I have a new respect and admiration for single parents, parents of multiple births, and teen mothers and parents. I don't know how you do it.My first week home with my new baby bean was the most mind numbing week of my life. Right away because of Padon's jaundice they wanted us back at the hospital for further testing. We live 48 miles from the hospital, however, so it was a no easy task to pack us up and get us to the appointment on time. Walter immediately fell into a schedule of clean, fold laundry, meet with the neighbor about taking care of our mini farm, make sure there was a meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with snacks offered inbetween, remind me to take my pain medication, change diapers as needed, make doctor's appointments and keep track of the ton of paper work given to us by the hospital. I watched him in awe as he totally stepped up to take care of us.
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First off we had to see the lactitions who I wasn't looking forward to seeing and had heard were very pushy. Trying to keep an open mind they set us up with a feeding schedule and tried to give us helpful tips on how to keep a lethargic and jaundiced baby alert enough to keep nursing. This first check up was also to make sure Padon was doing well and in an attempt to not alarm us they alarmed us even more when they said Padon was just in the high risk level of jaundice and they wanted us to walk next door to the hospital and the lab to have his bilirubin checked again adding that if it didn't come back ok that they were going to admit him. They pricked his already very pricked heal, took a blood sample, and the lab results came back ok.
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This whole process took us the better part of the afternoon as we were passed from one lactition to another due to scheduling conflicts and were pressured by a third lactition to rent and purchase an electronic pump. I already had an electric pump but because it was a hand-me-down they pretty much made us rent a pump which we did for one week to appease them. I wanted to get a nursing bra to make my very engorged breasts more comfortable and to make nursing and pumping easier. Because they said my breasts hadn't finished getting as big as they would they wouldn't sell me one, which made me very irritated. I was already crammed in my bra and very uncomfortable and they didn't care. I was exhausted and Padon was hungry. We had one lactition saying I should go back and learn how to use the pump, another saying that we should feed Padon because he wasn't getting enough to eat, and a third lactition trying to get us to fill out paper work for the pump and its parts. They weren't listening to each other and were all talking to us at the same time. Unable to deal with the bombardment of information and the fact that they were implying my baby was starving, I finally broke down and cried in the waiting room with my face buried in Padon's spit-up rag. That made them stop and listen and better explain what they wanted us to do. It all came down to the fact that they had kept us there past closing time and they all wanted to go home and so were rushing us.
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Walter was appropriately gruff. He took care of all the paper work, made them write out what they wanted us to do and went in the gift shop to purchase a bottle and timer so we could feed Padon and keep track of future feedings and diaper changes. He then packed us back in the car and we made our way home. I sat there so tired thinking about how glad I was that he was keeping track of all the paperwork and and was surprised at how much he had stepped up to take care of us. In the hospital he had given me the most beautiful sapphire necklace, had brought a huge bouquet of flowers, and had bought a large balloon that said "It's a Boy!"and I was thinking how wonderful he was and how I never wanted to take the necklace off and then it dawned on me that if anyone deserved a gift it was him and I hadn't given him anything to celebrate him being a new Dad. This sent me into a crying jag that went between sobbing and sniffles as I clutched his arm and he patted my leg. He was shocked I would feel that way and that I had given him a wonderful gift and that was our son sitting in the back seat. He then patted me some more telling me it was ok to cry and I cried most of the way home telling him how much I loved him inbetween sniffles.
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Over the course of the first week we saw the lactitions twice, Padon's pediatrician once, my doctor twice, and prepared for a huge BBQ that had been scheduled a month in advance. All of this Walter took in stride. Between helping with feedings and diaper changes, and making meals for me, he worked with his good friend Jason and relandscaped the back yard as well as built an archery range for the BBQ. It really was amazing and all I could think was that he was truly a man amoung men
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