Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The Chaos Begins

I have a feeling this is going to be a long one. We were discharged on Friday, March 21st. Aidan was sent home with a Biliblanket because his jaundice levels were above 13. Talk about a pain in the butt. The little glow-worm had to basically be plugged into the wall. It was nuts. When we finally got home at 5:30 mom and I had to run to Target for a breast pump and another pack 'n play so Brody wouldn't look at the light radiating from Aidan's back.

Saturday the nurse came out to check Aidan's Bilirubin levels. They were down to 12 so we were able to take him off the blanket. What a relief!!! Today brought on a whole new set of emotions with breast feeding. I was so sore and in tears. I just didn't know if I could handle two babies and breast feeding. It was definitely weighing on me. I remember staring at the clock dreading feeding time because I knew how bad it was going to hurt. :o( I decided to tough it out though, even though the process of two takes so much time, but I knew this is something I wanted so I kept at it (although I don't know how much longer it will last).

Easter Sunday came and went without even knowing it pretty much. Mom did make us a great dinner of ham and twice baked potatoes (my favorite) and a Jell-O cake for dessert. We used a nipple shield today with some of the feedings and that helped tremendously. Here's a picture of the boys on Easter.


Monday was the day of the boys' first bath. That was a treat. Mom and I sure learned out lesson. I decided to feed Brody after his bath before we woke Aidan since he was wide awake. Well, the little one decided to leave me a nice present in his towel, so I guess today marked the day of bath number 1 and 2. :o) I know for next time to put a diaper on right away. Little Aidan just peed in his water - nice! It was quite the experience.

Tuesday we went to the doctor to have the boys weighed and check their jaundice levels again. Much to our surprise, Aidan had dropped down to 4 pounds from his 4 pound, 9 ounce discharge weight. His jaundice levels were up to 18. Brody was down just one ounce to 4 pounds, 12 ounces and his jaundice level was up to 17. The doctor had us take them off breast milk for 24 hours and formula feed them until we took them in to be checked the next day.

Wednesday both of the boys jaundice levels were down by a point and the doctor okayed them to go back to the boob! YEAH!! So excited that the bottles didn't screw them up and they were able to keep feeding somewhat efficiently. After we got home from the doctor Grandma Hodgson left and later that night we got more great help from Grandma Kathy.

Things were looking up, or so we thought. On Thursday morning at 4:30 am Kathy had to take me to the emergency room. After 4 hours there, many tests and quite the scare we found out that I was bleeding internally outside of my uterus and creating a good size hematoma near my uterus and bladder flap. I had to head up to Wausau to Aspirus to see my doctor who just happened to be on vacation. It turns out that this isn't to critical, but unlike most hematomas the doctor doesn't think this will absorb back into my body because of the large size. I will have another ultrasound in a week (now tomorrow) to see if it has gone down in size at all. If not, I will have it removed with a catheter next week.

Due to two interuptions of breast feeding the boys are having troubles latching again. We will keep working on it to see how it goes. The first week at home was pretty crazy, but I love the little peanuts to death. It sure is true what they say that you don't know how much you can love until you have children. Here are some more pics from the week.

Scharts came to visit too - she's going to be a natural, don't you think?

Sweet dreams!
Grandma Kathy and Josh with the boys

Daddy at work!
One big happy family!
Andrea and Chase came up to help with the youth toureny and see the boys
Mom checking out her two bundles of joy!

Aidan looking cute!

Brody in the swing that he likes every once in a while.
Brody appears to be thinking about something big...
Aidan fast asleep after some good eats!

1 comment:

Jenny said...

They are so cute. I am glad that things are getting better. Way to keep trying with the bfeeding. It's really hard at first and quite painful, but if they boys stick to it long enough, it becomes more easy. BUT, don't be sad if you have to transition to formula. I can't even imagine trying to do two at once!! You are amazing and look great. As for the hemotoma... I am glad you are better, or on your way to better... how scary. That's a lot to handle.