She's Home!!!!!!

I have been wanting to post for the past few days but am finding it really hard to find the time. I want to include all the details which has inhibited me from posting because I just know I don't have the time to write it all out now. So I decided that I would post the details as I can - by the time you get them all you'll probably be sick of me talking about it. But for today - I will post Piper's first week in pictures (if Blogger will cooperate).

Labor

Birth- She came out covered in vernix. None of my kids had ever really had any (Sharon commented that perhaps she wasn't really due for another week or so, but at 8 pounds I'm glad I didn't have to wait the extra week). It really looked like someone had spread cream cheese a quarter inch thick all over her body. But when it was all cleaned off, she had the softest skin I had ever felt. My Dad remarked that it felt like you were touching whipped cream. The sad thing was once she was put under the phototherapy, her skin really dried out and started peeling. :( I also thought she was SO little when she presented. I said - Wow she is so tiny. The nurses all looked at me funny and said - "She really isn't that small", "she's bigger than a chicken, what do you want?" I thought for sure she was 6.5 pounds, but no she was 8 pounds even. That is only 2 ounces smaller than Ainsley was but Ainsley seemed so much chubbier.

Oh and because Dad wasn't there, I got to cut the cord.

All cleaned up.

Mom enjoying Baby!

She was born at 1:55 am on Thursday, by Friday at 8:30 am (She was roughly 36 hours old) they took her away because of her terribly high bilirubin level and put her in photo therapy in the nursery (more detail to come on this - I've learned a ton about reticulocytes, bilirubin, RH factor, blood group incompatiblity, antibodies, cooms tests etc..) She spent 4 and half days in the isolette under triple light therapy - only leaving to eat. It broke my heart to see her completely unswaddled with her eyes covered. Sometimes she would be quite alert when she would finish feeding only to have her little eyes covered and all to go dark. Sometimes she would fight it and sometimes she would just give in. My heart kept saying saying - "this isn't how it should be, she should be wrapped and cuddled and in her mommy's arms." The glasses made her poor little eyes so puffy.

Friday morning, at one day old the doctor told me her bilirubin level was at 11.3 which was high for a 3 day old. They put her under the lights and took her levels again in the afternoon and it was up to 13. By the end of the day it was up to 15 and the doctor was really worried that it would be going up so high even under the lights. They told me they wanted to put in an IV (in her head of all places) and start her on formula. Ultraviolet light breaks down the bilirubin and the other way to rid the body is to have a bowel movement. They wanted to her to start having regular bowel movements right away and of course after only 48 hours my milk was not in. So they started her on formula which we "finger fed" her with a "hazelbaker". They said finger feeding doesn't cause nipple confusion as a bottle would. So they let me finger feed her, then I would nurse and finger feed her after to make sure she was satisfied. Once my milk was fully in I nursed every 3 hours.

Here's Piper with her very puffy yellow eyes finger feeding. Also note the IV in her head.

After 6 days in the hospital (7 for me) we finally got to come home. We got home late afternoon on Tuesday, Nov 29th.

This is how Piper felt about coming home!!!

But even at home we weren't out of the woods yet. She came home on a biliblanket which is a 5 inch by 20 inch band which they can lay on or can wrap around their belly exposing them to ultraviolet light. She had to be on this at all times while at home which meant she had to stay near an outlet all day and all night. Brielle called her a little "glow worm".

We got some good news today. Her levels were her lowest yet. The Dr. said we could take her off all the lights and get a bilirubin check done tomorrow to see if her levels stay stable with no lights. The poor baby though - she has about 18 holes in her heels and I am not exagerating. There may be more than that. I am sure glad she doesn't have to walk on them. I had no idea that out of each of these holes they fill a baby test tube of blood. I thought it was like a diabetes prick and they test a drop of blood. But no they milk that heel until they fill their little tube and the poor baby sobs. The mother almost sobs too. I am glad I have only had to witness it twice so far (I guess tomorrow will be 3 times).

She sure has some big fans at our house!

Now we just can't wait to have that priceless picture of our sweet Piper in her Daddy's arms!