Pee, Poop, Eat, Sleep, and Cry – Part 1 of 3

What a rough few days I had when my baby sister was born. I had a good time at the hospital for the Sibling Celebration and a little at the hospital tour, but this time was different. Mommy and Daddy spent the morning putting stuff into the car and also keeping track of the time.

We arrive at the hospital at around 8:30AM. Mommy got to stand on the scale, and then I went on it too. The nurses had Mommy do some stuff and lay in bed. I waited for Gung-Gung (Mommy’s dad) to come. Finally, he arrived. Another Mommy was having a baby, but the baby’s heart rate dropped, so she was going in for an emergency C-section, whatever that is. (Later we found out that Mom and Baby were fine.) Mommy had to wait and wait until the nurses were free to attend to her. Her nurse, Cindy, said she was 5 cm dilated. I’m not sure what happened in that room after that because I wandered the hallways with Gung Gung and Daddy. We went to the nursery, and there sure were a lot of babies born these past couple of days.

Mommy got moved to another room. This one was bigger. We saw it during the tour. It is where the baby was to be delivered. Daddy drove me over to Cousin Sam’s house, but I didn’t want to be there. We drove all the way back to the hospital because the doctor and nurses were all waiting for the baby to be born. Again, I waited and waited. Now it is around 12:15PM.

At 12:55PM, I heard a baby crying in the room. It was Emily! A pediatrician checked Baby Emi out and said she was 6 pounds 6 ounces. The doctor was with Mommy and the nurses were taking care of Emily, so Daddy went with me to get lunch. It had already been a long day.

Later, Yee-Ma (Mommy’s older sister) came, and after that Po-Po (Mommy’s mom) and Yee-Yee (Mommy’s younger sister) came too. Gung-Gung came back to the hospital to be with Mommy for awhile, while Daddy took me home for dinner. When I went home, I realized Mommy would not be with me at night before bedtime. This would be the first time ever. I cried and cried. I had not even taken a nap that day. Yee-Yee was staying over, but Daddy had to leave Mommy for the night to be with me.

Stay tuned for my story…it does get better…

– Melody

Hospital Tour

Tonight we had our hospital tour at Eden Medical Center. And of course, Melody woke up early from her nap, so by the end of the tour she was ready…to be cranky. =p There were 3 other expecting moms. One mom came by herself, another was a couple, another mom came with her 3 kids, and then there was us.

We were the only ones who already registered. The nurse who was giving the tour emphasized that it is better to do it early. I wouldn’t want to be sitting filling out papers when I’m in labor. hehe And nobody is taking the childbirth education class….

First, we visited the ER entrance where you can enter at after hospital hours, but can go through there anytime, obviously. Then we went up to the 2nd floor where the maternity ward is. The labor and delivery room is pretty spacious. Not as big as CPMC’s LDR, but decent size. We went through the nursery again, and Melody liked climbing the stepping stool to see the baby. She saw Nurse Shannon who led the Sibling Celebration class. At the end we got to see the postpartum rooms. They’re just as big as the ones in CPMC. Dad gets to stay on the pull-out sofabed. They said most moms will get their own room, even if it’s a “shared” room. I think there are 8 rooms, and 2 of them have showers in them, but there is a private bathroom in the hallway that has a shower. Overall, it seems pretty good (especially compared to what we saw over at Kaiser). Everything seems to be flexible if we just ask them. Parking is also free, which we had to pay for at CPMC. And we forgot to ask about food, but at CPMC there was a “Celebration Dinner” on the 2nd night there. It was pretty good for “hospital” food. Norm got filet mignon and I got salmon, and we also got little bottles of sparkling cider. =p

Melody also got a sticker at the end. She’s definitely starting a collection with all the ones she gets from my OB’s office. And she was called a doll twice. =p

– Joyce

Note: Okay, so that photo is actually how the new hospital will look, but I couldn’t find a good photo of the current building. They’re breaking ground in 2010.