A couple days after Stetson was born, I took him to the clinic in Lovell for his first “check-up.” Since this was my first baby, I didn’t know what to expect.
The first thing they told me to do was take ALL his clothes off so they could weigh him. Some of my thoughts were, “seriously, lady?? I just got him all dressed, do you know what a pain that is??” Plus I remember being really nervous because I was totally new at this and not only was it awkward and stressful to dress/undress him, I’d have a complete stranger (who could do a better job than me) breathing down my neck the whole time. So I take his clothes off, they weight him; doc comes in and said he probably has jaundice and so we head for the lab to have some blood work done. I’m sure I didn’t fully realize what was happening (even though I should have because the doc was very sympathetically patting my back as we left) until we got in the lab and the lab aide put his gloves on and started talking about drawing Stetson’s blood. My thoughts this time were sheer fear because I didn’t think I could watch this happen to my precious firstborn son, and because I couldn’t imagine them drawing blood out of something so little. Immediately after I realized what was about to happen, I lied and said I had to go to the bathroom thinking I could hide out there and miss the whole thing. So I did—I went out into the hall, asked the nearest person where the restroom was and stayed in there a minute or two. Then I went back to the lab and sat outside the room and cried while I listened to Stetson scream as they drew his blood. Michael had to be the strong one and hold him through all of it—he was sweating afterwards. At the next blood draw I had a little more bravery worked up because I held him that time (instead of hiding in the bathroom).
There is nothing in the world like being a first time mom—at least for me. It was the biggest roller coaster ride of my life, and as I read all these sweet posts about my friends having their new babies, I can’t help but go back to when Stetson and Kandace came into this world and the feelings that accompanied me that day.
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3 comments:
Ahh the memories! We are all like that. A few years ago I was talking to my mom about when Daniel Jay was born. She had come down to help. I was telling her that I thought that Daniel might die when she left. Her response was - Me too.
I fed him and burped him and changed his diapers. And he lived. I'm so glad!
I thought it would get better as I had more kids it would get easier to go through stuff like that. Not true. It was just as bad to have them poke Jonathan as it was when they did it to Hailey and Kennedy. One nurse tried to go through a vein (instead of the heal) and beside poking around for it forever she eventually made it blow - I wanted to take her head off! :)
By the way, when Hailey had jaundice we used a "bili-blanket" so she was able to be home with us. We looked into that here, but there wasn't anywhere that had a blanket or lamp available to take home - so the only option was the hospital.
That was so sweet! I remember when we had to take Tylie to the ER and they were doing a cathater. I had to go in the hall while Dallas stayed in there. Then I felt horrible for not being in there with her! That is so funny you pretended to go to the bathroom!
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