Oregon Vaughns

Grandpa Bob took this!

I am trying to upload a new picture of Lily that “Uncle Grandpa” took.  “Who is ‘Uncle Grandpa’?” you might ask…  Well, my dad, Grandpa Bob is used to being called Uncle Bob by everyone in town.  He has not adjusted to Grandpa, so he refers to himself as “Uncle Grandpa”…  This nickname could confuse many!

Anyway, the picture will not load.  I will try again later.

I am typing one-handed (left-handed at that) while feeding the baby.  I am getting quite good!

Lily is doing fairly well nursing and is also taking a soy-based formula to help with the diarrhea and to gain weight.  The formula smells like turkey gravy!

We have taken the mattress out of the guest bedroom and put it on our bedroom floor.  Lily and I sleep together on the floor mattress and Andy sleeps in the bed.  Lily is becoming attached.  She does not like to sleep unless I am touching her in some way – even if it just means that I must hold her hand.  I know I think this is cute now, but many mothers have warned me that this attachment can be dangerous when I eventually want to try to put her in her own room!  Oh well, Andy and I will just need to invest in a king-size bed.

One week until election day!  Our ballots are sent in and we are anxiously awaiting… Hopefully next Tuesday will be a happy night!

Lily is 3 weeks old tomorrow.

I am all caught up on my TV shows – even the trashy ones that I would never admit to watching.  I get plenty of time at night and during feedings to watch new shows as well as reruns of old classics (from my generation, that is).

Another random post complete – time to give more attention to the baby.

Lily is 2 weeks old!  She went in for her 2 week check-up today and had to do a second PKU test (apparently required by state law).  They had to prick her little foot twice to get enough blood – no fun.

Her weight was stable at 8 pounds, 7 ounces.  At least she didn’t lose weight… however, she didn’t gain   We now have some special formula to feed her (mainly to help with the diarrhea she had yesterday).  After breastfeeding, I try to give her a bit of formula to help settle her stomach and to give her extra calories.

Lily just managed to poop on the floor and pee on the couch all within a 2 minute period.  Thank goodness we are at my parent’s house!!!   Nice work Lily.

Lily and I spent the day hanging out at my parent’s house.  Andy took the car to work (because I was way too tired to take him) and my dad drove me around and took care of us this morning and afternoon – and fed me lunch.  Then, my mom took care of us this evening and made dinner for Andy and me.  I have been feeling ill today.  I managed to take an hour nap with Lily today, which is good for me because I am not a napper!

Thanksgiving is coming quickly…  My parent’s are hosting our family Thanksgiving this year, as they normally do, however, the crowd is growing.  We are thinking there are going to be 40+ people at Thanksgiving this year!  Wow!  Lily will get to meet EVERYONE!

I know that pictures are overdue.  My goal is to post a bunch of new pictures tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

I tried to make an appointment for tomorrow (Monday) to take Lily into to get her bilirubin levels checked.  However, they were all booked Monday and said they could take her in today.  Andy and I took her into the doctor this afternoon.  They had to prick her foot twice because her blood just wouldn’t come out!  Poor girl was screaming up a storm.  They finally got enough blood – took forever.

And, tada!  Her bilirubin levels were down to 11.4 (the last time she was checked, on Thursday, she was at 17).  I am not sure what the numbers mean exactly, but I do know that a 72-hour old baby is in a low risk zone with an 11.4 level, therefore, an 11 day old baby must be at a very low risk at that level.  The best news of all is that she is off of the biliblanket (phototherapy).  No more bright lights and plug-ins!

Andy and I are so happy and feel much better.  My attitude has been kind of down, even though we have been home which is infinitely better than the hospital, I still felt bound by that blanket and her health.  Now that things are on an up-swing, my overall mood has drastically improved!

Also good news – she now weighs 8 pounds 7 ounces (up nearly 2 ounces from her last visit)!

GO LILY!

I left Lily with Andy today for the first time.  Andy is a great dad and I knew Lily would do great with him!  I went to tutor for an hour and a half, pick up lunch, and run a few errands.  At first I was really enjoying some alone time, but mainly just time to be out of the house and in some fresh air.  However, the last fifteen minutes of my outing left me with separation anxiety!  I missed my little girl so much and worried about her – not worried that Andy couldn’t give her the best care, because he does, but just worried as a new mom worries.  I definitely started to panic and needed to get home.  All was well when I returned.

Lily has had a few outings…  She will get tested again on Monday.  I am positive those results will be good and we can get rid of the contraption – I can tell that she is better!

