The bane of my existence

When my beautiful baby was born she had Jaundice. 

She was monitored and after tests we were sent back to the hospital 1 day after giving birth so she could undergo light therapy. We were admitted and this is what she lived in for a few days. 

I am thankful that what she has is normal and common and treatable, however I will not say it was an easy stay by no means. As any mom who has just given birth knows, you are beyond exhaustion. As a breastfeeding mom the milk will take a few days and the baby relies on colostrum your body makes. In saying this, you are up constantly trying to feed a baby who is almost always hungry until your milk comes in. 

This situation is hard enough on its own. Unfortunately I didn't know what I was in for. I rather like being in the hospital, you get to lay in bed, they bring you your food, you watch tv, you sleep.... But this was unlike any other stay I have had. They give you this little mask to put on the baby and I am sure someone out there who designed this stupid thing did not have a baby under light therapy and had to sit with them all night. 

It is a great idea, you do not want their poor little eyes subjected to the uv lights. It makes sense having them wear this mask. The problem behind this design is that if you have a rather active baby who loves to move around constantly, this little mask is almost useless. It slides off at the 4th movement that your baby makes. I can not tell you the frustration that I had with this. The nurses cannot help as there is nothing they can do. This little mask is what they have and that is that. So it is up to me, mom to sit here and watch my baby constantly. Why you say? This little mask slid down her face and covered her mouth and nose. She was 1 day old. She cannot remove this thing if she cant breath. If it uncovers from her eyes, she cannot move it back so her little eyes are protected. It was me, I had to do it. Which is fine, but ALL night. All night I sat there watching my newborn move around and this mask move all over her head and face. I was furious, tired, frustrated and over all fed up that this was all I was provided with. This pathetic little mask that wouldn't even stay on. 

I knew there was nothing the nurses could do. I was exhausted. I had just given birth and had a hungry baby to feed and I could not even sleep when she slept for this stupid mask wouldn't stay on. I will remember forever they anger I felt. I sat up that whole night with her and when my Father came to visit the next morning and watch her for "mask duty" I fell asleep instantly. 

I was absolutely not going through another night like this. I thought about what I could do to this mask and it finally came to me. I am gonna sew this thing together the way it should have been made. I had brought with me a cross stitch I was making for Ellie and I had everything I needed. Needle, thread, extra masks. I was set. I cut up the extra masks and I sewed them together to make it so that this mask would NOT slide down her head if she moved around, which she did, a lot! This little girl did not stay still. I worked on that mask until whatever she did, it would not slide off her eyes and not slide on to her nose and mouth. I did it, and finally I could leave her in peace and she could sleep and thankfully so could I. 

I still have this little mask I saved it and still feel mad when I look at it. I felt sorry for anyone after me who had to possibly deal with the same issue. Sorry for the person who most likely did not have a cross stitch project on hand to start sewing up their own mask. 

Today she is going on 3 and a little terror. That mask is far behind us and we move forward. But this is our story, of her first few days. 

THANK YOU FOR READING MY BLOG POST

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