Harper Grace
Thursday July 5, 2012 11:33pm
8lb 12oz 20.1"
This tiny baby girl has been such a blessing to us. And she is such a good baby. She cries only when she is hungry, wet or tired. Her first night home from the hospital, she slept 4 hours straight. (which became a problem).
We were only in the hospital until Saturday at lunch time. When we got home we had a crew at our house. My mom and brother, Josh's mom and dad, and Harper Grace's God parents Andrew and Savannah. It was very helpful to have all of those people there with us. But they were also there because we would be moving that next week.
We had to be seen at the pediatricians office Monday morning to check Harper Grace's weight before making the move to Georgia. There wasn't great news. Harper Grace's weight had dropped from 8lb 12oz to 8lb even. The doctor was not happy. And baby girl was jaundice, which is normal but with her weight loss he was not happy. He had me nurse her and then weigh her again.. she only gained 1 oz. So we had to kill some time and come back to meet with the lactation consultant.
We decided to go to my work, with our four day old, to let people see her and let a select few people know that I would not be coming back because we were moving.
When we got back to the doctor to meet the lactation consultant we also got the results of her jaundice test. On a scale of 1 to 30 (30 being life threatening) Harper Grace was at 15. So pretty high. So she had me nurse Harper Grace and turns out not only had my milk not yet come in but we weren't latching deep enough. So it was back to the doctor on Tuesday. I was really sad that we had to go back to the doctor on Tuesday because that meant that Josh was moving to Georgia and I was going to have to stay in Virgnia until Harper Grace was healthy enough to travel. But obviously Harper Grace's health is the number one priority.
On Tuesday my mother in law took us to Harper Grace's appointment. They pricked her foot again to check her jaundice and then they weighed her. She was up to 8lb 2oz. Doesn't seem like much but when it comes to babys gaining weight, apparently that is good. So after nursing Harper Grace again with the lactation consultant, they weighed her again. She gained an additional 2oz. Good news for me! But still no traveling to Georgia. They wanted to see her again Thursday. So we headed back home.
Another thing that the lactation consultant told me that I did not know. Until a baby is 2 weeks old they do not make the 'rules'. One of the reasons that Harper Grace had jaundice so bad was because I was letting her sleep. Everyone has always said "never wake a sleeping baby". well, that's not the case with a new born. They need to eat every 1.5 to 2 hours. I was letting her sleep as long as she wanted. Sometimes up to 4 hours. Not good. So with this knowledge I made a point to wake her up every two hours.
Wednesday we spent the day getting the house ready and packing some more things. It was so sad to me to have to pack up her nursery. I had worked on it for months, making sure it was perfect, painting custom pictures for her room. I cried a lot packing up her room.
Thursday we packed up the car in hopes that we would be cleared and sent on our way to Georgia. I missed my husband and I'm sure her missed Harper Grace and I. They didn't check Harper Grace's jaundice level again, (Thank goodness because her poor heals looked like war zones), but the moment of truth was when they weighed her. Her weight was 8lb 8oz. YAY!! That was fabulous news!! The lactation consultant had my nurse Harper Grace again so that she could make sure that there was a good latch and that H was nursing well. Once the appointment was done, she gave us a clean bill of health and sent us on our way. FINALLY we were headed South.
We decided that on the way to Georgia we would stop in Johnson City, TN to not only visit Josh's grandmother and introduce her to Harper Grace, but also break up the trip for me and the baby. The doctor told me that i needed to stop every 1.5 to 2 hours to walk around and get baby out of the car and move her around since we were at higher risk for blood clots.
Every 1.5 to 2 hours came along very quickly. I felt like we were stopping all the time. On of our stops was at a McDonald's and we got out and got ice cream and walked around a little bit. When we got back in the car, I needed to change Harper Grace's diaper, so before I changed her I decided to mover her legs around and make sure that she had some movement before putting her back in her car seat. I took her diaper off and BOOM, she pooped on me and then in the middle of me laughing at her, she peed on me. It was official, i was a mom! Luckily my clothes were not too far away and I was able to change my shirt, that now had poop on it. I got her cleaned up and her diaper back on and it was on the road again.
