The picture above was just too cool to only use once, so I put it on the homepage and this one.
We brought Lukas home on Saturday in
the late afternoon and began the process of getting settled in. Before
we left, they sent us home with a Billy-Blanket because he was a little
jaundice (bilirubin level was about 9. Normal range is under 10, and
having to be admitted to the hospital is at 20). The Billy-Blanket isn’t
much of a blanket, it’s just an ultraviolet light that he needs to lay
on all the time.
Saturday
Before I get to night one, I gotta say, we have two of the best dogs ever. As loony as they can be at time, they were super well behaved when we got home. And at night, when they usually try and get up on the bed to sleep with us they both were fast asleep on their own bed. Which doesn’t sound like much, but getting those two to actually sleep in the own bed is a miracle in itself.
Ellie went to bed at her usual 8:30 and after putting
her to bed we started to get Luke all set. In the moving him, changing
him, etc, he started to cry pretty loud. Which prompted Ellie to get
out of bed, walk into our room and say “What is all the crying? He’s so
loud!” I had to pause for a second so as not to laugh, because her
standing their in her feet pajamas, hands on her hips, crazy bed hair
already, was just too funny for words.
It was a big adjustment, actually a
relearning process having a newborn in the house again. Up every couple
hours, if not more, to make sure he is OK, feed him, change him, see
what he is doing, made for a long night. But everything went well, and
Steph and I quickly found the groove.
Sunday
We had an appointment at the hospital
on Sunday morning to check his bilirubin level again, it jumped. He was
now at 16, slightly concerning. But they said to just keep him eating
and laying on his Billy-blanket. So that’s what we did. And Sunday was a
much better eating day, so a good sign.
Sunday night we really found the
groove, or we should say he did. We put him to bed about 9:00 and he
slept for a good 4 hours, which was the longest stretch since he had
been home, and a welcome rest for everyone. A quick feeding an diaper
change then back to bed for another 4 hour stretch.
Monday
Another blood draw (poor guy’s feet
have got to be sore from all the pokes). This time the level only went
to 18, which the doctors said was really good, it seemed to be leveling
off, and as long as he stayed on the Billy-blanket and was eating good,
the level should start falling in the next day or so. Fingers crossed!
He is eating much better, so that’s good, and he’s on the blanket nearly 24 hours a day.
Monday night was similar to Sunday. A
couple good 4 hour stretches of sleep. We just need to learn the timing
of all this, because Ellie usually gets up around 6:30 so we are working
on timing the sleep.
Wednesday will be another blood test to see if the bilirubin level has gone down, and once that happens he’ll be good to go.
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