Getting adjusted to life at home...

Lauren here. I have to say I'm rather impressed at how Kevin kept up the blog in my stead the past week. He captured some great moments that all seem a bit of a whirlwind for me now. Its hard to believe that only six days ago we had yet to see Natalie's cute little face...

It's been three days since we came home now and each has been a bit of an adventure. Natalie has seen a home nurse each day. She was diagnosed with jaundice at the hospital and they wanted to keep a close eye on it. We got a bili-blanket (designed to decrease her bilirubin levels) on Thursday and had to keep her on that 24/7 until our pediatrician appointment on Friday. We were REALLY hoping that they were going to let us go off of it on Friday because it was a hassle to hold her and feed her with the blanket attached. She looked a bit like a glow worm when she was all swaddled with the bili-blanket around her. Praise the Lord, though, she's now off the blanket and her jaundice seems to be disappearing. Here's a picture of us on Thursday afternoon (before we got the blanket) doing a little sunbathing (that's also helpful for kicking jaundice to the curb).



One of the effects of jaundice is being a little sleepy. And sleep is one of Natalie's FAVORITE things to do right now. The past two nights I've had to wake her up every four hours to eat and then had to syringe feed her (with an orthodontic syringe) because there was NO WAY she was going to wake up enough to nurse. It's gotten kind of comical as Kevin and I get all excited when she actually opens her eyes. Its a bit of an event for her to be awake - since it's so rare. I imagine we'll have a whole different baby on our hands once the sleepiness goes away. But for now... we rest. =)


One of Natalie's other favorite things is barfing. Well, I guess when they're infants it's called spitting up. But, she's rather talented at it and has sent many an item to the wash in her three short days at home. We gave her a sponge bath yesterday to wash off some of the crusties. Here are some memorable pics from that.




Stay tuned! I have a feeling this is only the beginning!!