Taking the Scenic Route

She had jaundice, which is pretty common for a near-term newborn.  Fortunately, this hospital has an alternative to being stuck in a box with the glow lights.  They had her wrapped up with a pad, sort of like a heating pad, but with the Billi lights in it.  Normally, the pad just rests on the back of the babies and isn’t very intrusive.  However, due to her size, it was really enveloping her.  We had to keep her wrapped really carefully to keep the light from blinding her and anybody looking at her because the light peaked out over her shoulders and from her sides.  She looked like those Glo Worm dolls I remember wanting when I was a kid.  At night, she lit up the whole area around her, even if she did have blankets on.  The bulkiness of it also made breastfeeding really challenging, although not nearly as bad as the box would have been, so I am very grateful it was available.  Another aspect of the Billi blanket was that it had a somewhat short, thick umbilical cord that went to the control unit.  The night nurse ended up helping us rearrange our room so that the bassinet with the control unit was in the middle of the room instead of being stuck between me and the couch and away from the door.  This also allowed my mom not to have to do gymnastics to get to the couch to sit or sleep. 

The other issue she was fighting was low blood sugar.  She had to get heel sticks several times a day to monitor her glucose level.  Although I had lot of colostrum, it was getting a bit nerve wracking to deal with the fact my milk wasn’t in yet, even though it would be really early for my milk to be in already.  I must say that the people doing the heel sticks were amazingly gentle.  They always took the time to warm her heel up and when they stuck her, they didn’t just squeeze the heck out of her little feet.  Instead they gently squeezed it, urging only a drop or two of blood out at a time.  My mom had the painful job of going with her to the nursery each time to watch her being tested.  I didn’t see the tests they were doing until the last night I was there and I am really thankful that my mom was able to cope with that before that point.  I was having a hard enough time without seeing that in those early days. 

Finally talking to Zach

Meanwhile, at home, Zane is feeling sick

My best friend was in the area for Christmas and stopped by the hospital before going to her parents house.  I have known her since we worked together a lifetime ago at Sirloin Stockade.  She thought I was nuts when she met me because I was very particular about how to refill the sugar packets in the little containers on the table.  lol  Zach and I have held all three of those girls as little babies and the youngest one is a pregnancy where Dawn and I had the same due date.  So, I could easily have one her age…exactly her age.  Dawn and I are again pregnant at the same time, but this time it is looking more hopeful for us both to get to delivery.  She also brought the cloth diapers she had been sewing for me.  It will be a bit before even the newborn Very Baby diapers are going to fit.  Of course, it will also be a bit before we can add cloth diapering to our routine at this point.

Honestly, there should be a whole lot more pictures of my mom through all of this.  She was there every minute.  She followed the baby to the nursery when she had to get tests done, she learned how to syringe feed her, she held the baby skin-to-skin during times when I was too groggy to safely hold her and needed sleep, and she made sure that I got food I could eat (food allergies and cafeteria food are not always a great combination).  She was a rock through all of this.  When I was being challenged for my refusal to supplement, she backed me up and helped me to follow my heart when I was so tired I could have been manipulated more easily.  If you would have told me in my teens and 20s that I could spend a week with my mom under a stressful situation and we got along great the whole time I would have said you were dreaming.  We didn’t even get annoyed with each other.  It was really great to have that kind of relationship with her now, especially considering where we came from. 

Sweetie…you are only 4lbs +, you might want to wait to work on lifting your head.  lol.

Zach’s Xanga Posts from this day:  post 1, post 2