Caleb’s Birth Story – Part 3

Caleb’s Birth Story – Part 1
Caleb’s Birth Story – Part 2

If you’ve ever stayed overnight in a hospital, you know that they don’t really let you sleep. It seemed like every time I would fall asleep a nurse would be stopping in to check either my vitals or the baby’s. I dozed off and on, tried to get Caleb to nurse several times, and got poked and prodded every couple hours until I finally decided I might as well just give up on sleeping. Not long after that, Hubby sent a text saying that he and the kids were headed back to the hospital.

Monday was a flurry of visitors, mixed with several tests and procedures for Caleb. Once Hubby and the kids got there, my mom left to take a break for a bit. I was happy to have my little family there all together. With only about six hours of sleep, the big kids were a little restless, but they were happy to be at the hospital with mommy and the new baby as well.

My dad stopped by for a visit just moments after they had taken Caleb out of the room for a procedure, so he got to sit around and wait for a bit. My brother came to visit not long after that. The photographer came around for photos and actually snapped a great shot of the three kids so I got suckered into buying them. Then my sister and her family, plus my other niece and nephew came to visit. It got a little crazy in my tiny room with all of the kids there, but they were all so excited to meet their new cousin!

Everyone cleared out just before dinner time, including Hubby and my kids. My mom had returned by then and since I had a few moments of quiet I decided I better use it to my advantage and take a shower. And oh, did that shower feel good! We had one more visitor that evening when my sister-in-law got off of work and then it was finally time to try to get some sleep. I was hoping to upload some photos, but I barely got my laptop out before the tiredness took over.

Caleb had finally started latching on and was showing more interest in nursing. I was getting a little concerned because my other two babies had latched right away, but the nurses assured me that it was fine and perfectly normal.

Again, the nurses woke me several times during the night. I think I would have paid for a few solid hours of sleep at that point. I was so sleepy I didn’t know what they were doing most of the time. I didn’t mind waking up to feed the baby, but I really don’t think it was necessary to take my temp and blood pressure quite so frequently.

Tuesday morning we were all set to go home after the doctors made their morning rounds. Hubby dropped the kids off at school/day care and came to the hospital. We were hoping to leave early, but the nurse came by and said that they needed to do some more tests on Caleb before he would be released. His bilirubin level was high and they needed to re-test him, then decide if he would need to stay at the hospital another day or do some light therapy at home.

We waited around for quite a while, then finally got the all clear just before noon. The pediatrician asked that we bring Caleb in to the office the next day for another bilirubin test and a weight check as his weight had dropped down quite a bit. We were instructed to put him in some indirect sunlight as much as possible. We agreed and soon after that we were headed home. I couldn’t wait to get home and finally get to sleep in my own bed without nurses waking me up!

On Wednesday, we took Caleb to the pediatrician. His bilirubin was still high and his weight had dropped even more. He was down to 8 lbs, 15 ounces, more than a pound below his birth weight. My milk was just really coming in good, so they decided to give it one more day and set up another appointment for Thursday.

Fortunately, at Thursday’s appointment Caleb’s color was looking much better and his weight was going back up so they decided to skip the bilirubin test. He was back up to 9 lbs, 7 oz, which the nurse practitioner said was the biggest gain they had seen in one day. They asked for him to come back in a week for a weight check, but other than that he didn’t need to be seen again until his one month check-up.

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And that is Caleb’s birth story. Life has been a bit crazier since his arrival, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am SO in love with this little boy.