Ho ho hospital

 

So Mr. Baby at your 2 week (plus a few days) appointment you weighed less than you did at birth. That’s the kind of thing that makes nurses and doctors freak out and gather up a big pile of formula packages. Also, your eyes…well, they’d been pretty yellow for a while. You and I sat in an examining room for 2 hours while the lab tested the maximum amount of blood they were allowed to take out of your body in one day. Turns out your bilirubin was at 19. We were eagerly expected at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital.

It wasn’t all that bad, really. You were so sleepy from the jaundice that you were pretty chill about the whole thing. I mean, you know, people kept urging me to use formula without getting a lactation consultant for me or assessing my milk supply, but I just kept smiling real big and saying that I knew breast milk is wonderful for newborns. The NICU nurse was very apologetic when she told me I could sit by your incubator but that if I fell asleep they’d have to wake me for liability reasons so they recommended I feed you at night then go sleep in my car in the parking lot for a few hours before coming back to do it again. I just kept smiling and saying I’d do whatever I needed to and lo and behold 2 hours later the charge nurse got us switched to peds when the parents can room in. They have these chairs that fold down flat.

You looked SO HANDSOME in the little facemasks. I didn’t know you had the motor control to tear something off your face but you do!

After 2 1/2 days we were free to go home and find our own lactation consultant. Nancy was lovely. She says your palate is on the high side of normal, by the way. For a week or so I’d pump milk after you nursed and your dad would give you “finger nursies” with a syringe. You liked the fast milk supply but not being woken up so much! Finally you gained a ton both with and then without supplementing so you are back on track. At 1 month you are 8 lbs 4.9 oz.

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