Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: In the Beginning (1/?)

Comments? Rants? Anything at all welcomed here.

I happened across this and am wondering why twasn't in my inbox but you know .

I know things are different in different parts of the country, and iirc from the other one this is the late 90s, but I think I'd want to smack someone at that hospital. My oldest was born in 01 and by then they were encouraging nursing asap and rooming in etc everywhere I knew of. There were a couple times that I couldn't see my babies for a while but not right away - but because they couldn't hold their body temps and come out from under the lamps [silly little babies...].

Anyway - I'm in .

And watching my inbox .

Carol

My boy child was born in 85. He roomed in with me and we started breastfeeding immediately - and I had had surgery. In fact, the nurses were pushing breast feeding hard. (They were supposed to ask if you planned to breastfeed so the OB would know if you needed the 'drying up' shot - only the question came out as "You ARE breastfeeding, aren't you?"

It sounded odd to me that they wouldn't let her hold the baby for so long. I wondered if something sinister was going on, but Clark and the grandparents were able to see her in the nursery, so it doesn't seem like anything wrong was going on, but still...

My first child was born in '83 and second in 86, and I had a c-section, but I don't remember having to wait to hold my baby very long, except for when they took him to be weighed and checked, and my husband was able to go with our baby. But it wasn't long I was in my room and they brought my first in for me to hold him and start breast-feeding her. Also, I remember them holding him up to me high enough that I could see him as sooon as they had him out. We also were able to keep our baby in the room with us, but with my surgery, I did need to rest a lot and let the nurses take to the nursery at times, so I could sleep until he was hungry again. But in room having the baby with you was very common at that time.

Sweet story, can't wait for the next part.

Great part and looking forward to see where is going

When my daughter was born in '99, I saw her briefly before they took her away. And then didn't see her for hours. I remembering saying "Hey, I'm certain I had a baby this morning; where is she?" Turns out they heard a heart murmur and took her off to do an X-ray, just to make sure it wasn't serious. But after that, she roomed with me, as had my son. I didn't have C-sections, though. Actually, with him, I was trying to nurse and not figuring it out, until a nurse came over and physically positioned both of us, til he got latched on. Not that any of this has anything to do with the story, of course.

I hadn't read the previous story so I was a little confused at points, but it wasn't incomprehensible. Although, seriously, the breastfeeding craze started long before the late 90's, so that part did sound strange.

Thanks for sharing

PJ

Yay for feedback!

A few overarching comments - I had asked a couple friends who had kids back in the late 90s and they said they used formula, so I assumed that was normal. When I have a chance later this week, I'll update this so it says that nursing was more common.

I probably won't change the fact that they needed to go to Boston for a hospital that allowed Lois to room-in with Larissa as that's a more complicated change. And I'm not sure it's unrealistic. I live on the outskirts of NYC, but when I got pregnant the first time (2 years ago) the closest hospital that provided rooming in was in Conneticut. Luckily, by the time my DD was born, the hospital down the road had redone their maternity ward to include this.

Also, as for Lois having to wait all that time before seeing Larissa – as I said this is partly autobiographical, and despite the fact that it is now 2010 and it is pretty common knowledge that the sooner you nurse after delivery the better, particularly with a c-section, it was hours before I was allowed to see my daughter, let alone nurse her. I can’t recall how long now, but all of the things that happened to Lois happened to me as well. It was at least two hours, and I want to say it was more like three or four after she was born before she was in my arms.

There was nothing wrong with her (although to be fair my c-section was as they had feared there would be) except that she was small. But she was over the size limit to be kept out of the NICU, so that shouldn’t have mattered. (Once in the nursery they were quiet cautious with her as she was just over the limit, so she was the smallest baby they had in there, but certainly that shouldn’t have been a reason for her to be kept from me.)

Not sure why, but also like Lois, I didn’t get to see her until after my husband was allowed to hold her and brought her over. I’m guessing my doc just didn’t think about holding her up high enough as generally he was good about those sorts of things. But then again, they were worried about her before the CS, so maybe he was focused on that – they thought she didn’t have enough amniotic fluid, although she was fine in the end.

Thanks to all for the comments! I have started the next chapter, so maybe will be able to post again sometime this week.

I read your first chapter but somehow missed the fdk thread so I can't help adding my story.

When my daughter was born in '92, they gave me a very strong epidural (because the anesthesiologist wanted to go home, I think). Then during the delivery her heart rate dropped and they discovered that there was a knot in her cord. The ob said that was the first time she had ever seen a knot that did not require an emergency C-section. But they were concerned about her and took her away for so long that I remember ordering my husband to go get her, because I couldn't move my lower body or I would have gotten up and gone myself. And, despite my specific orders, they gave her a bottle while she was gone. So although I was ready to breastfeed, when I finally got to hold her she latched on as if I was a bottle and it took quite a bit of fighting before she nursed correctly.

So I think a lot depends on your medical staff, and what they believe is important. This wasn't a rural hospital, it was in a suburb of Washington DC.

Thanks for sharing your story, CM.

They never told us whether or not they gave my DD a bottle, although I suspected they had given how long it was before I was able to feed her. And while the hospital was supportive of breastfeeding, they also seemed faster to give her a bottle than I would have liked. A nurse convinced us it would be better the first night (so she would sleep longer) and then as she had trouble gaining weight, they kept threatening to give her a bottle rather than giving me the help I needed to get her to nurse. (You'll see some of this pop up in the next chapter.) They tried to convince us to do so again the night before we went home, but after the first time we refused. We actually stopped leaving her in the nursery ever and my DH would go check on her every few minutes when they took her to check her over as we were convinced that if we left her there at all, they were going to give her a bottle.