Birth Story Part VI....sleeping at the hospital is a lie!

The first night....well, we didn't sleep that much. I had fed Reese around 8pm and working on a 3-4 hour schedule means chow starts at 12am. The night nurse tells us that she needs to test Reese's blood glucose so she'll come in and stick my daughter with a needle....tick her off real good and then we'll feed her.

So like clock work, the nurse comes by at 12am. Kim and I had just almost dozed off. Reese didn't mind the stick to the foot but now we have to feed her and put her back down. So I do that....I try to burp and then we lay her back down within the span of 15 minutes. Man, this ain't so hard...our baby is the world's best baby so this is a walk in the park. Right...

One fair burp doesn't cut it. Even two fair burps doesn't clear you for the the evening. Two GOOD burps might get you off the hook for an hour or two but Reese doesn't give two good burps even now at three weeks old. She's ticked....she fusses....she drifts back to sleep. The nurse comes to check Kim an hour later....huh? Why didn't they do that when they were checking on Reese? Eh well, I roll over, next thing you know the nurse is back pricking Reese's foot again. It must be time to eat, we feed, try to burp, change a diaper and lay back down. Maybe this will be the window that we'll start sleeping. Um, no. The nurse comes back to check on Kim and to change out the ice back between Kim's legs....really? Right now? alright.....

I roll over for what seemed like one or two blinks, nurse comes back in to do something besides a glucose test for Reese. She wakes her up, Reese fusses, Kim and I are awake now, the nurse leaves. You gotta be kidding me right?! We're dog tired but we're wide awake because no one will leave us alone! I was afraid that if I turned my rear toward the door, someone might come in and check me out. It was unbelievable!

Now...I have to address those first diapers. Holy smokes that stuff is nasty. I firmly believe that you could take the first several diapers from every new born baby in the world and either re-tar every road or at the very least patch every roof. I swear Reese would wallow in her tar laden diapers as a cruel joke to her new mom and dad and it seems that hospital wipes really suck at tar removal or maybe it doesn't matter what tool you use. Suffice it to say that diaper changes were starting to slow down.

Saturday morning arrives for most and I'm sure that Grandparents and other family and friends were just chomping at the bit to visit. Our Saturday morning started far earlier but we were ready to welcome anyone that would stop in with a sleep deprived smile and an equally sleepy Reese. One thing that made life a little easier was an awesome day nurse. Robin was another short nurse but she was perfect...no short nurse syndrome like Nurse Hatchet. Robin would come in and literally shout. REEEEEEESSSSSEEE! You need to wake up baby!!! REEEEEEESSSSSEEEEEEEE!!!!! She would perform whatever needed to be done and was always perfect with our new baby.

Memory serves that the shouting did wake Reese up but more to the point, it scared the caca out of Kim and I. Kim's mom brought snacks for us, my parents came, Lance and Celeste came, I believe some of Kim's aunts came.....my memory is leaving so I'm tying to finish the birth story saga....The day trodded along and our final visitors were my Aunt Judith and Robbie. I had ordered Domino's pizza, we chowed down and I got ready for some serious shut eye. Ohhhhhh Praise Jesus!! Sleep, precious sleep.

Around 9pm Reese decided that she was angry with something and felt it necessary to tell us about it. We'd hold her....she'd zip it...we'd lay her down....she would scream. It went just like this for hours. Up, down, scream, up, down, scream. Midnight came....still screaming. 1am, 2am, now 3am....scream, scream, scream. She wasn't having one of those uncontrollable lip screams but she was ticked about life for sure. Around 3:30am I decided that we needed some more ice. So I shuffle down the hall and then the most devilish and evil thing happened to me.....I heard other kids wailing in the other rooms down the hall. The first one was two doors down. This kid was absolutely losing his mind screaming. The next door, screaming. The next....the same thing. All of them were absolutely off the charts compared to Reese. I smiled. It warmed my heart. I almost laughed with glee. Not at the fact that other babies were angry and crying. But that everybody down that hallway was awake just like me and their hands were just as full as mine.

Reese finally collapsed around 4am....and I sleep for the first time in what seemed like days. I have no idea what Kim did, I have no recollection of anything from around 4am to 7am, I was simply exhausted.

Sunday came....visitors came....and we prepped to leave. It was comforting to be at the hospital but it wasn't comfortABLE for anyone. I was a little scared and emotionally overwhelmed that morning. Kim actually had to keep my head on straight a couple of times. Of all the memories made during that three day stretch, I'll always remember Kim and I hugging that morning. It had been months since I hugged my wife with a tight "bear hug". She hobbled along and that broke my heart but I knew that she was going to be fine in the end.

Reese is three weeks and almost 2 days now. She's a blessing and a gift and we love her more than anything. There are things/events in life that are burned into my memory....my wedding day, our trips to Hawaii, the 1st Apple festival that we went to...and so many, many more. But this story. Well, I just had to write it down so we could remember every little detail. That's sort of the end of the Birth Story posts but it's only the beginning of our story with Reese.

One day I hope to let her read and understand what happened on 3/27/09 to her Mommy and Daddy. There will be many more "Stories" to tell during our lifetime with Reese but she has been one of the highlights of our story as husband and wife. We love you sweetie!