Le's see if I can recap some of the past week. Her birth story will have to come later when I have more time...
Our family
So she came into the world on Monday night, and like most newborns was fairly awake for a while. We spent a couple of hours in the labor/delivery room, and then went upstairs to our "maternity suite" where we spent the next few days together. My mom flew in on Tuesday (after having changed her original flight from March 17th!), and Dan went to pick her up from the airport, leaving me for my first shift "going solo." Yikes! But we made it through.
We got to go home on Wednesday morning. We had a special outfit prepared - a Baby Yoda Sweater knit by her mommy (I sewed on the ribbon ties in the hospital... I thought I'd have a few more days to work on it at home!), and an afghan knit by my grandmother, Margaret (which is my middle name, too).
Home!
At home, we met the cats,
What is this?
hung out in our swing,
Again, WHAT is this?
napped with Grandma,
Zzzzzzz
plotted world domination,
Evil petting zoo!
and made funny faces!
Do you smell something in here?
We've had an interesting time medically... She was jaundiced, and this morning was the first day that we didn't have to go back to the hospital for a bilirubin test (hooray!) since her numbers finally started going down.
She's also not nursing particularly well - she latches on but won't suck for more than a few seconds before screaming. We thought that things might get better once my milk came in and nursing wasn't so frustrating (because there was actually food there), but it didn't - if anything it got worse. After a few days of this, I started pumping and we fed her the pumped milk via eyedropper (in addition to continue to try using the breast).
On Friday night, we called our doctor's 24-hour line because we realized that she hadn't had a poopy diaper since Thursday. The pediatrician decided that we needed to start supplementing with formula, and we needed to do feedings every 2 hours. So that's a three-stage feeding process: breast, breastmilk (via bottle now), and formula every two hours... By Sunday morning, still no poo, so we went in to see the pediatrician. The doctor decided that she was healthy, happy, and getting enough to eat, and we should just keep an eye on her, but keep up the 2-hour schedule until her 2-week checkup. For the record, she still hasn't had a bowel movement, in fact, but the doctor says we're in wait-and-see mode. I also have an appointment with a lactation consultant for Wednesday morning to work through some of these breastfeeding problems.
At this point, it would be such a relief to just have to whip out the boob, rather than going through the entire production, so I'm hoping we can get her back nursing soon. Of course, I have Dan to help me at night and Mom and Dan during the day (until Dan goes back to work on Wednesday - noooo!). But our lives are currently broken down into two hour blocks, about 30-60 minutes of which is wrapped up in baby, leaving an hour or so of "our time" for those little things like sleeping and eating.
The good news about keeping a baby with such a full tummy is that she tends to sleep really well once we finish with the feeding production, so we do get that hour without very many interruptions. In fact, we usually have to wake her up for feedings (always fun!). And the other good news is that she wakes up for several periods during the day, generally during or after feedings, and we get several minutes of quiet, happy baby who is very content to just look around and check out this crazy world that she's part of now.
Hello there!
She's the cutest baby ever, and we're so glad to have her. Now if she would just poop!!
(more pictures here)
Posted by Sarah at March 17, 2008 10:03 PM | in: baby | Permalinkhang in there. She's be fine. and some day we will all get to sleep!
Posted by: Mom on March 17, 2008 10:19 PMShe is ADORABLE!! :) My son was lightly jaundiced @ birth and didn't poo for an almost-nervous stretch of time, too. We also had problems w/ latching early on (did everything from sandwiching my nipple to make it flat so he could latch, to wetting with sugar water so he could form a seal, to just being unbelievably frustrated...) but as with everything it took some work and we finally wound off nursing at 3 (oy). :)
No worries, congratulations again! :)
Posted by: aija on March 17, 2008 11:20 PMI heard good news this morning. HOORAY!!
Now onto that world domination thing.
Posted by: Dad on March 18, 2008 08:02 AMOh my god, she's cute. My nieces have been known to go 10 days without a poop. You'll have the rest of your life to sleep, don't worry about a few days, months, years......
Posted by: Kelly on March 18, 2008 08:20 AMI'm going to try to give you a call today. I think Meli has all of Raley's poops because she's a machine! I swear, my nephew says she poops 2000 times a day!
We had to go back to the hospital for a biliruben test too.
I'm sorry you're having troubles - we've got our own as well.
No matter what - she's gorgeous! We can't wait to meet her!
Posted by: Cara on March 18, 2008 09:14 AMThe little dictator is adorable! Hooray for the good news of this morning!!
Posted by: Jenna on March 18, 2008 09:24 AMI am tending to agree with your last comment (Ya think that we might be a little biased?).
But that last picture is darling too!
Posted by: Dad on March 18, 2008 09:39 AMShe's so beautiful - and that Wii picture cracks me up! I watched a ton of TV during the early days, since my Critter would fall asleep while nursing and I didn't want to move and wake him up. We also had some early adjustments to make with feeding. My milk came in so strongly that it would spray in his face and there was MUCH crying. I had a nurse tell me that it was like learning to tango - both partners had to learn! Glad to hear about the poo!
Posted by: natalie on March 18, 2008 10:10 AMHang in there with the nursing. It is not as easy as some people make it out to be. Even a little breast milk from a bottle is good for Raley. Might want to ask the doctor or lactation consultant if Raley is tounge tied...it can affect the ability to nurse.
Posted by: Jamie on March 18, 2008 12:49 PMHopefully, week two will go a lot smoother!! hang in there you guys!! and CONGRATS AGAIn!! SO CUTE!
Posted by: Lara on March 18, 2008 03:45 PMYour baby is beautiful. My daughter tried to nurse just like yours. After all the mucus stuff cleared out, and it took forever, she was a better nurser. Just gradually give her the boob more and more.
Posted by: Machelle on March 18, 2008 03:52 PMI am finally catching up on my blog reading. She's such a cutie!
Posted by: Robyn on May 27, 2008 01:07 PM