Hadley's coming home!

After she was born, Hadley's pediatrician decided it would be best for her to go the NICU to get checked out for a few issues she was having. She had a different (incompatible) blood type to mine so that put her at risk for jaundice so they put her on the blue light photo therapy for 2 or 3 days - more as a preventative measure than anything else. Her biliruben number was always pretty low, which is a good thing, but they said if they didn't have her under the light therapy, it was likely that she would become jaundiced in her first couple days of life.

Since she was a big baby, they checked her blood sugar because bigger or smaller than average babies tend to have trouble regulating their blood sugars right after they're born. Her blood sugar was low and my breastmilk wasn't enough to keep it up at first so they had to supplement with formula. After about 3 days, she was able to skip the formula supplements. When I've gone to visit her lately, I've been able to breastfeed her and as long as she's hungry, she does pretty well. I also have been pumping every 3 hours when I'm at home and I bring the frozen milk to the NICU when I go so that the nurses can give it to her when I can't be there.

The other issue she had at birth was a little bit of fluid in her lungs. The neonatologist thought it was a sign of infection so he put her on antibiotics and she had to eat through a little tube in her throat for a couple of days until her breathing slowed down. They had been worried that due to her quicker breathing, she might aspirate if she ate on her own.

Those first 2-3 days, our poor little girl was hooked up to all sorts of things and it was tough to see her like that. Thankfully, she recovered very quickly, and for the last couple of days, she's been completely fine. She was off the feeding tube, the breathing tube and IV a few days ago...we're just waiting on her to finish her 7 day round of antibiotics so we can take her home.

We're so excited to bring her home! She'll be released Saturday morning so we've only got one more day. Of course, we are a little nervous, too but I know we'll figure it out. I'm just so glad that's she's healthy.