So I was falling in love with this little girl despite than one extra chromosome. It was so hard to hold her while she was hooked up to all those tubes and wires and monitors. I hated hearing those monitors go off when we held her and moved her in the wrong way. The nurses always told us to look at the baby and not the monitors....but they still always freaked me out!
The first day after Addie was up in the NICU they were able to remove her IV, that was good because it practically took up her entire hand! I spent most of the first 48 hours being wheeled between my room and Addie's room while my mom stayed in Addie's room in the NICU. I had lost a lot of blood during delivery and was going to have a longer than normal recovery time...so between pumping and holding my baby I tried to get some rest, but as you can imagine, it just didn't happen.
Due to Addie's heart condition she wore out very quickly and so it was hard keeping her awake. I really wanted to breast feed her, but for now we were just bottle feeding her and I was bringing up all that I could pump to her every 2 hours. (little did we know I would turn into a milk machine!)
The second day we were able to remove Addie's Oxygen, which was another great thing to get rid of more wires! So all she was left was her feeding tube and the three wires that monitored her heart beat, respirations, and oxygen levels. It was this day that I doing some kangarooing (skin to skin) that Addie was trying to suck on my skin and I thought to myself, I really should try to breast feed. So we called the lactation consultant and she quick came up and Addie nursed right away. It was so great! She had no problems latching and did so good! The next several days seemed somewhat of a blur....
Thursday night I checked out of my room and Zac and I went home to try to get some sleep....of course, that didn't happen. My mom was still staying with Addie in the NICU which made me feel somewhat better, but I just wanted to be with her. So Friday morning I got up and went back to the hospital with a bag packed to stay until Addie was coming home with me. Mom left and went home so she could get her sermon ready and preach on Sunday.
Ok....buddy walk tomorrow, out of town guests have arrived...so we'll pick this up tomorrow!
Hi! Thanks for all of your help with the Buddy Walk!
ReplyDeleteI know we didn't get to talk much, but I enjoyed having you around!
I met your mom (hi!), as she entered the field. Cool, I didn't know she was a pastor!
What a wonderful thing that Addie was able to breast feed so easily! I remember having to work to keep Ben awake those first months. I just called it sleep eating and was glad I didn't have anyone else to care for, because it seemed that was all I did.
I can imagine how wonderful it was to remove each of her wires, and then be able to snuggle and nurse her!
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