Loie is a week old! I don't think I mentioned before that she was born at 9:34 pm, weighed 7 lbs even (a full lb and a half less than Isla!) and is 20 inches long. What a little teeny sweetie!
I wanted to tell the rest of the hospital story since it didn't stop right at the birth.
Friday, the day after she was born, she started spitting up which then progressed to vomiting by the end of the day. At first the nurses said the yellow colored vomit was a good sign, that she was getting good food from me, but then they noticed a green spot of spit up on her linens that looked worrisome. They pumped her stomach and found a ton of really nasty green bile stuff which was really worrisome. That is when they took her down to the NICU to get the full gamut of tests done to figure out what was going on. X-rays to see if her bowel was kinked or blocked, blood tests for infection, and they got her hooked to an IV to make sure she was getting nutrients if she couldn't keep mine down. But after two days (Sat/Sun) of tests and monitoring, the doctors were able to say with high confidence that the only thing wrong with her was that she had bad reflux. (I was like reflux? Seriously? I mean don't like a huge percentage of babies have reflux, and that is what landed my baby in the NICU??) Technically she also had a tiny pneumothorax, (air pocket in the lung) that is what most likely caused her white blood cells to indicate a possible infection, but that and the white blood cells went away/down by Sunday, so that was a non-issue, apparently.
My milk finally came in by Monday and since she was gaining weight and nursing really well, they were able to wean her off the IV fluids and discharge her on Tuesday. I was discharged on Monday, but they let me 'board' in an empty room for one night, (for free!) so that I wouldn't have to leave the hospital until we could both leave together on Tuesday. It was 6 days in the hospital, and despite the NICU stay, it was pleasant enough for me and very restful. I was forced to walk a ton (up and down floors to the NICU every 2-3 hours to feed) and so my recovery has been a lot quicker and better all around than last time. (not that last time was even that bad!) Overall, we feel extremely blessed with how everything turned out okay in the end.
I have a new found empathy for NICU mothers. My daughter barely had anything wrong with her (in the end) and I still was so sad and felt so helpless having my sweetheart hooked up to so many machines and cords and monitors. It was the worst feeling in the world to have her down there with no definitive answers and for us as parents to have little or no control over when we could take her home.
Here are some pics from our stay.
Loie in the NICU the first night. There were tears, lots of tears.
Isla visiting mommy and daddy in the hospital. All she wanted to do was sit with mommy on the bed and press the up and down buttons. It got kind of annoying, but she was so cute, I couldn't bare to stop her, I was just glad it didn't break the bed. ;)
Isla meeting baby sister for the first time. She's kind of ambivalent toward her, a little jealous of the attention mom has to give her, but mostly she really likes the 'baby'.
Sweetest girl. We all think she looks like my nephew Ashton the most. Look at that long blonde hair!
A NICU nurse made all the babies halloween costumes so the moms wouldn't feel like they'd missed that milestone. It was the sweetest gesture. I just thought she looked so cute as a butterfly!
Going home from the NICU after passing the car seat test.
Isla stayed with my parents while we were in the hospital (sooo nice!!), but Bart was able to go up on Halloween night to take her trick-or-treating in her much-loved sheep costume. I was sad I missed it, but at least Bart was there. They went door to door on the golf cart, best way to trick-or-treat ever.
Lastly, I have to give a huge shout-out to my mom who was the best grandma ever taking care of Isla while we were in the hospital. It was sooo nice to know that Isla was happy and completely oblivious of all the crazy things going on with us. It made the transition to home + baby a lot easier for her to handle. My mom is a champ and so sweet with my girls.
Week one is over and I couldn't be happier.
1 comment:
I'm sure that was so scary to have a baby in the NICU, even if it was just for a few days! I'm glad that even if the delivery wasn't exactly how you had wanted it, she's now here with you at home safe and sound! I hope you're adjusting to two kids well--that kind of terrifies me. She is such a cutie!
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