The hospital stay

The Office didn’t describe any of the gory details of delivery, so I’ll skip right over that part too and pick up in the recovery room. Pam was in a two-occupant room, and so was I, but fortunately I didn’t have to share my room with another family. Why, you might ask? Because the labor and delivery wing was under construction and there were hardly any moms and babies about! I was so happy to be done with labor that I didn’t really mind the ambient noise, but there was some serious demolition going on in the rooms around me.

Unlike Pam’s lackluster attendant, my nurses were really sweet ladies, cheerful and helpful and quick with the painkillers once I realized I was allowed to ask for more. They were very complimentary, telling me often how beautiful my new daughter was. (I wondered about that at the time, since even I could tell that my daughter wasn’t a real bombshell at birth. When I recently talked to a friend of mine who is a NICU nurse, she said, “Oh yeah, we tell every mom she has the most beautiful baby. But they are all beautiful in their own way!” I knew they were bluffing! Don’t worry, she did get cuter in the weeks to follow.)

When I met with the hospital lactation consultant (I had a female, unlike unlucky Pam), she knew what she was talking about and was patient in the process. Actually, the only member of my hospital crew I wasn’t completely thrilled with was the pediatrician. Because my own chosen doc didn’t attend newborns at my hospital, I had to use the on-staff doctor, who happened to be a specialist who wasn’t covered by my insurance. He checked baby Charlotte out, told us she was healthy, and then sent us a bill for $400+! I was able to fight it, but now I know for next time to make sure my doc can make it to the hospital.

My hospital didn’t rush me out the door like Jim and Pam’s did; in fact, we waited for what seemed like hours before a nurse came to wheel us out. And fortunately, my husband had the car waiting with our properly installed car seat ready to go.