My Madison Maternity mishap makes waves
Once you click here to get the Localnews8 video and article which James and I recently appeared on (it will open in a new window), come back and read "the rest of the story" and how we ended up in that predicament :)
Go with me a few years ago. We didn't have this blog then, so this story is not already on the here and it should be :) It's a great icebreaker at parties, just kidding! But we did tell it to all that would listen to the silliness.
Sunday night was the only night out of three that we sent our brand new baby to the nursery. Bob had to get up early to stock vending machines and go to school, and then come back to bring mom and baby home from the hospital. As Bob left, he saw a baby in the hall that looked like Ella and almost kissed her head, but the bow seemed a little different (purple and green to be precise)...but he was running late, so he decided not to since the baby would never know.
Later a nurse comes in, pushes my bed table out of the way to do the daily morning blood work that comes with c-sections, poking me awake from a nice deep sleep, then leaves the room. Blind without my glasses, sore, exhausted and hearing a baby crying in the hall, I push the button to call for Ella to be brought back in.
Finally, I hear the nurse, see the blog figure wheel in a bassinet, she hands me the baby, and then stands back to watch. The baby is heavier, eating better and wait? that's not the same bowwe sent her in with. It's purple and green, not just purple.) It probably fell off and the nurses put a new one on. That's normal. I squint to read the baby birth card and see some unfamiliar letters (last name was an F, I think) I ask for my glasses and the nurse hands them to me and leaves the room. And that's when I see a healthy at least 2-3 lbs heavier chubby little girl smiling at me and it dawns on me--"This is not my child! So, where was my baby girl?"
The nurse comes in as I sit stunned. Am I still asleep? This is the 21st century, things like this do not happen...only it did...just now...I'm a new mom and a wet nurse!?! I pass the baby back and thankfully, Ella was still in the hall and had not gone into another room! The two bassinets are switched and my sweet, mellow, not the-baby-crying-in-the-hall daughter with a beautiful single purple bow is placed in my arms, feels much lighter and better than a few seconds before.
A few hours later, one of the head nurses comes in, asks my sister and her husband to leave so she could talk to me. I was known for having fitting more than a dozen friends and family in the room and the nurses told me it was up to me if I wanted company to leave...Once Jaylene and Ethan left, the nurse (I can still see her cute face and her calm yet puzzled expression, wish I could remember her name...) asked if I remembered what happened that morning. (Guess it wasn't a nightmare!) She says that because I fed the child, they had to pull my chart to see what I might have "passed" to the baby. But, whoever filled out my chart (sounds like a major computer glitch) marked I had everything you could possibly have! Everything! You name it, supposedly I had it. (Not sure how I would be alive if that were true, let alone survived surgery, had a baby and was leaving the hospital that day!?!) So they had to ask me all the questions to re-fill out my medical chart, which had already been filled in at least 3 times with previous visits to the hospital, check-in, day before surgery stuff, etc! I gave them everything they wanted and the nurse allowed my company to return. (I never did find out if the baby "passed" anything to me. Probably not, but you never know...) I told Jaylene and Ethan what happened that morning. I think they were sitting in my room, when the nurse broke the news to the mother of the nursed child! We could barely hear the muffled loud voices. Too bad the doors were closed, that would have been a fun conversation to be a fly on the wall for...what would you say/do? A perfect stranger has your days old baby!!!!!!
Mind you, this was our last day in the hospital so our plan to leave in the morning didn't work out as planned. We didn't get out until late evening when all the paperwork, case file, explanations as well as the normal, usual post-delivery, baby prep, surgical checks, mom instructions, etc, were all in place. Tags and armbands were checked, load baby in the car seat, find me some pants (Bob took them to car being helpful...please being them back :) Any longer, they would have charged us for another day. As it was, they had to call down meals to be brought for lunch and dinner was on its way we when finally left.
It was surreal to have the car seat in the back, not empty like we had "practiced" but with a sweet little princess and looking at my husband and realizing we were a family and she was ours. So special!
For months we wondered if we got the right child. It's a good thing she acts so much like her Daddy and now looks more like her Mommy! No doubt, we brought home our beautiful little girl. (No baby pics on this computer...must fix that)
AT YOUR OWN RISK
Okay, Bob does news, headlines for a living. Here were some of his possible blogpost titles.
We think our baby is ours...
Changelings and Surveys
Lactative mishap
My unintentiontional career as a wet nurse
Little ward of horrors
Breastfeeding incident leads to being on TV
A story that will make you change your diaper
...and the first one out of his mouth...
