Hi Everyone,
Lila is now 5 weeks old and I wanted to update you on what's been happening in her life.
Lila had some jaundice issues in the initial days home which required us to get her tested pretty much every day for close to a week. Her bilirubin levels kept creeping up and we were worried she might have to be admitted to the hospital to undergo light therapy. Thankfully, though, they peaked and came back down before that happened! When she was discharged from the hospital on October 1st her level was 7.4, on October 2nd it was 11.7, on the 3rd it was 14.3, on the 4th it was 16.7, and on the 6th it was 13.6. We got the levels down by nursing frequently, using the Supplemental Nurser System (SNS) I used with Mario to ensure she was getting a lot of milk which helped her move her bowels and start getting rid of the bilirubin, and sitting in front of the window with her stripped down to her diaper to get her lots of sunlight exposure. All of it finally worked in our favor, without the need for formula or light therapy!
She also had some slow weight gain in the beginning that our pediatrician was monitoring, but that has evened out now and we aren't concerned about her progress at all. As you remember, she was 7 lbs 10.4 oz when she was born. She bottomed out at 7 lbs 0 oz when she was 4 days old (on October 4th). She slowly gained it back through lots of frequent nursing, though it took until she was nearly 3 weeks old to get back to birth weight (she was 7 lbs 12 oz on Oct 20th - 20 days old).
Yesterday was her 1 month check up and she weighed in at 8 lbs 6 oz, measured 21 inches long and had a head circumference of 14.5 inches. She is right on track developmentally and the pediatrician said she is "just perfect". She also got her second Hepatitis B vaccination (she received the first of three doses on the hospital). Our next appointment is in December for her 2 month visit.
Since she's been home, Lila has enjoyed having lots of visitors. The people who've come to visit include: our nanny Aimee, her Great Aunt Jean and Great Uncle Fred, her Grandma and Grandmpa Ferreri, her Grandpa Crowgey, her Aunt Brynn, her Uncle Nick, my home nurse Cheryl who took care of us while I was pregnant, and her Great Uncle Todd. My friend and co-worker, Karen, visited with us while we were still in the hospital.
We have all been enjoying our time as a family of four and have been adjusting nicely. Mario is an awesome big brother and loves to hug, kiss and hold his baby sister. We all went trick or treating as a family and you can check out the pictures in the Halloween album linked to this blog. And, while you're looking at pictures, look back through the ones of Mario as a baby. Lila's resemblance to his baby pictures is uncanny!
More updates to come. . . .
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)