On a downer note: my milk supply is low.  Since I didn’t feed her for the first 24-48 hours, I am lagging behind!  I am pumping and breatfeeding as much as I can to stimulate my milk production, but I don’t think it is helping much   Very frustrating!  Also, because of her jaundice, it has been of utmost importance that she EATS a lot.  This means that I cannot waste much of her energy breastfeeding and must supplement with formula and bottle feeding.  It is more important that she eats plenty to rid her jaundice than it is for her to get too tired trying to breastfeed.  Kind of in a catch-22 here.  One of my breasts actually has good production – I am a bit physically lopsided I guess you could say

10 days old!  She is the best baby.  She does not cry much – only when she is getting changed or if I wait too long to feed.  She sleeps in 2-3 hour shifts.  Beautiful baby!

I am able to sleep on my stomach again – yay!  My favorite thing to do during the day now is to shower.  Especially if I don’t get as much sleep – a warm shower can work wonders (even just a quick rinse).

Unfortunately, I haven’t had much of an appetite.  I drink plenty of water, which is good, but I cannot seem to eat very much during the day.  Eating also upsets my stomach.

As Andy said before: one day at a time.

Oh, and I am also becoming an expert at one-handed typing.

Andy went back to work today. It is just Lily and Mommy today! Well, and Grandpa Bob – we are hanging out at his house, doing some work and napping (you can guess who is doing what).

Lily had to go back to the doctors today. Her jaundice levels were up yesterday and they wanted to re-test today. Today’s test results were the same as yesterday – doctor says it is good news that they did not go up at least! Eat, eat, eat – that is what has been instructed for Lily. Eating will dilute the bilirubin and she will be able to flush it out. She is still on her phototherapy light blanket… What a pain! Oh well. The goal is to keep her going with phototherapy and feed, feed, feed. After breast feeding, I am supposed to bottle feed her as much as she will take (basically)! We will take her in for another test on Monday – unless we believe things worsen over the weekend.

She is down to 8 pounds 5 ounces and needs to gain some weight!

She is such a good baby – not very fussy, sleeps well, active arms and legs! She is fun to watch.

Grandpa Terry (Andy’s dad) was visiting from California for the last two days. He bought us a video camera! Thanks Grandpa Terry! We will now be able to post videos of Lily online… We might wait to post videos until she actually does something – watching a sleeping baby online can only be so exciting I imagine.

Andy and I have made a good team so far – 8 days of Mom and Dad. Mom watches the baby, Dad does the grunt work Not quite, but Andy is very helpful and willing to respond to all of the following:

• “Get the bottle.”
• “Wash the bottle.”
• “Can you please get me some water?”
• “What’s for lunch?”

Lily also loves her daddy very much.  When she does cry, it does not take Andy long to console her – sometimes he can get her to calm down when mommy can’t!

I cannot believe that Lily is already one week old!  Wow!

Last night we took Lily to dinner at my parents house (her first outing).  All 4 of her grandparents were there – how special for her.  Plenty of fussing over the baby.

As mentioned, Lily is normally a very good sleeper.  Last night was a different story.  She was up at 1:30am and ready to eat.  She ate until about 2:45 (off and on)…  And, then she was not tired and refused to sleep.  I tried to comfort her, Andy tried to comfort her… Nothing would work!  Around 4:45am, I laid down on the floor with her to snuggle her and nap with her.  This did the trick.  She was out in minutes.  I waited until she was in a deeper sleep and moved her back into her bed.  Andy and I were then able to sleep until 8:30 this morning.

Andy has to go back to work tomorrow.  He definitely needs to get his sleep to work 40 hours a week and stay healthy, so I am sure he will be sleeping in the guest room many nights.  We will miss him at night, but it is important for him to get rest!

I am laying in our bed with Lily right now waiting for the home health nurse to come.  She will take a blood sample from Lily to take back to the hospital so they can check Lily’s jaundice levels.  She is still on her little light therapy blanket…  We will hear the test results by later this afternoon.  Hopefully we can get rid of this pesky blanket!

Yay! We’re home finally! Baby Lily and Mom are upstairs sleeping right now on the bed. Her first outfit is a little pink onesey with flowers and a polka-dot cap, to keep her head warm.

Lily was absolutely wonderful on the drive home. She was half-awake, half-asleep the whole time, but just looked around and enjoyed the ride. Even going over the speed bumps didn’t cause problems. I sure feel like a lucky Daddy having such a calm baby on her first trip home.

Although she is only five days old, we already feel that coming home was a gigantic step in the right direction. As her pediatrician says, “…the first few months is [like] digging ditches.” Keep putting the shovel to the dirt, and after time, you will have accomplished the goal.

Here are some photos of Lily on her last day in the glow-worm bed.

Hey Daddy, what you doin’?

This is the face she makes when she’s not hungry any more

Sleepy Baby

Here are some pictures of my sweet angel baby:

And, I was starving this morning when I got up.  I ordered oatmeal (for Andy), cereal (for me), two fruit and yogurt plates and a side order of bacon!  Well, they brought two fruit and cottage cheese plates, which was fine.  Here is what our little tray looked like:

And, what was underneath that large covered platter???  My side order of bacon, of course!!!