Nathan's first week

Nathan was born at 10:57 P.M. on Friday December 3rd. My Mom and Dad, Shelly and my cousin Bobbie Jo were all in the delivery room when he was born. They all stayed until close to midnight when the Nurses took Nathan to the Nursery to get his bath and blood work, vitals, ect. My nurse helped me to the bathroom to clean up and then she pushed me in the wheel chair to look at Nathan in the Nursery. There was another baby in there next to him and he made that baby look like a preemie! My room was right across the hall from the nursery. I got in bed and then another nurse came in to take my vitals, give me ice water and Motrin. I was all checked into my room around 12:30. I tried to fall asleep but they came every half hour to check my vitals. Nathan was brought into me at 1:30. I nursed him again and then tried to go to sleep. He woke up every hour to feed and the nurses came every half hour or so for a few hours to check our vitals again. At 5:00 A.M. someone came in and drew blood from my arm, I was so tired I am not even sure who it was! I think I did sleep an hour straight from 5:00 to 6:00. Sometime that morning I  had a flu shot. I wanted to get it to protect Nathan.

Saturday Morning Kevin got to the hospital around 9:30. My Mom had kept the girls over night so she brought them in to see him. They both were very excited and kept wanting to hold him. Then my mom took the girls to my niece Natalee's birthday party. Angela and her boyfriend Tony came to see us sometime in the evening. Kevin brought me a Sub from Wegmans for dinner. Nathan nursed about every 1 1/2-2 hours all day long. I took a short nap that afternoon and Kevin stayed at the hospital with me until about 7:00 that night. Shortly after he left I went to bed. Nathan woke about every hour. At around 11:30 the nurse came to take him to the nursery for his bath and vitals. She asked if I wanted them to keep him untill his next feeding. I was so exhausted I let them. He came back in at 2:30 and I felt so much better with getting 3 hours of sleep. The nurse came back at 3:30 and took him for bloodwork. I fell asleep and when I woke up it was 6:30. I rang for my nurse and had him brought back in so I could feed him. It was great to get some sleep that night!

On Sunday Kevin should have been off because it was his weekend off but for some reason he ended up having to work. So I was at the Hospital alone all day. The pediatrician came in and told me Nathan had Jaundice and they were going to recheck his level at 2:00. When the result came back it had gone from 8.8 to 9.5 but they said they would still let us be discharged at 8:00 P.M., They wanted to keep us as close to 48 hours as possible. My friend Amy stopped by for a quick visit in the afternoon. My mom had the girls and took them to a baby shower with her. Around 4:00 My mom brought the girls on her way home from the baby shower. My sister's Shelly & Angela and Niece Natalee also came.  Kevin got there around 5:00 and brought me a BK Veggie burger from Burger King for dinner. That tasted so much better then the hospital food! We had to just wait from then until 8:00 when we were finally discharged. My Mom kept the girls again over night. Nathan's discharge weight was 9 pounds 9 ounces.

Monday Morning we had to take Nathan to the Lab for blood work and then to a doctor appointment. It is so hard watching him get the blood work. They take a small rzer type thing that makes a small slit in his heel. Then they have to squeeze the blood out until a small tube is full.  At his appointment they told us his bilirubin level had gone up to 12.6. Also his weight had dropped down to 9 pounds 4.5 ounces. They scheduled us to come back on Wednesday to see if he looked any less yellow. If not we would need to get more blood work. That afternoon my Mom brought the girls back home. I was so happy to have them home! I had really missed them. Those 4 nights are the longest I have ever been away from either of them! They both were sick though. Had coughs, runny nose ect. My mom also had Natalee with her. Shelly went home after work and picked Zack up. She brought him over to meet his new cousin. We ordered Pudgies Pizza for dinner and all ate together.  That night Nathan woke about every hour and Avalynn woke up too. Not a fun night!

Tuesday Kevin had to work and my Mom had the day off but she had some things she needed to do and she needed to recover from having the girls so long, lol. So I was all on my own with all 3 of them. Gabby was acting really sick. She wouldn't eat or drink anything and kept saying her throat hurt. She also was sleeping on and off all day. I took her temp in the afternoon and it was 103.3 I looked in her throat and it was crimson red! I knew she had strep. I called her Ped and asked if they could get her in after 5 so Kevin could take her when he got home. They told me to call back at 4:30 to make an appointment. When I called back they got her in at 5:30. Kevin took Avalynn too and had them test her because she had some of the same symptoms as Gabby. Gabby's rapid test came back positive, Avalynn's was negative. Gabby started the antibiotic that night and was feeling much better by the morning. That night Nathan slept a little better but both of the girls ended up waking up and coming into bed with us.

Wednesday Kevin was off work. We took Nathan to his appointment at 1:20. They said by looking at him they could tell he was still Jaundiced so we would have to take him to have more blood work done. This time he slept through the blood work. His weight was back up to 9 pounds 13 ounces. They called us an hour later and told us that his level was up to 13.7 so we had to get more blood work on Friday. Avalynn slept through that night but Gabby came crawling into our bed around 4:00. Nathan was up about every 2 hours. I was really engorged though and he was just not eating enough to relieve it. I ended up getting a golf ball sized plugged milk duct under my right arm. It was so painful! I tried taking a hot shower, taking motrin, using an ice pack, rubbing the duct while he nursed and none of that was helping. So I did what almost everyone will tell you to Not do. I pumped until I was totally empty on that side. Then I fed him on that side right after. By the next day the duct was only about half the size it had been and a lot less painful.

Thursday Kevin was off again. In the afternoon he took the girls shopping to get them out of the house and so that I could take a nap with Nathan. I got about an hour sleep. So hard to sleep during the day even when I am that tired. I again pumped my right side until empty because I was too full. Then I had him nurse off that side. By that evening the duct was totally unplugged!  Kevin made home made Broccoli and cheese soup, Grilled Chicken (Veggie burger for me) and baked potato for dinner. We had my parents over to eat with us. 

 Friday Kevin had to work again. When he got up to leave for work he realized that the water had frozen. So I got up and got the kids around. My mom was off work so we went over there. I took a shower and then washed and dressed Nathan. My mom kept the girls while I took him in for his blood work and doctor appointment. He again slept through the blood work! At his appointment his weight was up to 10 pounds 3 ounces! A little chunker! The Nurse practitioner was amazed at how fast he is gaining for being only breast fed! She said I must have some good rich milk. But then she asked how often I nurse him and when I told her about every 2 hours around the clock she said "Wow you must be exhausted!"  I am but he is so worth it! The best part of the appointment is that his bilirubin level came back down from 13.7 to 12.9! She said that was good and she was not worried it would go back up. He does not have to go back now until his 1 month checkup!  I went back to my Moms that afternoon and we ate lunch there. My mom put Avalynn down for her nap and then we hung out until Angela got home for College so she could see the kids. We left to come home around 3:00. That night the girls both slept through the night in their own bed! Nathan slept for 2 1/2 hours, nursed and then slept for 3 hours! It was so nice getting some sleep!

Kevin with all 3 on 12/10/10