In The LimeBluelight

Where did we leave off? Well, the monday morning after I was born (5:36 am on sunday, July 23rd) I had a bilirubin blood test ... a little jab and squeeze from my heel (of all the places). It was about 9 mg/dL (milligrams per deciLiter). Then, monday evening it had gone up to ~11 ... and tuesday morning up to ~14! The doctors got worried because I was premature, and my bilirubin was rising so fast. Premies have a harder time processing the 'rubin because their livers are usually not as developed as full termers. I told them I was really advanced, and I'd have it down in a bit, but despite my efforts I was admitted to the nursery during the day on tuesday, to undergo blue light therapy (see pic)! They throw you in a crib with blue lights above you, and a blanket with blue LED's below you, and little padded sungoggles to protect your eyes ... high tec, eh?
Well, I decided to just grin and bear it, and sleep as much as possible, but mom and dad weren't too happy because the doc's were pushing me to have as much fluid as possible, and they didn't really care if I got formula or breastmilk. Imagine! Substituting cow juice for liquid gold?? Anyway, mom was allowed to stay in the hospital room and come visit me every three hours to breastfeed me. She ended up pumping most of the time, so she could show the nurses how much I was getting (and avoid the "top-off" with formula to give me the minimum 30 ml). I took the opportunity to brush up on my bottle feeding skills, and once downed 40 ml of breastmilk in 60 seconds! (thank you, thank you, oh you're too kind) Needless to say I got to brush up on my burping skills too. By thursday evening I'd come down far enough in terms of my bilirubin levels (and stayed down, after being off the lights for 12 hours) that they let me go home, and I finally got to ride in a car for the first time. After that, I had my first nap at home, in my first organic cotton outfit ... ahhh, the luxury ...
Next post: settling in at home ...

How could I forget! (Pics of ME!)

... and the fam ...

New news!

Well, I've had a busy two weeks here. Two weeks ago this morning, mom checked into the hospital with a water leak ... I was ready to make my exit! After 12 hours of relatively unproductive labor, a kind nurse checked her and broke the remainder of her bag of waters, which allowed things to really get moving. After another 12 hours of heavy breathing, I was rudely pushed out into the cold delivery room! Now, note that I was scheduled to bake for another month or so, but I felt ready at 6 lbs., 1.2 ozs., and 19" long. Mom was really happy to see me, and relieved I was OK (even though my strong heart never varied its rate from a slow, steady ~125 beats per minute until right near the end), and Dad was pretty happy that Mom (and I) had made it through OK. It was 5:36 am when I came into the world, but despite the early hour I didn't cry very much ... really, I just wanted to sleep.

Later that day, after I had had my first bath, my first meal (thanks Mom) and rested a little, Dad got to change me for my (and his) first time! Not having had much of a frame of reference, I'd say he did a decent job. Over the next day Mom and I negotiated a little over feeding positions, and I had to endure having my head slammed into a boob by an overeager lactation consultant. But I felt like I was getting the hang of it. So I didn't have to cry very much, and after one meal I was even happy enough to sing a little in my sleep (Dad'll post that later). OK ... gotta go have a nip and a nap, so I'll post more later. Next episode: How I Learned To Love Bilrubin ... or, Dr. Strangelights ...