Keeping abreast of the news!
Go with me a few years ago. We didn't have this blog then, so this story is not already on the here and it should be :) It's a great icebreaker at parties, just kidding! But we did tell it to all that would listen to the silliness.
Sunday night was the only night out of three that we sent our brand new baby to the nursery. Bob had to get up early to stock vending machines and go to school, and then come back to bring mom and baby home from the hospital. As Bob left, he saw a baby in the hall that looked like Ella and almost kissed her head, but the bow seemed a little different (purple and green to be precise)...but he was running late, so he decided not to since the baby would never know.
Later a nurse comes in, pushes my bed table out of the way to do the daily morning blood work that comes with c-sections, poking me awake from a nice deep sleep, then leaves the room. Blind without my glasses, sore, exhausted and hearing a baby crying in the hall, I push the button to call for Ella to be brought back in.
Finally, I hear the nurse, see the blog figure wheel in a bassinet, she hands me the baby, and then stands back to watch. The baby is heavier, eating better and wait? that's not the same bowwe sent her in with. It's purple and green, not just purple.) It probably fell off and the nurses put a new one on. That's normal. I squint to read the baby birth card and see some unfamiliar letters (last name was an F, I think) I ask for my glasses and the nurse hands them to me and leaves the room. And that's when I see a healthy at least 2-3 lbs heavier chubby little girl smiling at me and it dawns on me--"This is not my child! So, where was my baby girl?"
The nurse comes in as I sit stunned. Am I still asleep? This is the 21st century, things like this do not happen...only it did...just now...I'm a new mom and a wet nurse!?! I pass the baby back and thankfully, Ella was still in the hall and had not gone into another room! The two bassinets are switched and my sweet, mellow, not the-baby-crying-in-the-hall daughter with a beautiful single purple bow is placed in my arms, feels much lighter and better than a few seconds before.
A few hours later, one of the head nurses comes in, asks my sister and her husband to leave so she could talk to me. I was known for having fitting more than a dozen friends and family in the room and the nurses told me it was up to me if I wanted company to leave...Once Jaylene and Ethan left, the nurse (I can still see her cute face and her calm yet puzzled expression, wish I could remember her name...) asked if I remembered what happened that morning. (Guess it wasn't a nightmare!) She says that because I fed the child, they had to pull my chart to see what I might have "passed" to the baby. But, whoever filled out my chart (sounds like a major computer glitch) marked I had everything you could possibly have! Everything! You name it, supposedly I had it. (Not sure how I would be alive if that were true, let alone survived surgery, had a baby and was leaving the hospital that day!?!) So they had to ask me all the questions to re-fill out my medical chart, which had already been filled in at least 3 times with previous visits to the hospital, check-in, day before surgery stuff, etc! I gave them everything they wanted and the nurse allowed my company to return. (I never did find out if the baby "passed" anything to me. Probably not, but you never know...) I told Jaylene and Ethan what happened that morning. I think they were sitting in my room, when the nurse broke the news to the mother of the nursed child! We could barely hear the muffled loud voices. Too bad the doors were closed, that would have been a fun conversation to be a fly on the wall for...what would you say/do? A perfect stranger has your days old baby!!!!!!
Mind you, this was our last day in the hospital so our plan to leave in the morning didn't work out as planned. We didn't get out until late evening when all the paperwork, case file, explanations as well as the normal, usual post-delivery, baby prep, surgical checks, mom instructions, etc, were all in place. Tags and armbands were checked, load baby in the car seat, find me some pants (Bob took them to car being helpful...please being them back :) Any longer, they would have charged us for another day. As it was, they had to call down meals to be brought for lunch and dinner was on its way we when finally left.
It was surreal to have the car seat in the back, not empty like we had "practiced" but with a sweet little princess and looking at my husband and realizing we were a family and she was ours. So special!
For months we wondered if we got the right child. It's a good thing she acts so much like her Daddy and now looks more like her Mommy! No doubt, we brought home our beautiful little girl. (No baby pics on this computer...must fix that)
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| 2008 |
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| 2011 |
Okay, Bob does news, headlines for a living. Here were some of his possible blogpost titles.
We think our baby is ours...
Changelings and Surveys
Lactative mishap
My unintentiontional career as a wet nurse
Little ward of horrors
Breastfeeding incident leads to being on TV
A story that will make you change your diaper
...and the first one out of his mouth...
Keeping abreast of the news!
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