Why we stayed...

I really wanted to go home after 24 hours at the hospital when Owen was born.  Not only do I not sleep well in the hospital bed (does anyone??) but I had three other kids at home and my mom had to leave on the 13th and I was really hoping that we would be home to see her off.  As it was we were "allowed" to leave by noon on the 13th so I did get to see my mom for an hour before she had to go home.

For the record they "had" us stay because Owen had some risk factors that put him in danger of having severe jaundice.  This is mostly my fault.  You see my blood type is O negative. Brady is A positive.  Because of this I have to get Rhogam shots to prevent my body from developing antibodies to Brady's positive blood type that could cause me to miscarry future pregnancies.  I have one shot during pregnancy and then I receive one after birth if the child is born with positive blood.  So I have had 8 of these shots total now.  :o)    All this I knew about.  What I didn't know was that my O blood could also develop antibodies to Brady's A type (regardless of our positive or negative status).  That is what had happened and Owen (poor kids) has A positive blood and some how MY antibodies against A blood had made their way over to Owen.  Nice.  This puts him at a higher risk for jaundice that can become extreme rather quickly.  Sigh.

So they wanted us to stay for at least 48 hours to keep an eye on him and do bili level checks off and on.

At this point I need to say that ALL of my kids have been jaundiced.  Rory was by far the worst and had to be checked at least 6 or 7 times (that lovely heel poke...7 freaking times...so fun).   All three girls turned yellow/orange before leaving the hospital.  None of the girls needed to have light treatments or hospital stays because of being jaundiced.  In an effort to help prevent Owen from having jaundice I did quite a bit of research and had asked the doctors if we could leave him attached to the umbilical cord until it stopped pulsing.  They told me as long he was fine and I was fine that they could do that for us, no problem.  I asked for this because I wanted Owen to start life on the outside with all his stuff from the placenta.  It has been known to help with infant anemia (they start with all their own blood volume and the iron stores from the cord and placenta) and despite there being no link with helping with jaundice I figured it couldn't hurt.  My Doctors were all for it and because everything went well with his rather fast delivery he got to cuddle with me and they waited until his extremely long cord stopped pulsing to have Brady do the cutting.

After the news of Owen having my antibodies to his own blood type we waited for him to turn yellow.  Figured there was no way to avoid it at that point.  I was annoyed that I had to stay in the hospital for another day, that I was probably going to miss my mom going home, and all because Owen might get bad jaundice.  But I am all for using caution.

So imagine my surprise when Owen didn't turn yellow.  At 24 hours after birth he was a lovely rosy color and his bili levels were on the very low (and normal) side.  Still couldn't go home. Just to be safe you know.  Of course the next day was Friday the 13th and by 4am the maternity ward was PACKED.  My nurse came and woke me up and explained that they might need to move me to a different floor because they were going to need my room.  Nice.  Can't I just go home instead??  I pushed hard (and with help from my awesome nurses who recognized that I was more than capable of recognizing if there was a problem and bringing Owen back if I thought he had jaundice) they decided I could leave by noon.  Yay!

Owen didn't start turning yellow until his third day of life.  It didn't reach the whites of his eyes until his fifth day of life. He got his heel poked at his first appointment and had "elevated" levels which went down two days later.  And that was the extent of his experience with jaundice.

Because I am who I am (read easily amused), I find it all very amusing now.

Owen is doing very well.  He is a little gassy here and there, most annoyingly late at night.  He eats like a champ and prefers to sleep in my arms, but will sleep in his swing too.  It's looking like he will be a blond in the way Cadence was.  I have some newborn photos I need to get up on the blog so you can all ogle his cuteness. His sisters love him so much!  Beckah loves him a little too aggressively at times.  She loves when I will lay on the floor with him so she can lay there and "ooooo!" at him for a while.  Been working on her ability to be soft and gentle.  So far she (and I) are doing well and she hasn't injured him or made him cry.  Cadence is super helpful and is always willing to cuddle him for me when I need my hands and Rory is becoming a pro at holding him and is learning from her big sister how to be helpful.

I am loving on him as much as I can.  Our home, while very crazy at the moment, feels full and complete. It is a feeling I can't really describe and, while I will be very happy never to be pregnant again, there is a little corner of my heart that is sad to know he will be my last baby.  So I am trying to drink in every moment I can.  He reminds me so much of the girls when they were small, and at the same time he is very much a little boy.  I can tell he is growing and changing already, as he should, but he still looks crazy small to me when Brady holds him or Beckah lays down next to him.  The time is already passing to quickly.

My girls are doing wonderful.  Cadence is so grown up!  She reads so very well now and enjoys books.  She is slowly figuring out writing and is constantly drawing books and writing stories for us.  I love nothing better than a little note from her on the fridge or my bedroom door. She is sweet, helpful, and kind.  I see a lot of myself in her and I have to try and remember not to put to much responsibility on her shoulders.  It is harder than it sounds because she is insanely capable and willing to help.  Brady made the observation that she is going to make a ton of money babysitting one day.  Kids just flock to her and she has a calming effect on most of them that is very nice in our home.

Rory is coming into her own.  Potty training seems to finally be mastered much to my relief.  Rory is my little firecracker.  She loves to play and hates to pick up when she is done. She loves to cuddle and is my very emotional girl.  She often forgets that she can ask for help and instead will burst into tears.  We have been working on asking for what we need before we throw a fit.  I can always count on Rory to tell my a silly joke and to laugh at just about anything.  She is also very willing to help when I need her too and loves help me with "big girl" chores.  She is very much my girlie girl and is currently in love with She-Ra.

Beckah is every bit 16 months old.  She is into everything, never stops moving, and has no internal caution meter.  She is also running now.  I know.  It's totally awesome.  Want to know if you successfully baby proofed?  Invite us over!  Beckah will find anything you wouldn't want a baby to have in about 5 minutes flat.    Lost something?  Invite us over!  Beckah will find anything that was deemed lost forever in about 10 minutes.  You think I am joking...but I'm not.  She will climb anything, put anything in her mouth, can run faster than most people twice her height and has a never ending supply of energy.  I don't remember Cadence and Rory being this bad...oh yeah...that's because they weren't this bad.  She is growing up to fast too.  Her vocabulary is exploding right now.  She repeats everything and surprises me with new words, sentences, and games all the time.  If Cadence and Rory can do it, she figures she can too (and 90% of the time she can do it).  When I went to the hospital to have Owen I left behind a little baby girl that seemed so small to me still. I came home to a giant toddler who could now scream no at everyone.

Brady and I are coping better than I thought.  Things are settling into a good little pattern.  My house is loud, crazy, stressful and happy.  Most days are good and every now and then we have a bad one.  I am grateful for good friends who remind me how capable I am and help me out when I need it.  I am healing well and I am getting good sleep most nights as well.  Mostly I think Brady and I have accepted that it is going to be crazy for a while.  It makes it easier to appreciate the non crazy days if you expect insanity from the start.  :o)

We hope that you are doing well and enjoying your summer.  We are looking forward to a visit from Grandma Suzi next week and then summer break will be over and Cadence will start first grade!  I can't believe how quickly this year has gone already!