DnA Family

That first night, it wasn’t Dillon that I stared at. It was my wife, Annette. She looked quite radiant to me holding our little boy. We didn’t have any other pics that I thought showed the IVs too well, so here’s one of her holding Dillon that Friday night. We were very excited, hungry, and tired.

Brian ended up bringing us dinner from McDonalds. I may have had breakfast and lunch, but I had eaten light and was so focused on Annette that I didn’t realize just how hungry I was until it was over. As for Annette, she had been having trouble keeping down even water much of the day. And since Sarah had hung out with us during those last couple, exciting hours, she was rightfully hungry too.

Later that evening, Annette almost fainted. We would end up staying in the hospital until Sunday for them to observe her. Once the magnesium sulfate dripped was removed, not only did Annette rejoice, her heart rate went down gradually after that point. As for her blood pressure, well that had gone down as soon as labor was over. She had lost quite a bit of blood during birth, so they had rightfully been a bit concerned.

We were getting tired of the hospital scenery, but Dillon was diagnosed with jaundice and low blood sugar when they examined him Sunday. They did some blood work and required that he stay until Tuesday morning. When they started to talk about sending him to a children’s hospital in St. Paul, Annette’s anxiety went up once again. Fortunately, the initial blood work came back fine.

Annette ended up staying there to feed him, although she had been discharged. I supported this because I wanted to her to have Dillon take to breast feeding like she wanted. It meant frequent feedings, but once her milk started to come in things also began to go more smoothly with the feedings and his blood sugar. I slept the nights there as well to be near her and support her as I felt I ought to.

We ended up taking the special jaundice blanket home with us to radiate him with special light during his sleep to help his skin. However, he chose to eat every hour that night. While this meant a sleep deprivation headache for Annette in the morning, his levels had come down quite substantially when they did another blood test Wednesday.

It is nice to be home with our little boy. I have an apartment to get unpacked, a car to fix, and yet I am at peace and feel great about it all since we have our little boy here. He does seem to like sleeping next to his mom and being held. Mom and dad make great beds it seems, his mom especially.