Monday, May 3, 2010

Missing the Hospital

Lincoln did well in the hospital the first two days and the last day they found his bilirubin count to be a little high. So the doctor ordered phototherapy lamps to be delivered to our home and that's where the little guy has spent the past 2 days. Tanning with goggles on.


Today Ben took him in for another bilirubin count and it is coming down but still too high. So he'll stay under the lights for another two days until Wednesday when we test his levels again.


I realize this is minor compared to many other situations he could be in, but it is just frustrating to have him be under the lights constantly. Even when he's nursing or being cuddled, he has to be strapped into blanket lights. And even at night time, I sleep on the bed next to this big suitcase with tanning bed lights blaring while Ben is denied a place in bed and sleeps on the couch (not that he's a slacker dad, but because he gets headaches from any kind of light left on during the night). Not ideal, but whatever it takes to get his bili levels down.


***Update - as of today bilirubin levels were lower, but we'll continue the lamps off and on until Friday when he'll most likely be done. Yea!***


Our yellow pumpkin sporting the aviator goggles



Catching some rays in the "tanning bed"


Meanwhile, I must say that I actually really loved my stay in the hospital and even miss it a bit. Here are my top 10 reasons I loved the hospital:


1. It was like a 2-day get away date...kind of. Ok, so maybe not quite the romatic get away I would dream of, but it was nice to have peace and quiet without a 3 year old for two whole days!


2. Hospital food. Yes, I'm weird and actually like the hospital food. But even better is that UVRMC has a new room-service for Mother/Baby where we get to order every meal from a huge menu, and the best thing is we can order as much as we can eat! Dreamy, I know.


3. Endless painkillers, brought every 4 hours. Beautiful!


4. Endless pads, granny undies, mattress covers and ice packs.


5. A moving bed. :-)


6. Nurses ready to bring you whatever you need at the push of a button.


7. People to watch your baby at night (with exception of feeding sessions) so you can actually sleep!


8. Being able to lay all day in bed and feel no guilt about it.


9. Being able to wear a large, comfortable, extremely unflattering blue-gray moo-moo all day and feel no guilt about it.


10. And last but not least, being able to have as much kangaroo care time (skin-to-skin time) as I wanted with Lincoln. Because we all know that at the end of those 72 hours all privacy and discreteness has gone out the window.


Me and my boys right after getting home from the hospital


Daddy-Logan time well spent watching you-tube clips of the Wizard of Oz (the new obsession)
Yellowie cuteness
Logan couldn't wait to hold him. He loves holding his hand and inundating him with kisses.

Nana gave Logan a Big Brother Kit that included a big brother shirt, a few things he could use to help take care of "baby brubber" and of course a Toy Story coloring book.


Logan has even been caught sharing his most prized possessions with Lincoln. Now that's love.


Nana and L-man

Lincoln Details

Here are some more details from Lincoln's big arrival day:


Despite all my hopes of spontaneously going into labor on my own, Lincoln hung in there until his induction date (last Wednesday) at 39 1/2 weeks. Because of Logan's large size and my fear of having a c-section if baby #2 was even bigger, my OB's agreed to induce a little early (thank heavens!).

So that morning we dropped Logan off at my sister's house (thanks a TON Andy) and headed to the hospital. We got checked in, set up and hooked up to the pit by 9:40 am. I started as a 3 cm dilation and 75% effacement.

Shortly after the pit came the epidural. Heavenly, right? Wrong! It took the edge off the contractions, but even with all my little "boosts" to the epidural, I was still really feeling them... breathing through them. The reason? The labor was progressing WAY faster than they had anticipated.

Finally at noon, the dr. just gave me a HUGE boost of anesthesia and within 15 minutes I couldn't feel or move anything from my diaphragm down. I was finally able to sleep, but was woken up 10 minutes later by the nurse getting the table prepped and ready for pushing. What? Already?! By 12:40 I was pushing and Lincoln was here at 12:56.
Talk about efficiency. :-) What took 12 hours last time took a mere 3 hours this time. Crazy.

Even more crazy is the thought that we're actually a family now, rather than just a young married couple with a baby. It has been so neat bringing another special little spirit into this world, getting to know him and growing to love him even more.




First family picture. My parents brought Logan in later that night to see his new brother. He was interested in Lincoln for about the first 2 minutes (he even had a big picture colored for him and a toy to give his new "baby brubber") but then was distracted by every other fun button and device in the room.


Daddy and Lincoln. Ben did so much to help Lincoln and me in the hospital... he earned the Dad of the year award just by simply "sleeping" on the lousy father's pull out bed at night. :-)


Going home! Here's to the new adventure of learning how to survive and thrive with two boys. Wish us luck. :-)

Saturday, May 1, 2010

And the name is....

Lincoln ? Parker

Middle name yet to be determined.