Birth Story Chapter 3: The Royal Treatment at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

The final installation of my birth story isn’t quite as dramatic as the previous two. Usually the recovery ward at the maternity hospital is jam packed, but when I was there, there were only 11 women in a 25 bed ward. That meant that they had 2 private rooms reserved for special cases that were wide open. Since the previously mentioned best midwife ever, Emma, took pity on me and my baby blues, she nominated me for a ‘special nutcase’ and one of those rooms was assigned to yours truly. 

This came at a cost though, and once I got settled she came to give me a stern ‘talking to’ about how I had to accept the fact that I was stuck in the hospital and start sucking it up and pulling myself together. It was harsh, but exactly what I needed to hear to snap back to reality and man up to the situation I was faced with. 

All I could focus on was getting out of that place and getting my baby home and spending precious time with my father and being reunited with my pups. Emma made me realize that I wasn’t getting out of the situation I was in so I needed to put my tears and frustration aside and make the most of it. Having my own private space made it so much easier to do that. 

Not only did I have a room with an actual door and my very own bathroom, but because I wasn’t sharing with the other ladies, my husband was allowed to stay pass the archaic ‘visiting hours’ imposed by the hospital. He couldn’t spend the night, but the midwives turned a blind eye when he stayed an hour after leaving time. 

At night, I plugged my noise canceling headphones into the TV and rented movies while I fed Forest. It helped me to zone out and relax. And since I was in a quieter room without constantly crying babies, Forest slept like a champ and I got to get 3 hours of sleep. Hallelujah! 

In the morning, Forest and I watched Forrest Gump (I figure I might as well get him used to Forrest Gump jokes from the start), a movie which always makes me feel better. I love me some Tom Hanks!! 

Once Jonathan arrived for morning visiting hours, we rented more movies to kill time until I was discharged that afternoon. I definitely didn’t expect to spend 6 days in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary when I showed up for monitoring the previous Tuesday, but Emma was right, in the scope of a lifetime, it was a short timespan. Just a tiny chapter of our family history, but one that I am glad is behind us, nonetheless. 

As a recap, I spent 6 days, 5 nights at ARI and I slept in a different room each of the 5 nights. Forest slept in 3 different rooms during his 4 nights (his first two in the NICU), which may explain why he gets a bit cranky if his routine is thrown off or if you take him out of his normal environment.

I'm an open book when it comes to my birth experience here in Aberdeen, so if you have any questions or want to know more, just ask!