A Little Setback

I am glad to be home now. Yesterday was a nightmare for me, but not my husband. When I told him "Today was a nightmare" last night he laughed and said, "I can think of worse things that are nightmares. This is a little setback." So, this is what I am calling it now. "A little setback".

The surgeon told us to go to a local ER to keep us from driving the 2 1/2 hours to the Children's Hospital. I wanted to go there, but my husband said we should follow what the doctor suggested. In hindsight, I think we should have ignored the doctor and listened to my gut. It caused us to loose more time.

The local ER saw us right away, but we could not leave until we got the 'Transfer Order' taken care of....red tape. We lost an hour waiting for this paperwork. I asked if we could just go without it, but the answer was no. After asking again, they finally explained (you are going to see a trend of 'lack of information' in this post from medical staff and us) why. The reason was to keep us from driving 2 1/2 hours and then having to wait and be seen by ER staff all over again. I still think we should have been able to leave and have them take care of this via a fax and cell phone. My husband had to explain to me about the red tape created by the government. How doctors/hospitals need to 'cross the T's and dot I's' to avoid a lawsuit. I did not care about government rules because I had a bleeding baby and I just wanted her to be taken care of right away. Please note: She last ate at 2:30AM Sunday morning. I was told to not feed her in case they needed to operate and to keep the area from getting worse.

We drove the 2 1/2 hours there and found the road was blocked to get into the hospital...construction. We lost about 15 minutes here. We got in and the staff took a look at her. She was a mess. Her face was covered with blood by this point and had started to clot. The clot was almost the size of a dime and black. Her complexion was a greenish-yellow color. She did not look well at all. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but my fear took over and I began to wonder if the black clot was her skin dying. Silly, I know!

We called the surgeon when we got there and he told us he was 20 minutes away. Ugh! More waiting!!!!! He looked at her when he got there and he was such a nice man. He kept saying to the baby, "Look at you. Just look at you. You're a mess." He read my mind. She was a mess. Poor baby!

What seemed like hours to me, but in reality was about 15 minutes they brought out a wheel chair to take me and the baby to the OR. We got to the OR and I waited another 20 minutes or so for the anesthesia team to show up. By this point it was past noon. She was beginning to cry for food. I had to sing, rock and walk her to keep her from crying. I did not want the wound to open any more. They finally took her back at 1:40ish PM. Before they took her back they had to have everyone talk to me, fill out forms to consent to operate and such and to make sure we knew the risks.

I could relax some because I knew she would not dehydrate and would get fixed. We went to eat. After eating, I went to pump. While I was gone (30 minutes) they came out and told my husband they were done. Here is where the communication breakdown begins and does not end. I can look back now and think I should have asked this or said that. I think they do this all day that they forget "Oh, this is there first time with this experience. Let me explain all the details." They are good about doing it before the surgery, but maybe need a little work for the after part? Or maybe we needed to ask more questions? Not sure. What I do know that in this ER type situation I couldn't even think straight to ask questions I would have normally thought of? Maybe it was the same for them. He did say this has never happened to him before.

I went to a room to give them the milk to refrigerate. She told me they were done and the baby was already in her room....according to the computer system. Then we went up there, but she was not there. I knew they would want me to go and nurse her in the recovery room since they did this for her on Wednesday. I told the front desk nurse and she was either too busy or thought I was nuts and had me wait in the room. When two nurses brought her up they told me they were looking for me. They gave her a bottle. I was not happy and I guess my face showed it. I told them the front desk nurse told me to wait in the room.

We had to stay the night. They wanted to watch her. I don't know how anyone can rest in a hospital. As soon as I would feed her and put her to sleep they would wake her up. I got up at 5AM today and at 7ish the doctors came in and said they would let us go home. They needed to talk to the doctor first. We waited. More people came in and out to check vitals. It seemed they would come right when I would put her to sleep. She would wake up and then I would have to put her back to sleep. Finally, the surgeon came in and said we could go home. He would get the nurses to come and take off all of the tubes on the baby. It took another hour to get the ball rolling. The gal came in and took off some of the tubes, but left the security tag on her. She said I could take the rest of the stuff off of her and we could get ready to go. I asked another lady for scissors to cut off the tag. I wanted to go and wasn't really thinking they had to remove it. She said the police would come in if I took the tag off. I'm glad I asked. I was in a hurry to get home because my brother-in-law and his family had stayed an extra day from their visit. They had to drive back home and he missed work. I dislike hospitals and they gross me out; so, I just wanted to leave.

Another lady came in and took off the tag. They had told me when they did this we could go home. So, we started for the door. We got yelled at and our nurse said we could not leave until we got our paperwork and prescription. Why couldn't they explain things better? I just don't know. We were told we could go home at 7 AM and did not get out of there until after 12:00PM. I had not eaten anything either. The morning nurse did not order me a breakfast. I fell asleep and it was too late to get one. I got a meal since I nurse my baby, but I did not eat any real food until we got home. Glenn got me a muffin, banana and juice, but I was really hungry since I nursed all night each time they woke her up to check her vitals.

I'm just glad it is over and I hope I do not have to repeat this ordeal again. We go on Thursday to remove her plastic nose splints and the tape under her nose. I can't wait until she is healed. I just need more patience for waiting and I need to ask them for a print out of what is going to happen when and what are the procedures for leaving. Last Wednesday was easier and we got to leave fast.

The baby did great though. After they brought her in the room she was smiling, cooing and moving her arms and legs. She did not even show signs of being in pain. I gave her a bit of OTC pain meds, but I don't think she needs any more. She will just need the antibiotic. I don't need for her to get an infection. She has been through enough, I think. I hope she gets a break and starts healing quickly and properly without any more "setbacks".