After we got home from the hospital it was time to settle in. I felt like out home was different. It was all new trying to adjust to hormones and a new baby and a completely new schedule.
Like most parents the biggest adjustment was the sleeping schedule. It was all over the place. Adelyn was a very sleepy newborn. She would fall asleep while nursing so I had to try to keep her awake long enough to get a full tummy. I was not very good at this at night. I tried to wake myself up so I could keep her awake. The first few nights I would not be able to fall back asleep because I was worried about her. Luckily, day after day, I got better and was able to go back to sleep as soon as she was asleep. The first night home we tried to have Adelyn sleep in the bassinet it the pack n' play. She was not having it. She would scream as soon as I put her down. This picture is he only proof that she slept in there ONCE and it was during the day.
I tried to put her down in it many times but she does not like it. I have a rock n' play and she loves that. I think it will be her bed from now on.
One thing I've fallen in love with about Adelyn is her hand positions while she sleeps. It cracks me up!
We were very fortunate to have people from our church bring us meals. It was such a blessing to not have to worry about cooking and to be spoiled with delicious food! This is a picture of our first meal at home!
The infamous rock n' play. I do love it and I think she does too!
We took Adelyn downstairs to visit her Aunt and Uncle and cousins. Cousin Eli is about 4 months older than Adelyn. I'm excited for them to be friends and for him to be like a big brother for her. He's quite bigger than she is right now but I know she will catch up! I feel like this picture is also a really big testament to how bad her jaundice was. I think I was in denial about it at first. She is so yellow compared to Eli!
One of my last middle of the night feedings on the couch in the living room. I realized it was waking both of us more than it should and started feeding her in bed. She's so sweet and snuggly.
Here is another picture showing her jaundice. This was after her first doctor's appointment. Dr. Friedman asked us to go get her blood drawn at the hospital. He was concerned about her jaundice and wanted to see if it was bad enough that she would need treatment. He said in most cases we are given a light that we have her on at home but there are some cases where they need to be treated at the hospital. He said he'd like her bilirubin number to be under 11.
A couple hours after her appointment we were home and Mark's brother and his family were visiting. I got a call from Dr. Friedman's office with her blood test results. The nurse told us they got the results and her number was 23.6! She said they don't treat babies at home who have numbers higher than 19. She instructed us to get prepared to go back to the hospital and that Adelyn would have to readmitted for treatment of her jaundice. I was a wreck. I hung up the phone and just broke down bawling. Mark and Mike gave Adelyn a blessing and we got things together to go back to the hospital. I called my parents to let them know and ask them to come. I was seriously out of sorts. I couldn't believe that I had to take my baby back to the hospital. I felt like a failure as a mother. We got to the hospital quickly and the nurses were shocked that we were there so fast (they were pretty rude about it). They made us sit a wait in the lobby while they got her room ready. I nursed her and then under the lights she went. We weren't sure how long we would be there. A couple nurses, residents, and doctors stopped by and I was getting different numbers and explanations. I heard that we could be there a couple hours to a couple days. So we set up in the room and let Adelyn bathe in her lights.
A couple hours into the light treatment you could see a huge difference! This picture shows her little "racoon eyes" as they call it. This is a great way to see that the light treatment is working!
I enjoyed these brief moments of snuggling Adelyn. The doctors told us that they want her to be under the lights as much as possible. She should only be out to nurse and for a diaper change. I missed holding her so much when she was there. It was so hard to sit a watch her under the lights and not be able to hold her.
So after some questions from the doctors we found out why Adelyn's jaundice was so severe. For one, I am a first time mom and I am exclusively breastfeeding Adelyn. My milk did not come in until we were at the hospital. So partially she had breast milk jaundice. Secondly Mark and I have different blood types. Adelyn and Mark have the same blood type. So Adelyn and I have blood type incompatibility which can cause jaundice. It is almost a guarantee that all of our kids will have jaundice. Hopefully it won't be as bad because my milk will come in faster. Other factors were that I am caucasian and 25 years old having my first baby.
This was during a marathon session of diaper changes. While we were there we had to record every feeding and every diaper change (and record if it was #1 or #2) and record the weight of the diaper. From 1 AM to 3AM we have 4 diaper changes and 3 of them were #2. I felt like every time we changed her, put her back under the lights and got settled back to down to go to sleep ourselves we would her that indistinguishable poop noise.
Speaking of our sleeping... Because we were readmitted to the hospital and Adelyn was the only patient we didn't get a bed. We got couch that kind of turns into a bed.... that we had to share. We made it work sleeping head to foot. I was up a lot anyways.
Smiling in her sleep
The next morning around 10 AM Dr. Howard showed up from Swedish Hospital. Mark and I were both zonked and he walked in and said "Well that looks uncomfortable..." That woke me up but I was still VERY tired. I remember most of our conversation but not a lot. He explained why she was jaundice and what not treating it could have led it (liver damage, metal retardation, death) and that she more than likely won't have to be treated for it again. He examined her and wanted to check muscle tone and response to stimuli. He said he was pleased her her overall and based on her color alone she will most likely be going home in a couple hours. The nurse came in to do her blood draw (3rd one in less than 24 hours, poor girl) around 11 AM. We ordered lunch and just as we finished eating the nurse came in and said her number are in the normal range and we can go home! We packed up quick this time! I was so excited to go home and have our little family together at home.
We got home and pretty quickly decided naps were well deserved. Mark loves to take naps like this!
Her coloring is so much better. It was so nice to have Mark home for the week. He also almost went on a scouting camp out and I'm glad he decided not to so we could spend time together and he could come back to the hospital with me and Adelyn.
Just like any other Sunday we went to my parents. It was especially exciting because this was Adelyn's first Sunday at Grammy and Papa's house. She even got a sink bath from Grammy!
Her cousins are so sweet to her. They always ask if they can touch her or hold her before doing so. They are so nice and compliment her with "She's just so cute" or "She's just so sweet"
Here's Delaynie with Adelyn
And Paisley holding her. It's crazy to see Paisley and Delaynie holding my baby!
In the morning I like to bring her into bed with me. I always lie her on her back and make sure there are no covers that she can grab. Somehow she always turns her little body towards me and snuggles. I love it.
I saw this idea once online and thought it was a fun way to see babies grow. So I am going to do a laundry basket picture every month.
1 week old. This picture cracks me up. She was scrunching up only to stretch herself out.
Then she calmed right down. It's crazy to think this will probably be the only calm/sleeping picture I get of her because she will only get more active!
It took us a whole week to realize we didn't have a family picture together. Mark reminded me that it will be the first of many.
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