Beginnings at Home and Halle Kate's First Bath

Before we left the hospital on Thursday afternoon we knew I would have to go back to the hospital on Friday  to get her bilirubin levels checked again for jaundice.  Luckily my mother-in-law was here to stay with the boys and Abby was nice enough to go with me to do this unfortunate task.  For those who don't know, they have to prick the baby's heel and fill up this tiny vial with blood to do this.  It is horrible to watch and this particular time took forever because they didn't have a heel warmer so they had to squeeze her foot for much longer.  They said we should know something that day, but when I didn't hear from them I figured no news was good news and settle in about our weekend.  I was thankful to have Mark's parents here one day and my cousin as well to help with the boys because emotionally and physically I was exhausted/recuperating.  

My mom came over on Sunday and the boys stayed home from church with us.  It was kind of a hard transition to come home to them still being here, even if I had help and I ended up crying to Mom about it that day (I'm telling you, hormones) saying "I just don't want Monday to come yet."  I felt like I hadn't had enough time just with her yet to get my bearings before having to be thrown into real life again.  Thank the Lord for moms, I hope I am as good of one to Halle as my mom is to me, because she called my grandmother and asked if she would keep the boys one more day so I could have some time alone with no one at the house.  So Monday morning my Ballou and Papaw came over and picked up the boys around 9:30 and I settled in for what I thought would be a relaxing morning with my girl.

I get a call around 10:15 from the lactation consultant at the hospital to see if I would be able to keep the appointment they set up for me at the hospital.  I went back when I had Reid, but I didn't with Owen, and I thought she seemed to be eating really well so I politely declined.  She asked about her bilirubin levels and was surprised when I said I had heard nothing.  Luckily she is incredibly helpful because she went and dug some and found they had put the wrong account number on her results and so they had been sent to no one, not me or the pediatrician.  Needless to say I was NOT  a very happy mama because her levels were still slightly elevated and I had had no idea!  I mean this is her health we were talking about, what if she had needed to be under lights all weekend and hadn't been?!  The lactation consultant called my doctor who said I HAD to go get her bilirubin checked AGAIN that day! So I load up my 6 day old baby and take her to a lab for the whole diagnostic clinic in longview where every sick old person and child is in there waiting, and there is no well-baby waiting area.  We wait 45 long minutes until they finally call her back to get her heel pricked AGAIN and have the results rushed stat to the doctor.  Come to find out the level went up a point so the pediatrician called and said that I HAD to go to the lactation appointment to check her weight.  By now I am not happy about any of it because I have to figure out how I am going to do this, take care of 3 children, and get somewhere else all on the day I was supposed to be hanging out with my girl taking it easy.  I get back just in time for the boys to be dropped back off for their nap and tell my grandparents thank you so very much for keeping them that morning.

Tuesday was a rough day, Reid was having a hard time adjusting and was needing a lot of corrections and redirection.  Trying to figure out how to keep the boys entertained, Halle fed, and everything else was just a lot.  Mark came home in enough time for me to scurry out the door to the mandatory lactation appointment where we had to sign in and they realized there that hey, she can have her pku done (another heal prick test!).  By that point I am emotionally done.  I am nervous about this appointment, that she hasn't gained enough weight, won't eat in front of this lady, and now I have to go have her heel pricked at the very place that had lost her other stuff, it just overwhelmed my overly hormonal self.  So when I walk into that poor lady's office she looks at me and said "You look like something is wrong, are you doing ok?"  Well that just started the water works and bless her if she didn't listen to my blubbering.  She reassured me I could do the pku later and had sympathy on the fact I was back at home alone with a 4 year old and a 2 year old and a premie just a week postpartum.    I was grateful for the conversation and ecstatic because Halle weighed 6lbs 4.5oz and ate 2 ounces while we were there, which was amazing considering how early she was.  She got an A+ and they weren't concerned about the jaundice anymore!  All in all a good appointment that was apparently needed and I didn't know it.

Here are a few pictures from the Sunday after I brought Halle home when we gave her her first bath.  I had two small helpers adding in their two cents and "helping" along the way.  All of the photos uploaded out of order but I am needed to feed a baby so that is just the way it is going to have to stay.

She isn't even that loud lol!