The next day, Monday, July 20, 2015 we headed to the airport at 5:00 am to pick up my mom! I was waking up every 3 hours to pump and was SO excited to see my mom that it wasn't too hard for me to get up... Jason, on the other hand, was a walking Zombie.
We headed to the hospital around 9:00 am. Jason's parents met us there. That afternoon Jason got to hold Julia for the first time! The put in a feeding tube to hopefully allow her to fill her little tummy with food. I had been pumping, but wasn't producing a lot yet. But, what I did have they gave her. We had enough for her 4 daytime feedings. We tried to give her a bottle but she wouldn't take it. The nurse said her throat was probably sore from being intubated, so she got her feeds through the tube.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
At this point her bilirubin levels were a bit high at 12.5 so she spent the day under the blue lights. But we did get to take her out to breastfeed! It was such a wonderful experience. She was a very sleepy eater and kept falling asleep after only a few minutes, but with some help from the lactation consultants we were able to get a little bit of milk in her throughout the day.
I continued to pump regularly throughout the night and day and was able to leave enough milk there for all her feeds (night and day)!
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
This is one of my favorite pictures of her! She looks so chunky!!
Grandma got to hold her first grandbaby for the first time!
Julia had kicked out her PIC line and the nurses couldn't get an IV in so the doctor decided we'd just watch her blood sugar to make sure she was getting what she needed. Our nurse was awesome and got us a bili-blanket so that she could receive the treatment while we held her and fed her. It was a pretty good day. My mom spent the day there with us and got to hold Julia. I had the help of a FANTASTIC lactation consultant and she really helped me figure out what good breastfeeding was and how to keep her awake and feeding.
At this point she was essentially good to go. We just needed one more day in the NICU to make sure her bilirubin levels were under control.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Today was a day of snuggles. She only had the basic monitors on and we were able to hold her ALL DAY LONG! I really didn't like our nurse today; she paid no attention to Julia and spent most of the day on her phone making personal calls. She totally rubbed me the wrong way and made my Momma Bear instincts kick in full force. We'd had fantastic nurses all week. They made me feel comfortable leaving my Julia with them; I trusted them to provide her with the care she needed. This nurse made me uncomfortable. By the time shift change came at 6:45 I was a mess. I did NOT want to leave Julia for even that hour. We were all exhausted but I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep without meeting the night nurse. So, we went to dinner and came back at exactly 8:00 pm. When we walked up to Julia's little cubical the day nurse was sitting there on the computer. My heart dropped. I decided right then that I was staying the whole night; I could not leave my baby. But, then a sweet lady said hello and introduced herself to us as Julia's night nurse! Apparently day nurse was just a little slow packing up. I breathed a sigh of relief. I fed her one last time, grandma said goodbye, and we went home without her for the last time!
Leaving for dinner. I couldn't hold back the tears. My sweet husband.
Friday, July 24, 2015
TIME TO GO HOME! We took Grandma to the airport at 5:00 am, and headed to the hospital around 9:00 am. After feeding her and dressing her we got our discharge paperwork and talked to the nurse and doctor for the last time. Yay!
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