Well, we are not going home today. Gemma's bilirubin is up so she gets to stay another day while laying on a bili-bed. We are asking for prayers for her to get better soon and go home. She is nursing like a little champ but some of the doctors and nurses are getting quite eager to interfere with her breastfeeding. We are just ready to take our little monkey home.
We are also struggling to keep Monkey Mama's bloodpressure under control - it is trying to climb back up again. We are hoping that the doctors will get the medication right and get it back down to stay.
8 comments:
Many congrats on Little Gemma. Welcome to the world Gemma! Prayers for everyone's health and quick recovery. God's Blessings to you all. Sue
Pete,
Lots of prayers for Kelly and Gemma. Hope things get better soon. Thanks again for the continued updates. I share this with my dh and he's praying too.
Patience
Oh, I was hoping you were going home today. I'm sure you were too! She's just precious Kelly, she looks so much like Samantha to me. :) If she's nursing well, that bili should start falling. Prayers still coming for you all.
This is just my experience, I haven't done any googling on it recently... Both my boys had skyrocketing bili levels, and spent their first *week* under the lights (I was lucky and able to do a suitcase light at home). I had similar struggles with breastfeeding. If Kelly can manage it, what worked for me was doubling up on the feedings - every 1-1 1/2 hours rather than every 2-3. The bili lights can dehydrate babies a little and the more milk she can get into her, the faster Gemma will pee and poop out the excess bili. (Oh, and I know Kelly is recovering from her section, so extra breastfeeding during the day might be tough, but maybe she could get *lots* of feedings in during the day to get her milk supply jump started, then have MonkeyDaddy *cup feed* an ounce of formula while she gets a little uninterrupted sleep, if the doctors *really* think formula is necessary...) My doctor said as long as the boys stayed under 20 he wasn't worried about brain damage - #2 hit 19.8. Also, the regular pediatricians were sure that my boys would be fine after the 3-day peak, then after the fact realized that my boys had been a bit early and that preemies' bili levels peak about day 5.
Sorry for the book ;->.
Hang in there, Kelly! I hope your BP settles down to less dangerous levels very soon.
Continuing to pray here. Gemma is beautiful!
Congratulations and I'm praying for all!
--Sparki in Nebraska
Mari looked like an orange pumpkin for three weeks. I probably should have brought her in but it steadily got better on it's own. She struggled to nurse (but was eating just fine, we just needed to find our way without being mauled by nurses) and the nurses couldn't WAIT to get at her with a formula bottle. They snuck one to her when I was getting some rest and played it off like they didn't see the sign that said "nursing only". Whatever.
Gemma is as cute as can be, orangesicle that she is!
Kelly, she is absolutely beautiful! Congratulations!
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