It's Saturday morning...well, I think it is. The front page of the paper on the porch reads Saturday, January 27, 2007. The fact that it's morning is a guess on my part, based primarily on the behavior of the dogs, who seem to be hungry. Because of our sleep "schedule," I'm not sure of much anymore, except that "a hemotoma on Lilian's head is constantly breaking down red blood cells and releasing bilirubin through her bloodstream, resulting in jaundice." Of that I am sure. Everything else is a blur. Let me see if I can catch everyone up...
We got word early yesterday morning that Lily's bilirubin count had decreased to 14.5, down from 15.6 the night before. These numbers indicated a drop from her previous personal bests of 17 and 16.6. When I first heard that her score was going down, I prepared a little speech about maintaining a commitment to excellence and following through, but then the doctors went on to say that this lower score was a good thing, and I put it on the back burner (check back with the blog in about four years). What it all meant was that at 14.5, Lily, Katie, and I were cleared to pack up and go home. Well, it meant that we could go home. We had been packed up for two days, seeing as I have a slight case of what those in the psychological community call OCD, and I had been crawling the walls, finding new ways to organize and reorganize our few possessions in the two bags we brought with us.
After we were read our slightly jaundiced baby Miranda rights, entitled "Your Yellow Baby and You," the nurse discharged us, and we began hastily dressing Lily in what her mom had selected as her "coming home outfit" (I do believe Katie and Grandma O'Rourke are going to have an outfit in mind for every occasion in life, by the way). Then it was time to get the little one into her car seat, which I thought the three of us managed with minimal fuss, and the nurse escorted us to the front door. Freedom! Again, it should be noted that the staff at OSF was incredibly kind, patient, and caring, but I couldn't wait to get back to my own bed for a change (though location has proven to be the only real change in our nighttime routine).
Lily seemed to love the car seat and the ride, so Katie and I made a game time decision to drive through Steak 'n Shake for a celebratory brunch of sorts. Two steakburgers and large fries and ten minutes later, we arrived at home to find that Grandma O was already waiting for us. This turned out to be a great help, as the dogs needed to be kept at bay while Katie and I ate our food. Buster was overjoyed at the prospect of having a new friend/enemy, and true to form, Jay was far more interested in the Steak 'n Shake and waited until we finished eating to introduce himself to his new sister. All in all, the dogs were very gentle and extremely pleased to make her acquaintance. Katie and I were relieved.
Chapter II: To Sleep or Not to Sleep
Lily is mandated to stay on a "bili blanket" between feedings. The hospital called a local medical supply company to have one delivered to our door not long after we arrived home. The bili blanket administers the same UV light phototherapy that she received in the hospital, just in smaller quantities. In essence, a UV-emitting strip is placed on the mattress of her bassinet, and she is laid down on top of it, so that her bare back is directly against the strip. To insure that she does not roll or stray from the strip, she is strapped in at the chest by a paper harness. While this is not nearly as barbaric as it sounds, it's safe to say she'd rather not be strapped in. Thus, we have enjoyed relatively little sleep, and Katie and I would just as soon have her unfettered, as well. As it is, Lily doesn't usually take to breastfeeding immediately, and often the first twenty minutes after she makes it known that she's hungry is spent calming her down enough to actually keep her mouth on Katie's breast. Once this is accomplished, she typically eats ravenously...a good reason why her bilirubin count is going down and she's back to putting on weight instead of losing it. However, unlike the usual newborn sleep situation, we can't simply rock her back to sleep following a feeding. Instead, we are obligated to strap her back in her tanning bed. This almost always makes her cranky, and it takes a few more minutes to calm her back down so that she will sleep. Between coaxing her into eating, rocking her to relaxation, strapping her down, calming her again, changing diapers, and falling asleep ourselves, Katie and I are dreaming (if you can get to REM in our allotted time) of the feedings-every-three-hours schedule that we hear so much about.
So that's our current situation, and we love it. Lily is our beautiful little girl, and we think we can take anything she can dish out. Of course, stay tuned to the blog to find out if we're right...
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