Thursday, May 28, 2009

Hayden's First Week

Hayden spent much of her 1st week in the hospital while she and mom recuperated. Here are some pics from our time there.

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Hayden and Daddy taking a nap

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Hayden with Nana Vorhees

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Me & Hayden with the beautiful roses Daddy bought

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Hayden & Nana Vorhees

On Tuesday, it was time to go home. Jason had been with the movers all day and my dad had been at the new house waiting for the FIOS installer. Mom had stayed with me in the hospital the last 2 nights and we were ready to go home. Discharge is normally around 11 but we had a pretty rough night on Monday with a nurse who kept pushing us to give Hayden formula. I had experienced GREAT nursing care up to that point and so this was pretty discouraging. When Hayden got checked by the pediatrician earlier in the day, they checked her billirubin level and we waited for those results and a consult. Her billirubin was high, and they offered to have us stay one more night, but we had already packed up and I knew that we could manage her jaundice effectively at home with extra feedings and some indirect sunlight. So we made an appointment to have her checked the next day and headed home.

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The first night was really rough, Hayden had her days & nights mixed up and Daddy was up with her most of the night except for when I would get up to feed her and pump every 2.5 - 3 hours.

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Jason, Hayden & Meg

Last night was much better. We had Hayden on an every 2 hour feeding schedule. I would get up, nurse her, pump, and Jason or Gran would feed her a bottle. Then we would change her, put her down for a bit and then get up and do it all over again. I pumped or nursed her 15 times in the last 24 hours, we gave her 8 bottles and we changed 18 diapers. We are going to have to keep this schedule up until her jaundice goes away but that should be in just a week or two.

Today we went to the Dr. again (it was my 8th consecutive day at OHSU) but got wonderful news. Her levels have already decreased significantly (down from 17.4 yesterday to 14 today) and she has started to gain weight (up to 6 lb. 1 oz today from 5 lb. 14 oz yesterday). We are all doing well and I'm so glad that I have so much support from Jason & my mom. I couldn't do this without them.

Now, for those of you who think Hayden looks like Jason, take a look at these pics of me as a baby.
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Me & Mom

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Gran & Hayden

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Me & Dad

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Hayden with Daddy Jason

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Baby Karyn

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Baby Hayden

I'll continue to take pictures and update the blog when I can, but with the gruelling schedule I've outlined above, I'm sure that you can understand why it takes such a long time.

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(No, that's not our new carpet...there was a snafu and so we are living on the pad until the new carpet gets in around June 15).

Overall, we are settling in nicely and feel so thankful that we have been blessed with this little life. We are all managing to sleep when we can and enjoying every moment of this special time.

5 comments:

*JSJJ Long* said...

She is absolutely beautiful!! :) I can't wait to see you all in person, just one week! I'm happy to hear that she's doing much better. Good job mom and dad! Congratulations - love you guys.

Chelsea Elizabeth said...

Love it ! She does look like you! I thought for sure she was a little Jason with your nose. You sound busy! Thanks for taking the time to blog!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the update! She is soooooo gorgeous, just like her mommy was as a baby and still is today! Yes the first few weeks are rough, but it gets better! Hang in there! Sounds like you're doing everything right. What a great mom and dad.

Kasi said...

Hi there! This is Kasi from high school. I recently googled you and Jason, hoping to be in touch again, and I found your blog. Congrats on your new little one! She's beautiful, and I'm so happy that you all are doing so well.

storytimewithgran.com said...

Thank you for letting me spend this time with you and your precious little Hayden. I have enjoyed this time with you all so much. What a blessing this has been to me. Love, mom