I suppose that I should expand a little on my last post about our time at the hospital. I finished talking about how I was just about to get some sleep after being up all of Sunday. Lets expand on Sunday a bit more.
So I couldn't get more than two minute cat naps in the chair I was provided with. Lucie wasn't exactly running around as she was in bed hooked up to a catheter. Come the morning, I was starving and went in search of breakfast and a newspaper. It turned out that on a Sunday in Bath RUH everything stays shut until the afternoon, so in the end I had to get some food in the restaurant at the hospital. A bit on the pricey side but at least it was food.
Grandparents visited in the evening, though I was slightly annoyed at my mother-in-law - we only had a visiting time for relatives of one hour with only two guests at a time, so I meticulously planned it so that Lu's mum and dad visited for the first half an hour and my parents visited for the second half an hour.
Lu's mum turned up with her partner David, and Lu's dad wasn't allowed in. David agreed to step out so Lu's Dad could come in, and then after half an hour I was trying to subtlely (and then not so subtlely) get Lu's mum to clear off so my parents could come in. Eventually it was only because the receptionist came down at about 42 minutes into visiting time to tell us that we had another two guests waiting that Lu's mum left.
We had a great midwife on Sunday evening who at first seemed a little... matrony... but once you got to know her was great. For example, I wasn't too sure if Archie had done a wee at all since he was born, so around 8pm mentioned it to her and asked if it was anything to worry about. She replied with "that's nothing to worry about, worry when he starts driving". Definitely put my mind at ease! Of course, on cue, at around 8.15pm she returned to find me with wee all down me.
She also insisted that Lu get out of bed and into a chair. I think that this started Lu's recover from the caescarean, and she clearly understood the importance of keeping active to start the recovery process.
That night I didn't so much drive home as sort of.... floated. It was weird, I wasn't falling asleep at the wheel or anything and was very well aware of hazards on the road (I remember seeing a fox crossing the road in the distance and being wary of cars pulling up in case they opened their doors in front of me) but at the same time it was very much autopilot. Mind you, I suppose that happens with 40 odd hours with no sleep.
On Monday I returned as early as I could, but this time taking a bag full of food to munch rather than relying on the food in the hospital. Lu hadn't had a good night with Archie as she couldn't comfort and settle him properly due to being bed bound. The midwives offered to take him but couldn't do it straight away due to being busy, by which point he was pretty upset and refused to settle. I, on the other hand, had passed out as soon as I was in the bedroom and not woke until my alarm, which had been going off for about five minutes, finally roused me.
Aside from sleep deprivation, Lucie was doing well by this point so was moved up to the ward. Because of the circumstances of her birth she was kept on the delivery suite for the whole of Sunday. Moving up to the ward was weird. We had gotten so used to the delivery suite and the people that worked there, having been there since Saturday. Even though in reality we hadn't been there long, it felt like ages. You have to be buzzed in to all the baby wards by a member of staff, and on the delivery suite I just had to say my first name as they all knew me. However, on the ward I had to say "hi, this is Robert Weeks, husband of Lucinda Weeks... Archie...... her room? Uh.... 3"
I also knew where to get tea and coffee, where the toilet was etc. Being on a different ward was a little disorientating. On the plus side, we were now next to a window and whilst the view wasn't stunning it was nice to have.
Our new midwife indicated that if Lu's blood pressure returned to a good level she could return home the next day. I had a feeling when I walked into the hospital Tuesday morning that this could happen as when I arrived Lucie and Archie were nowhere to be seen and I had to find a member of staff who told me that she was attempting to have a shower (it turns out that she had had her catheter removed at about 6am that morning).
This did indeed happen so just like that we were ready to leave the hospital and it was a very weird experience. A young doctor came in to go over Lucie's notes, ask her a few questions and check her caescarean scar. At the end he said "everything's looking good so you can go home, congratulations and best of luck" and walked off. Lucie and I just sat there thinking... what now? Do we just leave? We asked the midwife who pretty much said yes - just let the receptionist know you're going. I was expecting grand checks: I was expecting people to ensure that Archie was suitably dressed, I was expecting people to check how many blankets he had, I was expecting people to check he had a hat, I was expecting people to check the car seat, I was expecting someone to walk us to the car and check we knew how to install it safely.....
When in fact, none of this happened. We walked down the corridor and I expected someone to yell "stop! What are you doing?" but we merely walked up to the receptionist's desk and she crossed our name off a list. No one even glanced at the car seat.
So yes, leaving the hospital was the hardest step. I hear a lot of people talk about the drive home being a huge strain, that they drove at 10mph the whole way. But the driving bit was easy, I just drove normally. It was just the getting to the car bit. It was also odd for Lu, who hadn't been outside in nearly four days.
The next few days were a revolving door of family but also excursions outside. Lu defied all the usual inhibitions of a caescarean (much to many peoples' horror) and refused to be housebound. We visited the supermarket, went to a breastfeeding club and took Archie out for several pram walks. We always went at her pace but that didn't stop people reacting with shock when they heard that she had had a caescarean, but I place a lot of the kudos for her recovery with the midwife that insisted that she got out of bed.
We had to attend our local hospital (the one we planned to have Archie in) every day for the first week. Usually a midwife visits you at home until they are happy to sign you over to the health visitor but they were short staffed and going in wasn't too much hassle (and, if anything, it was good to get out of the house). They signed us off pretty quickly as they commented that we appeared to be two very proud parents who were coping very well.
After the hard step of getting Archie out of hospital, the next hard step for me was returning to work. My boss had been kind enough to allow me two week fully paid off work when I wasn't entitled to it, and returning to work and leaving Archie was hard. And I still find it difficult leaving in the morning if he isn't awake.
That'll do for now!
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