Adjusting . . .

Our first week home from the hospital has been eventful to say the least! Since we came home last Saturday, we've been to a medical office every single day until today. We've had 2 ER visits (one for me and one for Anne Louise), 3 appts with the pediatrician, 1 appt with my ob/gyn (and 1 phone consult after I refused to come in and convinced them to call in an antibiotic), and 1 appt with the lactation consultant. Now, before I summarize the reason for Anne Louise's ER visit, I should preface it with the fact that Patrick and I live an insane lifestyle - nothing is ever simple, and we seem to attract a lot of drama. Most of our family and friends are probably not surprised to hear about all our doctor visits this week. What, did yall think the chaos would come to an end once the baby was born? haha.

On Monday, Patrick came home from work and heard Anne Louise breathing loudly. He was convinced she was having a hard time breathing, and I just thought she had some stuff built up in her nose -- but neither of us was really sure. I had already tried the "sucker-outer bulb" thing several times in the day to no avail, so I told Patrick we should call the after hours nurse at the pediatrician's office. This call turned into a "discussion" with the nurse involving Patrick, me, a speaker phone, and several different descriptions of what was going on. Hearing the chaos coming from our end, she just suggested we go to the children's ER because you "don't mess around with breathing problems on a newborn." We packed her up and headed back to Presby . . . only 2 days after we had left! After a baby IV (that absolutely broke our hearts to watch her have to get), lots of blood tests (that had more to do with the jaundice than the breathing), a chest x-ray, and a tube being stuck down her nose to make sure her nasal passages were not blocked, we came away with the conclusion that she was "mildly congested." The doctor and nurses were so nice to not make us feel dumb for bringing her in and said it was a good sign of being concerned, loving first-time parents. Right --- concerned, loving, PARANOID first-time parents!! We are so glad everything turned out well, and we learned a few things about how to spot a REAL breathing problem and also got some reassuring results that her jaundice was getting better.

As for my trip to the ER, that was Friday night. Tuesday, I went into my doctor because I had some minor bleeding at the incision site that they wanted to check out. It was completely fine, but Wednesday morning I woke up with a fever of 101 and felt the worst I have felt in years (literally), so I called the doctor. They thought it was mastitis (an infection related to me nursing) and asked me to come back in, but since I still can't drive, I asked if they could just call in an antibiotic for me. They did. The fever didn't get better and by Friday night, I had a fever of 102.8 and then about 45 mins later, it was up to 103.7. So I called the doctor back, and they told me to go to the ER. The ER doctor did some tests, concluded it was double mastitis, and gave me 2 different antibiotics through an IV. At one point, he told me I may have to be admitted depending on how serious the infection was, but my white blood count was good enough that I got to come home . . . at 3 o'clock in the morning. But I was SOOO happy to be home. I could not imagine having to be in the hospital without Anne Louise!! Anyway, I'm on a new antibiotic and feeling MUCH better tonight - praise the Lord!!

The other doctors' appointments were pretty routine. They were mostly weight checks and jaundice checks, and Anne Louise is much improving! That is a great thing, since I've been having to wake her up to eat every three hours. She's about 3 ounces away from her birth weight, and she should be back to that in the next day or two.

The rest of the week has been an adjustment period for all of us. Patrick has been unbelievably busy at work (which is a good thing), but that has made it more difficult for him to be helpful during the day -- he has, however, made it to every doctor's appointment even though he's so busy at work. Having to feed Anne Louise every three hours (sometimes less if she is awake and acting hungry) does not really allow a lot of time for sleep for either of us. By the time she's done nursing and we change her diaper, at least an hour has passed (we usually have to spend a lot of time waking her up to nurse and, since she's a Wilson/Magee, she LOVES her sleep, so that's been difficult). So that allows 2 hours before we start the process all over again. Patrick has been very helpful during the nighttime feedings, and we've gotten the whole thing down to a routine, so the sleep thing is getting progressively better. Wednesday, Caroline came to help me all day (which turned out to be perfect since that's the day my fever started), and my friend Beth brought all kinds of food and tips to help with the adjustment time. We've been so blessed by other friends that have brought luscious meals (thanks to the McClaves, the Georges, the folks at Cottingham Chalk, the Bobbitts, and our neighbors the Harpers), so getting a great dinner in has not been an issue. We also had a wonderful visit with Chris and Calvin (family from the Wilson side) who brought a yummy chocolate cheese cake! Joan and Caroline were both here last night and watched Anne Louise while we were at the ER, and then came back today to help out, too. My mom is hoping to get over here as soon as possible, but she's been sick and we are praying she gets better quickly!

As we sit here now, Patrick is asleep, and we (meaning Joan, Caroline, Anne Louise and me) are relaxing watching the Carolina game. Its been a relaxing evening and very nice to catch our breath!