We were finally discharged from the hospital on Thursday night. I was definitely ready to leave with my little girl! Besides our nurse being a bit scattered, making discharge last longer than necessary, and the CNA escorting us to the car being shocked that I wasn’t going to sit in the backseat between my two kids to make sure my daughter didn’t turn blue during the 5-minute trip home, discharge went smoothly. We were all ready to be home together as a family!!
They oxygen company delivered several tanks of oxygen shortly after arriving home. Shortly before the respiratory therapist left, Eli decided to throw up all over Abi’s room. While trying to get everything cleaned up, our delicious dinner arrived. And then things finally calmed down! One of my biggest tasks was spending lots of time with Eli, as he was really starting to struggle with me being away so much! Fortunately, Eli seems to be adjusting pretty well to having a baby sister around the house!
On Friday, the four of us travelled to the lab for Abi to have her blood drawn. We spent a bit of time on the phone updating the pediatrician on Abi’s first week of life. The pediatrician called later in the day telling us Abi’s bilirubin level went up from 9 to 9.3. This number was more concerning to us than the pediatrician. From what I understand, as long as Abi doesn’t appear more jaundice, then we do not need to have her level checked again. We also enjoyed a visit from Matt’s brother, Than, and his family on Friday. And because the day was so beautiful, we decided to take our first walk as a family of four down to the park! It was good for all of us to get some fresh air!
On Saturday, we decided to tackle a trip to the grocery store. I was quite thankful to have Matt assist with this first outing, as we were learning how to fit two kids in the cart in addition to groceries! It might sound like an easier task than it is!
Abi continues to be a much calmer baby than her big brother was! In fact, she was an angel during her first church service (Eli NEVER has made it through an entire church service!). She is giving us a handful of 4 hour stretches between feeds at night. Granted, there have been a couple of two hour stretches, as well! She is a newborn and isn’t consistent in many ways at this point, but Matt and I are both incredibly thankful for a couple nights of adequate sleep! We are navigating the bottle world with Abi. We were able to use the disposable bottles from the hospital for a short time, but once we ran out, we needed to transition Abi to a new set. She is having some trouble with choking on the Dr. Brown’s bottles. She is able to suck well on the Avent bottles, but her feedings take longer and she usually takes less, making us think the Avent bottles may be a little too much work for her to eat out of. She still has times of breastfeeding fairly well, but it is till too hard for her to get a full feed, so we continue to always offer a bottle every feed. So we are still trying to decide what is best for our little girl.
I will hopefully upload and post some pictures very soon! Tomorrow, Abi and I will head out for her first pediatrician appointment, while Eli and Matt head to a hearing screening, which is required for his home speech therapy. Thats all for now! Enjoy the Super Bowl!
