5 things about a hospital stay with an 8-month old

Little Jonas was hospitalized last Wednesday with pneumonia and we were finally released on Sunday night. He's fine and healthy and in tip-top (almost) shape, so I wanted to share with you the five things I learned about being confined to a small, shared hospital room with a cooped up, active, psycho-crazy 8-monther.

Poor little boo, with his IV and oxygen and cords of all kinds.

1. When nurses are bad, they're really bad. Up until the last day, we had amazing nurses. They were quick, precise, friendly and accommodating...and then we had Rebeca. She was flighty, lazy, particular, forgetful, and basically made me want to rip my hair out within three seconds of meeting her. Not to mention, she wore these shoes that made the most obnoxious squeak I've ever heard.


2. YOU CANNOT KEEP AN 8-MONTH OLD COOPED UP IN A HOSPITAL BED FOR FIVE DAYS. Yes, that needed caps. Bolded. I probably should make that font size 72. Holy whack-a-mole, it was really tough to keep him occupied. And things that kept him occupied one second, he would dismiss the next and we'd have to play a guessing game until I found something to hold his attention. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy...well, maybe my absolute worst.


3. Keep an extra change of clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and hair brush in your car at all times. For emergencies. Or random hospital stays that you aren't expecting. When we went to the hospital, I thought it would be a few hours, maybe a long night, but definitely not five days. I brought nothing but myself and Jonas, a granola bar, some strawberry puffs and a couple of jars of baby food. Adrian brought me clothes and well...he's a guy. He tried. But he forgot a lot of stuff. And then he did a run to Walmart. Again, he tried. Finally, my mom made a run to buy me some clothes and we were all set. 


4. Have support. Lots of it. People on-call to relieve you, if only for five minutes so you can pee and...pee. I didn't have many visitors and really, that was fine. But I did need someone there just to talk to because talking to an 8-month old can become a little one sided and people start to think you're crazy. Plus, I wasn't able to leave his side unless someone was there to sit with him because he wouldn't sleep in the crib, only a bed. It made it very difficult to use the restroom, stuff my face with food, or stretch my legs.


5. Mom knows best. Call it instincts. When I called the on-call nurse line to see if I needed to bring him in, she said maybe, but he could just need some Tylenol and a good suction. But I knew. No way, crazy lady, I'm bringing him in, I said. And I did, and it was pneumonia. Not bronchitis, not a cold. Again, when they were evaluating us to leave, they wanted to stay another night. I'm sorry, but it was to the point where, for his own health and sanity, there was no way we could keep him cooped up in there any longer. He was literally going to crawl out the door. So we brought him home and he sounds a million times better than he did in the hospital. Boom.

Oh, hey guys. I can stand now.

Side note: apparently hospitals make you learn all kinds of crazy new things. He is now crawling on his hands and knees and pulling himself to a standing position against the couch. I guess he would have ended up walking himself out of the room if we hadn't taken him.