cirque du bebe

This first week home with Princess was wonderful but trying. Thank God my mother-in-law was here to help out and thank God we have the most giving daycare provider ever!

Princess was sent home with elevated billirubin levels. The doctor seemed to think that with enough feeding and sunlight she would get over the jaundice without additional day under a billirubin blanket.

In addition, Monkey had developed the sniffles which a few days later turned into a full blown cold. Luckily, he had no fever so our daycare provider graciously kept letting him come — even keeping him late one night just to keep his germs away from Princess!

Well, it rained Monday – Thursday. Not much sunlight. So each day we took her back to the hospital to be tested (involving a pin prick to her foot to gather blood each time). Not fun. And each day the doctor would call back saying the levels had crept up a bit but to stay the course essentially.

When I got the call Thursday, I became a little mad when the nurse told me she couldn’t find a medical rental agency in our vicinity that had a blanket available. I told her I’d be willing to drive one state over if necessary, but apparently she was done calling around. Again, stay the course.

So I started to worry that maybe my supply wasn’t enough and perhaps I should express milk that night just so we’d know exactly how much she was getting. I was having flashbacks to when Monkey had jaundice and ended up giving him a bottle on day two because I couldn’t get a hold on the breastfeeding thing.

Next morning, it was sunny so I put her in our bedroom window which catches the most sunlight at that time of day. Then after an hour or so of sunlight went back yet again to the hospital.

As we were leaving the hospital, I started to shiver uncontrollably. I was freezing. When we got home I felt really ill and changed into some sweatpants and put my robe on but was still shivering. My MIL said my lips were bluish white and told me to lay down. She covered me with two blankets and that helped. I fell asleep for about an hour but when I got up, nothing had changed.

That’s when I decided to take my temperature. 104.1! I took some ibuprofen and waited a half hour–104.3! It was then that I decided to to the ER. My MIL drove me there but just as we were getting in the car, my daycare provider called and said Monkey’s cough was getting worse and that he was miserable. I explained what was going on and she agreed to keep him anyway.

So why did I have a fever? Mastitis! On week one! They gave me IV fluids and antibiotics — within two hours the fever was down enough that I could go home.

Tough week but with help of those around us, the cirque family made it through. Ever thankful for my family and friends!