Well, we made it through our first weekend at home! With every day we get more and more settled in and into a 'routine.' Not so much of a eat and sleep routine (that's always changing) - more of a how to prepare before each feeding. So far the routine includes, first, changing Ella and not messing each diaper cover. Yes, we're using cloth diapers - and very thankful seeing how many diapers we've already gone through and the fact that Ella likes to wait for a clean diaper before she goes poop! (PS- The laundry isn't as bad as everyone assumes. And knowing that there we are saving our landfills from thousands of disposable diapers along with saving us from buying packages and packages of diapers sure makes it worth the little extra effort cloth diapers require!!)
Next, we come downstairs and get Ella's medicine ready. She takes one med every 8 hours to help get rid of the bilirubin (she is still quite jaundice), another med every 12 hours to help with acid reflux, and a vitamin supplement with iron once a day since she left the hospital slightly anemic (which is not a surprise with all the blood that was drawn from her). Of course, she is unable to take it by itself so that means breast milk needs to be defrosted (our freezer is stocked with about 40 4-ounce containers that I pumped while Ella was in the hospital), a calorie fortifier added, poured into a great bottle called ReliaDose to help administer the meds, and then warmed up. Finally, we sit down to eat, give the meds, and then rock to sleep.
This routine is done every 3 to 4 hours because we are in Operation: Beef Ella Up!! Since Saturday Ella has gained 1.5 ounces which doesn't sound like much but for Ella it's pretty good! We'll have another 'weigh-in' later this week.
Since we've been home we've gone for two walks, taken many naps, visited a neighbor's house, had a visiting nurse come see and weigh Ella, and had two doctor's appointments with one more Wednesday and one Thursday. It was so great to spend the weekend at home!
Little by little Todd and I are becoming accustomed to being a family of three. Todd is learning that Ella's eating schedule is now our schedule - which is different day to day and hour to hour. He cracks me up when he says, "Why do you have to feed her now, we're just about to (eat, go for a walk, etc.)." Like Ella and I get to choose when she is hungry - ha ha ha!!!
I think that's it for now, but keep checking back for more updates!!!
4 comments:
So glad to hear that everything is going as "Normal"!! Although normal is sooo not normal! ha ha
Our prayers will continue!
Go Ella!
You make our feeding routine with twins look easy! Thankfully DJ can help me though. Every three hours we can't believe it's time to start everything over again because we somehow managed to do nothing during our "free time." Sounds like you three are doing great, though. Zachary and Maya are sending their best weight gain vibes, so Ella should be nice and round in no time.
I knew that first night would be scary, but I knew you'd get through it. Looks (from the photo) that she likes her baths. Paige likes "bathies" so much she crawled in with Michelle with all her clothes on! Love, Donna
I think Ella is putting herself through all this just so that she'll have some "blues" material when she gets older. She can't complain about her parents, the neighborhood, the school system, so she had to come up with something. Here's lookin' at you kid!
-Aunt Ali
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