Goodbye bilibed

Our visiting nurse came yesterday after giving Julia a break on Tuesday. Her bilirubin levels were checked again. She didn't get to our house until 1:00 though, and it takes a few hours to get the blood back to the hospital, get the results, call the doctor, and get a call back from the doctor. We finally got a phone call from the nurse around 8:00. She said she was still waiting to hear back from our doctor. She told us Julia's level was down to 8. She also said she doesn't have the authorization to tell us to take Julia off the bed, but she was confident that's what the doctor would say. So I took Julia off the bed and left her off until we went to bed for the night. She slept on the bilibed last night since we didn't have doctor's orders yet. Around 9:00 this morning we got the call indicating freedom. Hurray! The nurse will come again tomorrow to check the level one more time and make sure it hasn't gone back up.

In the meantime we are still having a hard time getting Julia to wake up for feedings. We are waking her up every 2-2 1/2 hours during the day to give her a bottle. She still falls asleep immediately whenever I try to nurse, despite all my best efforts to keep her awake. Part of the nurse visit includes a weight check. Julia is currently going the wrong direction with her weight. Between Monday and Wednesday she lost 2 1/2 ounces. That's obviously a concern right now. Hopefully having her off the bilibed and being able to stimulate her more will keep her awake more during the day and she'll eat better. We're praying tomorrow brings a weight gain.

Pictures

I have about 10 more minutes before it's time to try feeding Julia again. I figured that was enough time to upload just a few more pictures. Sorry that I still don't have spectacular ones. My mom was the photographer while she was here, but she took all the pictures on her camera. That didn't help us much. Mom, if you email me some of the better pictures, I can add them to the blog! Here's what we have:

I realize that you can't see Julia very well in this picture at all, but I had to include it because it makes me laugh. This was one of the bonding times with Daddy at the hospital. Notice she is lying on his lap, sleeping on the pillow. Daddy is busy reading a theological magazine. Not your average bonding experience.

This is another picture that was taken at the hospital. Grandma was proving to Chloe that there's enough room on her lap for both granddaughters.

One of the few times my camera actually caught her while she was awake! She stayed alert through the entire story that Grandma read to her. One of these days she'll actually get to start wearing some of her adorable clothing.

This is the way our little girl always looks now -- eyes closed and all. And now it's time to go wake this sleeping beauty to eat.

Survival

I was talking to another mom of young children briefly on the phone yesterday, and her first question was "How is your family surviving?" It struck me as quite the interesting question. I'm sure (or relatively sure) all new parents at some point felt as though they were simply "surviving". I know that we're doing much better than surviving -- we're all thriving. It's just hard to always recognize it through a foggy sleep-deprived mind.

I was verty, very optimistic that Julia would not have to be on the bilibed anymore after Monday afternoon. Her coloring looks much better to me. I can tell there is still some yellow to her, but it seems quite minimal to me. I had been telling Julia these happy thoughts since Sunday afternoon. The visiting nurse arrived around 10:00 yesterday morning. We had to allow a few hours before hearing back from the nurse with directions from the doctor. Even the nurse thought Julia would be done with the bed. I thought by 3:00 my daughter would finally be in my arms while she wasn't eating. Kevin finally took the phonecall a little before 5:00. The good news is that the bilirubin levels are down some more, but the bad news is that the doctor wants her to stay in longer to get them to drop some more. When Kevin told me the nurse would come by again on Wednesday, I did cry a bit. That meant at least another 48 hours of watching Julia lie on this bed. She's getting a little more tolerant, but it's still very hard for her. Sometimes sitting with her and stroking her head will calm her down. Sometimes singing does the trick. Other times there's nothing we can do but simply listen to her cry (and try not to cry myself).

My goal for the day was an easy one, I thought. I just wanted to take a nap. That's much easier said than done with a toddler awake and orders from my doctor not to take the stairs in my house more than once a day. I was able to squeeze in a liitle 15 minute cat nap just before lunch when Kevin took Chloe upstairs to work on the computer. My aim was to nap well during Chloe's nap. Of course, Julia took that opportunity to start an inconsolable cry session. So much for that nap. Kevin took Chloe to Bible class with him even though I didn't go. That should have been a nice hour nap, but by the time I pumped there were only 20 minutes left of the hour. I did lie down, but it wasn't restful. Today's goals: get in a good nap at some point and take a shower. Big day!

