde’s son was part of some study I think which she had volunteered for during her pregnancy. Before she left we had short conversations and she passed on some valuable information. For instance, babies nails are not cut in the hospital, and should not be cut because the skin is not as strong as an adult’s and if the skin is cut during a trim, germs can get in. Though babies do scratch themselves, the nails are soft and peel off easily when they break. The only problem I had in the hospital was some translation so I wasn’t always sure why something was done and my roommate cleared up some things. I got two new roommates who I also didn’t really talk to. One of the dads was actually more communicative. One day we both were changing our babies and his son peed. The dad said “he peed on me, he’s supposed to be my son.”
The nutty nurse helped me use a breastpump for the first time on Friday. This wasn’t the simple kind you’d probably buy yourself. It was waist-high and metal. It look like a torture device. A plastic cup was attached and the nurse set it up for me so I could get used to it, I just got a bit close to it and whoosh, milk was being sucked out of me. Not comfortable. I looked kind of crazy after. I returned the machine after about 30 minutes and was praised for the amount I’d pumped. I was instructed to do about 10 minutes on each side but did more. After that I could be proud that my baby was eating from me one way or another. On Saturday, a different nurse brought a different machine. This one was friendier looking, turquoise and not metal. She actually showed me how to use it so I could gradual make it stronger. Again, I got a nice amount out.
Saturday Tim came in duringthe afternoonso we could visit a lot and he could see the pediatrician at what we thought would be a second visit. He didn’t really check her out but said if I was nice we could go home Sunday. He was very kind. We fed her together with a cup and my own milk I’d pumped! For the first couple days, though I fed my baby, she needed more because she wasn’t getting enough and I had a hard time getting her to stay awake for both sides. Then one day the nurse weighed her and it seemed the amount she got on one side doubled! Yay! 
Sunday I was just determined to leave. I kept being told they weren’t sure. The last couple nights, she’d have blood tests, be brought to me to eat and taken away again. This went on Sunday morning but finally her results were steady enough and a nurse told me I could go. I’d already had my “going home” meeting and had willed us to go home and was packed. I told Tim to come in even though I didn’t know for sure. Around noon I spoke to the nurse again in their lounge and another nurse, one of my favorites (a fun Swedish lady who brought the friendly pump) and she didn’t realize I’d been cleared so she said tomorrow but the first said I was good to go! Yay!!!! Tim arrived, I put on for the first time in days, real clothes he brought me, we bundled up Sara Ellen, said goodbye and called for a cab. We had a very nice driver and we taken right to our door. Oh, what a relief!!!
I would have stayed of course as long as necessary if she wasn’t ready but I’m so glad she was. I’m so glad we were in Norway for her birth and that everything worked out as it did. If this happened in the US I couldn’t have stayed with her in the hospital. I’d have to leave my previous girl and I don’t know if would have been possible for her to have breastmilk. They probably would have induced my labor much more quickly and Mom may not have been present. I am so thankful for the experience I had. I am grateful to have had this experience for my first, I’ll know more next time.
Wow! It’s amazing how different birth experiences are in different places!