One Day Postpartum: Saturday

David James, by morning light, fewer than 24 hours old

Chris brought the kids to meet their new baby brother in the morning.

The latest edition of our family!

When they walked in, Thomas (24 months) began exclaiming, "Baby mine! Baby mine!" (a milestone of his first two words strung together).

And then Chris took the kids to a bubble event at the James K. Polk historic home.

On Saturday, David and I were discharged from the hospital, my hypertension being stabilized IV meds and a prescription to pick up at the pharmacy.

We experienced a couple of comedies of errors that day . . .

First of all, it was an ordeal just for Chris to pick me up from the hospital. Law requires that another adult walk inside to the patient room carrying the car seat, the baby gets loaded in, and the other adult (not allowed to be Mom) carries that baby seat out to the car, where nursing staff ensures it is installed in the vehicle.

Well, Chris had five children with him that we very much did not want to traipse through the hospital. The staff is legally prohibited from even touching the car seat, so they could not bring it to me, nor was I allowed to carry it out. I couldn't manage all my own luggage either.

What to do?

Chris grabbed a neighbor grandpa who was in town and brought him with him. Grandpa stayed in the van with our other children, so Chris and John could come inside with the car seat to carry baby and luggage out to the car for me. We sure made that grandpa's day!

Then the real trouble at home . . .

Chris and I were settled into chairs after 7:00 p.m. chatting when Chris realized he had not yet picked up my prescription for my blood pressure medication, whose dose I needed at 8:00 or my BP was going to rise fast. He took the two-year-old with him (to relieve me), put the other kids on a TV show, hoped for the best, and raced to the pharmacy . . . only to discover that it was already closed!

I called the hospital asking for what to do: Could they fill the prescription at the 24/7 hospital pharmacy? Could we have just two pills? The staff would ask the doctor and get back to me . . . minutes were ticking by . . .

Meanwhile, Chris drove to another drug store that was open for twenty more minutes: would he make it in time?! He got there and begged for assistance because I really would have to go check myself back in if my BP began rising as it did every time my medication ran out while in the hospital.

The pharmacist was kind and said that, given the circumstances, he would transfer over the prescription and fill it for us, in the nick of time.

Chris was my hero!


(Retroactively published to Saturday)