They call me mellow yellow

The first night home from the hospital with a new baby has got to be the most terrifying experience in parenthood....at least for the first one. I distinctly remember thinking I can't believe that they're going to let us take this baby home from the hospital when we have no idea what we're doing when we took our oldest, Nolan, home. That night I remember crying as much as Nolan did because we were literally up all night. Justin's parents were staying with us to help out but I was too proud scared to ask for help the first night home. So we waited til dawn (because technically it's not the first night anymore?!) and then brought Nolan to them in exchange for a few hours of sleep.

For some reason, the first night with Campbell wasn't as memorable but the first week with Campbell was VERY memorable. He had a terrible time the first week latching on during nursing and it was beyond frustrating and exhausting.

I've been cursed lucky enough with all three of my children to endure them having jaundice. While this isn't anything that we couldn't handle, it was enough to make the first week of their lives even harder than normal because they were hooked up to a "tanning bed" that only allowed us to take them within a 5 foot radius. It's my fault really. Apparently, something about my body doesn't produce milk until five days…happened with all three babies.

The Friday after we had Landry we headed to the pediatrician and when you have drawers full of cute clothes that this girl has been given, you get dressed up for the doctor like it's going to church.

 
I had a feeling she was jaundice even when we were in the hospital but they said her bilirubin levels were fine. By Friday though, she was really yellow to me. They scanned her in the office and poked her heel. She was exactly the level where the "tanning bed" is considered. So my dr. left it up to me. I asked her if that made me a horrible mom if we just tried the old fashioned way of putting her in the window and took her for walks. The vitamin D from the sun helps break down the bilirubin. Landry had lost nearly a pound in five days so until my milk came in, we had to supplement with formula to make sure she didn't lose any more weight.

 

So Little Miss Sunshine got her fill of the sun for a few days and luckily my milk came in the very day we took her to the doctor so we only had to supplement for one day.

Good thing she wasn't on lights because we had our first big wave of visitors that included my grandmother and Landry's great-grandmother…better known as Great Grams, all the way from Amarillo.

 

 

 Four generations 

  All of Landry's living mothers and grandmothers (minus Rosie who lives in Kentucky)

After all the visitors left, we had some more time "laying out". Thank goodness the triple digit heat has subsided. Funny how that worked out…never got that break when I was walking around 9 months pregnant. The day I go into labor with Landry? It's 85 degrees and breezy. I just knew that a cold front was coming as soon as I gave birth!

The Catch 22 about jaundice is that it makes babies EXTREMELY lethargic and sleepy but the only way to get them to get over the jaundice is to eat and pee and poop it out but they're too sleepy to even eat. Landry was so sleepy that we were using cold wash rags to wake her up and even that barely made her flinch. One time it even took an ice cube to wake her up!

I felt like such a mean mom using an ice cube but the doctor really stressed how important it was to get her to nurse and eat.

When we took her back to the doctor on Monday, her levels had dropped two points! I was so thrilled and so happy that we were able to do it without being on the lights.

In the meantime, we had lots of sunshine time outside.

 

 And lots and lots of love.