1st week with Angie

It's nearly been a week since we brought Angie home with us. Overall, things are going quite well. Angie has taken well to the breast, and since I have started taking the herbal supplements (More Milk Plus made by MotherLove- it has a combination of Fenugreek Seed, Blessed Thistle, Nettle Leaf, and Fennel Seed) the feedings have improved.

Yesterday I kept track of how much I breastfed her, and how many wet/poopy diapers she had. In a 24 hour period, she had 9 wet diapers and 7 poopy diapers and this was with 11 feedings. Sorry for the TMI, but being a nurse, measuring how much is going in and coming out is very important!

Tomorrow we are going to have her weighed and she will have a repeat bilirubin drawn. On Friday it was 14, (higher than it was when she was discharged from the hospital on Monday) so the MD wanted to recheck it on Monday. I am sure that it is lower, since she has been feeding really well without supplementation and has had many wet/poopy diapers.

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

Angie

This is coming out a bit late. I had originally written it on Thursday.

Angie was discharged from the hospital Monday afternoon after her last bilirubin test was 11.8 (MD wanted less than 12 for discharge).

So far it has been pretty good at home. We are working hard on the breastfeeding, and I think that we are making progress. I went to a breastfeeding support group today at the community hospital. The lactation nurses were really helpful and offered me some good pointers. We start the session by each baby being weighed (with nothing on, including no diaper) and then doing a post feeding weight. Angie had taken in 40ml (just over an ounce) with her post feeding weight. I haven't had to do much supplementation (which messed things up with Christopher) and I started to drink mother's milk tea and an herbal supplement to help with increasing the volume of breastmilk.

Tomorrow we are going to have her bilirubin level drawn again. Hopefully it has not jumped up. :/

Angie

This is my 100th post! Wow :)

We went to go see Angie today at the hospital. She is doing really well and will probably be discharged on Monday. I was able to feed her for 35 minutes, and it went really well. Afterwards I held her against me, and it was heaven to have her so close to me. The NICU staff is wonderful and taking amazing care of our Angie. We plan on going to see her tomorrow.

Angelita update

Despite being under photo therapy for several hours yesterday, Angie's bilirubin levels were higher, so she needs to stay in the hospital for a few extra days.

She is now in the NICU getting triple photo therapy, IV fluids and formula feedings to help clear up her jaundice. Alfonso called the hospital last night before we went to bed, and she was doing fine. They had redrawn her bilirubin level and it was slightly lower.

We plan on going to visit her today, so it will be nice to see her little self again.

It was very heart breaking to leave her yesterday at the hospital. I know that she will be fine, and is in very good hands, but to be separated from her is very heart breaking.

update with Angie

Angie's bilirubin levels are very high, so right now we have her under photo therapy. She looks pretty cute lying in her space suite. We are going to have her levels redrawn at 1600, so we will find out then if she needs to stay here overnight or if she can go home with us.

Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts.

Angela is here!

Angela Renee arrived yesterday, July 2nd at 5:13pm. She weighed 7lbs, 10 ounces and is 19.5 inches long. We are all doing well, and are expecting to be discharged tomorrow morning. Here are a few photos of Angela:

By the way, she looks a lot like Christopher when he was first born!

Baby!

Went to see my doctor today. I am 3 cm dilated and "the cervix is ready" (100% effaced??). Apparently she is going on vacation next week, so I could either (a) be induced tomorrow (Wednesday, July 2nd) or (b) wait to go into labor and have the baby with her associate (of whom I never met).

So, we chose to be induced tomorrow morning (Wednesday, July 2nd) at 0600. :)

Hope that it will be a good labor. Getting the pitocin drip, so I will most definitely have an epidural as well! Photos and updates to continue :)