Week of Fletch: Day 2
Coming home from the hospital
Fletch was born on a Wednesday and that Friday we were aloud to go home but were given the option to stay one more night. When I think back I firmly believe that we should of stayed that extra night. His bilirubin was a 9.0 which is right on the border of being high and I was having major nursing issues. And suborn me was refusing to bottle feed at this time... but off we went, home as a family of 3.
Friday night my wonderful sister Debbie brought my family dinner and we were settled in and everything seemed to be going well. Saturday we had visitors in and out all day and Saturday night my brother & sister Andy & Cassie brought us dinner and Cassie was helping me with nursing.
Daddy & Yellow Fletch
Around this time Fletcher just started screaming uncontrollably and wouldn't stop. I finally took his temperature, and it was 101.4. I immediately called the pediatrician that we had picked to use but because she had not seen Fletcher yet she referred us to the nurses line of our insurance who told us to take him to the ER. So we packed up and my mom drove us to the ER. Once we were there they took us right in and his temperature had dropped but they still did xrays, blood work, and had to do a spinal tap. Being a new mom, who just had major surgry, I was a mess to say. I just wanted to know what was wrong with my baby. We found out 2 things at our local hospital. His bilirubin had jumped from a 9.0 to an 18.3 and his blood sugar was registering all crazy and the lowest point it hit was 8. Thankfully we are only 45 minutes away from the best Children's, CHOA. So they called an ambulance to transport me and Fletch and off we went. By this time it was 4am, I was exhausted, and my feet were huge. I cried the whole way there. Once we got there we sat in the ER for 3 hours while they figured out where they were going to put us. They finally decided to put is in the TICU. The nurses were so friendly. They made us eat and rest and they took care of our little guy.
They put Fletch under the bilirubin lights and was only aloud to come out when he was fed. I was nursing and pumping and Randell was feeding him what was pumped in the bottle. So that way we could both hold him, because that's the only time we could. They also gave him an iv of sugar water to keep his sugar going. Finally after lots of tears, and struggles, we decided to supplement with Formula. I DID NOT want to do this. I felt like a failure because I couldn't make enough milk to feed my baby. We were at CHOA for 3 days while they made sure his cultures came back from his spinal tap and everything was ok. After 48 hours we were aloud to let Fletch come out from under the lights and we got to love on him and hold him whenever we wanted.
We finally get to go home on 06/15/11, and we went home as a cofeeding family. I would still nurse but we topped Fletcher's belly off with Formula and we continued to do this until Fletcher was 4 months old and he went to strait formula due to the fact that I had to have surgery. I learned that formula was not evil and I was thankful it kept my baby's belly full. I know that Fletcher's medical issues are so small on comparison to most but I am so thankful for the staff at CHOA for taking care of my baby guy and I am thankful that he is healthy and happy today. To God be the Glory!
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