Wednesday’s Weight

We went back to Brookwood on Wednesday. I’m proud to say that Ellie’s weight upon arrival was 5 lbs 4.5 oz. She ate very well, and weight when leaving was 5 lbs 8.5 oz. The final weight included clothes, and the initial weight didn’t, so the ounces are skewed a little. I just don’t remember the intermediate weights. I’ll need to weigh again on Friday, before going back to the pediatrician on Monday.

Life with 2 kids on a Monday

I survived a whole day of 2 kids!  Thanks be to God!

Besides both kids wanting to eat at the exact same time, I think overall, the day went very smoothly!  I even had time to brush my teeth!  🙂

Sam did well with Ellie.  She could be a little rough, but she is also very sweet.  Sam even decided she was ready to take a nap at 12:15.  So she went to bed!  Awesome.

Ellie had her first doctor’s appointment this afternoon.  Her bilirubin has gone down (from 10.3 to 9.2), so it’s still high, but going down is a good sign.  However, her weight has also gone down.  Her weight at discharge was 5 lbs, 4.5 oz.  Her weight this afternoon was 5 lbs, 3 oz.  It’s not much, but she can’t afford to lose much.  The doctor is concerned about continued weight loss.  Considering that she’s still not a great eater, I have different instructions on feeding now.  The NICU had her on a 4 hour schedule, but he wants me to go to a 2 hour schedule.  At night, we can push to 4 hours, but during the day, I need to feed basically all the time.  He wants me to go back to the lactation consultants at the hospital on Wednesday to do a pre-feeding and post-feeding weight.  Then back to the pediatrician on Monday.

Here’s a picture from us going home on Friday:

When Samantha came home on Sunday, she was very eager to hold Ellie.  She barely got in the front door.

Then she wanted to play outside.  I found a caterpillar on my azaleas, so I told Samantha that I found a worm.   She came over to inspect.  She said “caderpeeder.”  And I had clearly told her that it was a worm.  MamaLinda would be proud!

Ellie – Day 5

Ellie had a much better day today. She is eating better, but it’s still a bit of a struggle to get her to eat.  It’s much better than yesterday though.  Each day will get better, I know. The good news is, it looks like she will still be discharged tomorrow!

Today our nurse went over some preliminary discharge paperwork.  We have already watched the video about the car seat, and watched the infant CPR video.  If anyone wants a refresher on infant CPR, we have a kit (including MiniBaby for practice) that you can borrow.  It was a pretty uneventful day.

infant CPR kit

Ellie will have an eventful night though!  During her bath tonight, they will remove the IV!  Yay!  And she’ll also have a “car seat test.”  I had been hearing about this all week, and wondering what it was.  Turns out, you have to bring in your car seat.  They set it all up with the baby in it, and monitor the baby’s oxygen levels for 30 minutes.  They want to be sure that the baby can make it home.  If the baby’s head is too floppy, they are afraid that it will cut off the air supply.  Most of the time they remove all the infant head wrap things and put 2 receiving blankets on either side of the head.  I’m not sure why this is better, but that’s what they’ll do.  Brian is stoked that we’ll get 2 hospital blankets.  I just returned the 5 that we took when Samantha was born!

Anyway, thanks for thinking of us all week.  I’m glad all my family is almost all home!