Week 2 at Home

I have not been posting daily because the daily routine isn't very exciting. We feed Lucy approximately every 3 hours, change diapers as needed, and grab some shut eye.

On Monday morning we had an appointment with the nephrology team. The appointment was in the same clinic where I (Jennifer) work, so it took a little bit longer because everyone wanted to see our cute girl. Nephrology is very happy with Lucy's weight gain. She is now 8lb 3oz and 19 inches long. Her sodium supplement treatments will continue and we will use her labs as a guide. If the potassium level is okay, we will do weekly labs and monthly clinic visits. Unfortunately, on Monday, her potassium was back up to 6.0. We went to the lab this morning, and as I am typing this, the results are not back yet. In previous posts, I had mentioned the use of sucrose for pain relief in infants. Many people have asked me about this. This explanation is a bit medical, but the general idea is that sucrose (sugar) acts as a pain medication in infants.

Monday afternoon, the moving people from the furniture store came back out to fix the crib drawer. If you look closely at the nursery pictures, you may notice the drawer under the crib. The finish does not match the rest of the crib. That is because the drawer didn't fit properly under the crib so Kris and I turned it around until it could be fixed. Evidently the wheels were the wrong ones and they made the drawer too tall, preventing the drawer from fitting under the crib. Now that the wheels are fixed, the furniture in the nursery is complete.

Yesterday the nurse from Michigan Visiting Nurses came out to the apartment again. To help Lucy progress with her feedings, she suggested that we give Lucy the bottle every other feed and let Lucy breastfeed the other feeds. That evening, I gave Lucy a bottle with 80ml of milk. She drank the entire thing (but it did take her an hour to do it). She did just okay with breastfeeding later that night. Then this morning at 1AM, I got up to feed her. I gave her another bottle with 80ml and not only did she drink the entire thing, but she was still hungry! Lucy spent the next 2 hours nursing off and on and we didn't get back until 4AM. This must be that 6 week growth spurt. Today, Lucy has been doing good with the bottle. She isn't finishing the entire thing but that may be because of the sodium supplements. The milk must taste very, very salty.

I took Lucy to my knitting group last night. It was her first time there and everyone was excited to see her. We also got a wonderful surprise. The knitters made a blanket for Lucy. Everyone knit one strip and then the strips were assembled into a blanket. Lucy's name is on one end of the blanket and the initials of everyone who knit a strip are on the other end. To make it even better, the blanket was knit with my favorite yarn. It really is an incredible gift and I am extremely grateful. (The blanket is also cat approved.)

The cats (Umi is the grey one and Luna is the black one) have been doing very well with the new baby. They have approached her to sniff her, but they pretty much leave her alone. If Lucy is screaming, they simply get up and leave the room. They also appreciate all the new napping places - the play mat (see below), the baby bath, etc.