hospital v.2

Back in and out of the hospital again... On Sunday morning we woke up and Dakota was looking very orange with yellow eyes (kind of like the old drunk men on the corner). So, after sitting there for a couple of hours debating on whether we were just being overly worried about nothing and calling the nurses line a couple of times, we decided to take her to the ER.

Good thing, it turns out, because her billirubin level was 22, which apparently is not so good. We were put in the PEDS unit, so I could stay with her in a room while she was under the lights.

Again, this was a totally different experience than when Luna was in the NICU. With Luna, we were blindsided left and right with all kinds of tests. We didn't know what our rights were- we were still adjusting to being new parents. Some of the nurses were very pushy with agendas that differed a lot from ours.

This time I felt really positive and in control the entire time. Someone told me that HCMC has been working with it's staff on patient rights and respect and that sort of stuff. Whether it was that, or just the fact that we had more experience in hospital stays, who can say?

Our lactation consultant told us that she had done a lot of work on breast feeding education with the NICU and PEDS nurses in the past year, and that definitely showed. Nobody even mentioned formula to us. When we refused the IV en lieu of doing a feeding once an hour to avoid dehydration, the nurses were really supportive and helpful. When I needed a breast pump they got me one within 20 minutes. When Dakota started to get dehydrated, they still wanted to stick with breast milk until the last possible moment (we were able to get her hydrated without using anything else).

So different than the formula pushers of a year ago! Kudos to HCMC for working to change. I had a great experience this time. Of course, most of this is due to their fabulous lactation consultant, Joanne Wesley. We LOVE her!!!

Now if only they could work on their food...