Chloe is being a real trooper through this all. She had some jealousy issues while Grandma was here. She didn't like Grandma picking Julia up. But since then she's done very well. She likes to be a big helper. She hands us a diaper when it's that time, a Q-tip when it's time to clean the umbilical cord, a pillow for Mommy when I am ready to nurse. She even tries to give her sister a blanket when she goes back on the bed for a nap. She likes giving her new sister kisses and pointing out different parts of her body. She also looks quite worried when Julia is crying. Our little girl is acting so grown up. We just hope Julia doesn't mind being called Sister, as Chloe is yet unable to make the J or L sounds.

I'm very sorry that I'm not attaching pictures to the post. I have been typing this over the span of two pumping sessions in the middle of the night. The camera and cord are both downstairs, and I'm not allowed to go down to get them. Maybe I can add a third goal to the list for the day: Use Kevin's computer in his office to get some pictures uploaded. I make no guarantees -- you heard how yesterday's goal went. For now I am going to end this. Please excuse anything that may not make sense. You are reading the blog of an exhausted woman. If any of it DID make sense, I did a really good job. Well, goodnight all of you peacefully slumbering people!

Brief update

No, we haven't dropped off the planet. We just entered the world of new parenthood all over again. Kevin is currently upstairs writing an email update, so this might be old news to some of you.

Julia and I came home on Wednesday afternoon. At the hospital Julia developed some jaundice. We were told to follow up with our doctor on Friday. Friday came around, and we learned that the doctor wanted to get her into a Bilibed. That meant a trip back up to Washington for bloodwork and picking up the bed. She's been living in the bed ever since Friday afternoon. We're really only supposed to have her out for feedings. It's so hard to listen to her just cry because she hates lying on it.

Feedings haven't been going so well lately. At first we were doing really great with the nursing. Then on Thursday she reached a point where she was just too tired to eat. She hardly ate anything all day. Friday was a little better. Saturday she would hardly eat, and now today the only way we've been able to get her to eat is to feed her through a bottle. It breaks my heart that I haven't been able to feed my baby myself. I'm not quite sure what to expect over the next few days. Hopefully she'll have a huge appetite increase and everything will work out fine.

I know you have been waiting very patiently for more pictures. I don't have much time to upload what we have, but I can direct you to the hospital's webnursery where you can see her hospital pictures. There are four different pictures. You have to click on the "next" button at the bottom of the page. Enjoy the pictures of our little Cabbage Patch doll!

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/hospitals/6913/babypage.asp?URLID=2483283560

BABY!!

After what seemed like a very long time of waiting, we are proud to announce we have a new baby girl. Julia Katharine made her arrival into the world yesterday at 8:59 am. We didn't have much indication that we would be having a baby on Monday. I awoke at 1:45 with very painful contractions that were already 5 minutes apart, and we headed to the hospital very shortly afterwards. Labor went well -- contractions were much more tolerable than they were with Chloe. Pushing was much harder this time. Little Julia was stubborn and didn't want to turn the correct way, which gave me a harder time getter her out. Then we learned that another reason for the harder work pushing was because of her size. Julia weighed in a 8 pounds 10 ounces and is 21 1/2 inches long. Definitely a big change from Chloe's 5 pounds 1 ounce!

Upon looking through our pictures on the camera this morning I found that we don't have any really great ones that show her off well. I will definitely work on that today and will post some better pictures maybe later today. Little Julia and I are both doing well. The doctors that have looked her over say she looks perfectly healthy. Thank God for His goodness! Here are the best pictures I could currently find. Look for more to come soon.

She has a massive amount of hair, which this picture doesn't show as well as I hoped.

This is the best picture we currently have that shows her face. We'll work on something better today.

Our first family photo, with me looking absolutely exhausted. I'll write more on Chloe's reaction a little later.