2 weeks!

Ahh – has it really been two weeks?! Technically I should still be pregnant… my due date is Sunday (10/4). I had no expectations of having an outside baby right now and due to her coming early, we’ve had an interesting two weeks… I wouldn't trade it in for anything in the world, she's 100% worth it.

At the hospital we were disappointed that our pediatrician was not on-call but one of her partners were – someone who we had a solid feeling that we weren’t going to mesh with (we were right). Due to the long sustained labor with a water rupture, there were fears that she would have an infection. Her CBC levels were checked five times in the hospital and were slightly elevated, which resulted in Dr. J refusing to release us after 24 hours (which my OB was insisting on, due to the overcrowding in the hospital, my hospital phobia, my suppressed immune system, etc – it was a recipe for disaster). Instead we were forced to stay an extra day in a hospital that had no private rooms left, even though none of the things that should have been done for Bella in the hospital were handled. In addition to her CBC levels, she had severe jaundice which isn’t uncommon in preemies (or women with gestation diabetes or with long water ruptures – triple strike!) that went the entire time in the hospital untreated… and she was born tongue-tied, which made some issues for breastfeeding. Three lactation consultants agreed – it would be a quick and easy thing to be handled before we went home… Dr. J did not agree. In fact she disagreed with everyone and everything. I was told not to breastfeed for more than ten minutes (“don’t be a human pacifier!”) and that it was totally okay to supplement with formula even though I was pumping more than enough with the hospital pump and there was no way she was going to write me a prescription for a pump, even though my insurance would pick up 100% of the cost. The only reason I was discharged on Saturday was because I agreed (with a lot of arm twisting) to formula feed Bella at least until our follow-up appointment on Monday.

I won’t lie – R & I both cried during her first formula feeding. It was her last. We couldn’t do it.

Imagine our surprise on Monday when we went in to the doctor’s office and Dr. J had our paperwork changed to show her as our primary pediatrician – I lost it. I pulled the nurse aside and kindly explained that if I didn’t see Dr. A, our doctor, that I was leaving and never coming back and that I would be screaming on the rooftop about my treatment. Dr. A worked us into her schedule and was horrified by what I had told her. I immediately received my prescription for my pump, a referral to an ENT surgeon to correct her tongue-tie (which now was no longer going to be an “easy snip” but instead general surgery), & standing orders for a weigh-in and blood check every.single.day that week for her jaundice. By Wednesday her jaundice levels were high enough to require photo light therapy, which thankfully we were able to do at home but made for a very, very unhappy baby.

Thursday the ENT saw her & immediately scheduled her for surgery that afternoon. Due to timing, we were sent over to the surgical center to wait… and to starve. My heart broke listening to her cry and claw her face because she was hungry (no food for 5 hours prior to surgery). Of course, having a screaming baby in your arms and the look of a zombie only encourages people to ask, “Where is your husband?” – FRO. R’s boss revoked all of his paternity leave the day before I was induced and since his business does not qualify for FMLA, we were screwed. Once the surgery was over, I go to take home my screaming, exhausted, bloody baby to attempt to feed her (note: this was the last day I was able to successfully breastfeed her as nipple confusion during her healing process took over).

Friday & Monday we had additional blood tests for her jaundice levels - Monday they finally dropped down enough that we could discontinue the photo therapy by Wednesday.

So paired up with my gestational diabetes which meant she had to have her blood sugars checked 4x daily, in her first two weeks of life not including her Hep B vaccine she has been poked/stabbed/lanced 19 times. Her feet look like she crawled through cut glass. She no longer cries during her blood work, instead she looks up at me and crams her entire fist into her mouth. But it looks like things are finally looking up - tomorrow is the first day that we don't have a standing doctor's appointment... in fact we're in the clear until mid-November. :) We're stoked.