At home

We have survived our first three nights at home. It has been remarkably different (and dare I say?) easier than I had imagined.  Jacob is on a GREAT 3-hour feeding schedule, day and night. He is eating great and we are both adjusting well to this breasfeeding thing!  The great part about his schedule is that it allows me to get 2 hours or so of sleep between night feedings.  Of course, setting my alarm to get up and wake a sleeping baby at 3am just doesn't seem right, but I know that he needs to eat and I need to "release" my milk in order for more to produce. When we saw the pediatrician yesterday, she said that starting next week, I don't need to wake him anymore; just wait for him to wake on his own (of course, then I predict he will be waking up every 2 hours!! Let's hope not!)

Speaking of the pediatrician, we made two trips to see her in the first two days that we were home.  Thursday, we went in to check his weight (which was 6lbs 11oz when we left the hospital on Wednesday) and she wanted to check his bilirubin level because he was border-line jaundice when the level was checked on Wednesday.  His weight was down 2 oz, to 6lbs 9 oz, but the doctor was not concerned since it was a different scale and she said that normally happens when the weight is taken on two different scales. She asked that we come back yesterday to check it again and he was up 4 oz, to 6lbs 13oz!!! I was so excited! I am glad that his regular feeding schedule seems to be working to allow him to gain weight!

Unfortunately, the nurse called us on Thursday afternoon after our appointment and told us that Jacob's bilirubin level was 17.9, so he indeed has jaundice and some intervention was required to get it to go down.  They ordered us a light therapy pad that we need to place between Jacob's back and his onesie as often as possible. We have been using it since Thursday afternoon and thankfully, his bilirubin levels have gone down the past two days.  We went back to the doctor's office yesterday to get his blood drawn and the doctor called to say the level was down to 16.1.  Today, we had to go to the hospital to get his blood drawn because the pediatrician's office isn't open. (The poor child is only 6 days old and he has had his little heels pricked 4 times already!).  The doctor called us this afternoon and said that his level today was 14.2.  Praise God that it is going down.  The doctor seems to think that one more day will do the trick and by tomorrow, we won't have to use the light therapy anymore.

Here are some pictures of our little man with the light therapy pad.  As you can see, it doesn't seem to bother him too much as he is sleeping is both pictures!

I can't believe that it has been a week already since I was at the hospital awaiting Jacob's arrival.  He will be one week old tomorrow and already I think time is flying by.  He is such a blessing to us and we are enjoying every minute we spend with him.