The 24 hour…48 hour…84 hour stay in the hospital

What was expected to be a one night stay at Mt. Sinai turned into 2 nights (as Karen went through labour on night 1), then 3 nights (as you are kept for 2 nights after a C-Section), then 4 nights, as Magnus was still trying to figure out how to eat! 

Although at the time I did not know that I would be having a 4 night stay in a Lazy Boy lounger (hello Osteopath and Massage Therapy appointments!), the beginning of our stay post-labour was helped by 2 key events:

 Ron, our man on the inside:

§  While waiting in the recovery room post-labour, I witnessed the Room Scheduler instruct a nurse to wheel a patient BACK to the recovery room, as there was still insufficient space on the newborn floors for new mothers.  Concerned that we would not get a private room because of the volume, a quick text was sent to our good friend, and Mt. Sinai Director of Operations (thank you MBA connections!), Ron.  Ron was quick on the draw, got a call into the 16^th floor, and confirmed that we were good to go, even giving us our check-in time before it was known by our nurse. 

 

§  For this we were extremely thankful.  During my numerous hallway walks to get water or outside food, I saw a number of shared rooms with (shared) visitors.  I’m sure that if there were 12 family members hanging out for hours on the other side of a curtain while Karen and Magnus tried to recover from surgery, there would have been a minor issue.  Just because Magnus’s first outfit was prison stripes, it didn’t mean that Daddy needed to follow suit.  Thank goodness for a multi-tiered health care system!

 

Magnus in his Johnny Cash outfit

 Oma and Grandpa Hawkins:

§  Another great start to our stay was that, as I was confirming our room status with Ron in the hall outside the recovery room, Karen’s folks showed up.  Ross and Betty came down from Elgin first thing on the day Magnus was born.  They even brought him a card (two cards, if you include the one Betty bought in case it was a girl!).  They helped get us to our room and comforted Magnus during his first hours of life.  Magnus is their 2^nd grandchild and first grandson.  Only time will tell if he will be able to keep up with his extremely energetic cousin, Jacoba. His step cousins Cam and Tyler are pretty chill, so hopefully they'll be calming influences on Magnus.

 

 

Although the post-labour stay started well, it would end up being extended as Magnus and Karen got synced on the whole feeding scenario.  I will leave it to Karen to describe the whole finger feeding, spoon feeding, pumping cycle, etc...