Taking me back to the early days

Nearly all of my recent posts have focused on summer or the upcoming school year. So, I'm going to switch gears. It's been over 17 years since I became a mom and my youngest was born six years ago. It's been a while since I was in a hospital room recovering from childbirth.

I have a part time job photographing new babies and their families in the postpartum unit at a nearby hospital. I spend my time there connecting with new moms and cooing over their adorable little ones as I snap their first shots. I've been there done that. Five times I've been in the hospital with my newborn. In fact, I've worked at three different hospitals as a photographer and I'm now at the one where I delivered all of my boys. It's fun. I remember a lot of the staff members. The rooms are familiar. Although it's been many years since I was there as a patient, it kind of all comes back to you.

I remember the frequent wake-ups to check vitals. The agonizing up and down from the bed after my c-section. The aching to be with my little ones, especially #1 (who was in Neo-natal for 10 days) and #2 (who was in special care under billirubin lights unable to be held.) I recall that deflated feeling in my gut when my boys were circumcised. I remember walking the nursery to retrieve my other little guys, trying to get the hang of nursing and chatting with my roommates (at the time there were double rooms - not privates like they have now.) I remember enjoying the candlelight lobster dinner with my husband that they offered new parents on the terrace. I remember feeling so unsure of what I was doing the first time around and how heart wrenching it was to head home and have to leave my baby behind.

It's also interesting to see how things change. They used to recommend sleeping on the side. No more. Now they tell you to not even use blankets. There's no more baby powder use. Pacifier use is reserved for the bottle feeding babies. Rooming in is the norm, whereas they used to require baby to be in the nursery if you wanted to nap or rest. Now baby stays in the room with you, even if you can't keep your eyes awake. It's a given that dad stays in the room with mom these days, but when I was there, there wasn't any space for a cot or pull-out bed for a guest to stay in the room with you - there was barely room for a chair at the end of your bed.

It's a nice walk down memory lane to a time in my life that I cherish.