The Pearsalls

Ella was born at 12:03pm on September 27, 2005. She weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 20.5in long. The next several days were spent in the hosptial. I hated most of Ella's nurses. They were horrible women who thought they knew what was best for my baby girl. Because of these evil women, I was unable to adequately breastfeed until almost 2 weeks after Ella was born, and I barely saw my baby girl the whole time we were in the hospital (4 days).

Let me explain. Ella was born on Tuesday around noon. The nurses kept coming in for one reason or another and they wanted to take Ella away to the nursery. Chuck and I wanted to keep Ella in our room all the time. I was not happy about Ella leaving me for any length of time. We were struggling with breastfeeding because Ella would not stay awake long enough for either of us to figure out what we were doing. My hormones were raging, and I was becoming very frustrated. Wednesday night, we found out Ella had jaudice (this explains why she wouldn't stay awake long). Immediately, the nurses wanted to keep Ella in the nursery full time. We said no. The nurses would have to walk 20 extra feet to our room to check on Ella, and that was just too far. So, the nurses retaliated in the wee hours of Thursday morning by telling the pediatrician that we weren't leaving Ella under the bili lights as much as she needed. This was a complete lie, but it caused the head nurse and the pediatrician to pay us a visit as if we were criminals. They treated us like the worst parents on earth and caused me to have a serious breakdown. Finally, the whole thing resulted in us being forced to keep Ella in the nursery for the remainder of our stay. The nurses also convinced us that Ella needed to be supplemented with formula. Which, in turn, delayed my milk production. They also gave Ella a pacifier, which we specifically forbade. In short, the baby nurses were evil bitches.

We were finally allowed to leave the torture chamber of the hospital on Friday afternoon, September 30, 2005. Ella still had jaundice, so we had to set up home health care to come set up her suitcase and prick her little heals.

Next...Ella - month 1!