In Tennessee, Harper Grace got to meet her great grandmother, her great aunt Melissa, her great uncle Phil, and second cousin Suzanne. It was a nice visit and a good idea to stop. We definitely needed the break in the trip.
The next morning we got up and headed out. I was so excited to be seeing Josh that day. I was really missing him and i was very emotional without him around. As we were headed out of Johnson City, I noticed that Harper Grace's eyes were goopy and red and watery. I panicked a little bit and decided to take her temperature. It was 99.1 and so I called the pediatrician in Roanoke. They said that she would need to be seen because she had a low grade fever. So I called and made her an appointment at an office in Georgia for 4:45pm.
Finally got to Georgia and saw Josh. I was very emotional when I saw him for some reason. We had a few minutes and then had to leave for the doctor. Turns out her eyes were watering and goopy because her tear ducts were clogged or not yet developed. So we were told that we needed to massage around her eyes to make sure her tear ducts opened up.
None the less, we had made it to Georgia, healthy baby and all. :O)
On Tuesday my mother in law took us to Harper Grace's appointment. They pricked her foot again to check her jaundice and then they weighed her. She was up to 8lb 2oz. Doesn't seem like much but when it comes to babys gaining weight, apparently that is good. So after nursing Harper Grace again with the lactation consultant, they weighed her again. She gained an additional 2oz. Good news for me! But still no traveling to Georgia. They wanted to see her again Thursday. So we headed back home.
Another thing that the lactation consultant told me that I did not know. Until a baby is 2 weeks old they do not make the 'rules'. One of the reasons that Harper Grace had jaundice so bad was because I was letting her sleep. Everyone has always said "never wake a sleeping baby". well, that's not the case with a new born. They need to eat every 1.5 to 2 hours. I was letting her sleep as long as she wanted. Sometimes up to 4 hours. Not good. So with this knowledge I made a point to wake her up every two hours.
Wednesday we spent the day getting the house ready and packing some more things. It was so sad to me to have to pack up her nursery. I had worked on it for months, making sure it was perfect, painting custom pictures for her room. I cried a lot packing up her room.
Thursday we packed up the car in hopes that we would be cleared and sent on our way to Georgia. I missed my husband and I'm sure her missed Harper Grace and I. They didn't check Harper Grace's jaundice level again, (Thank goodness because her poor heals looked like war zones), but the moment of truth was when they weighed her. Her weight was 8lb 8oz. YAY!! That was fabulous news!! The lactation consultant had my nurse Harper Grace again so that she could make sure that there was a good latch and that H was nursing well. Once the appointment was done, she gave us a clean bill of health and sent us on our way. FINALLY we were headed South.
We decided that on the way to Georgia we would stop in Johnson City, TN to not only visit Josh's grandmother and introduce her to Harper Grace, but also break up the trip for me and the baby. The doctor told me that i needed to stop every 1.5 to 2 hours to walk around and get baby out of the car and move her around since we were at higher risk for blood clots.
Every 1.5 to 2 hours came along very quickly. I felt like we were stopping all the time. On of our stops was at a McDonald's and we got out and got ice cream and walked around a little bit. When we got back in the car, I needed to change Harper Grace's diaper, so before I changed her I decided to mover her legs around and make sure that she had some movement before putting her back in her car seat. I took her diaper off and BOOM, she pooped on me and then in the middle of me laughing at her, she peed on me. It was official, i was a mom! Luckily my clothes were not too far away and I was able to change my shirt, that now had poop on it. I got her cleaned up and her diaper back on and it was on the road again.
In Tennessee, Harper Grace got to meet her great grandmother, her great aunt Melissa, her great uncle Phil, and second cousin Suzanne. It was a nice visit and a good idea to stop. We definitely needed the break in the trip.
The next morning we got up and headed out. I was so excited to be seeing Josh that day. I was really missing him and i was very emotional without him around. As we were headed out of Johnson City, I noticed that Harper Grace's eyes were goopy and red and watery. I panicked a little bit and decided to take her temperature. It was 99.1 and so I called the pediatrician in Roanoke. They said that she would need to be seen because she had a low grade fever. So I called and made her an appointment at an office in Georgia for 4:45pm.
Finally got to Georgia and saw Josh. I was very emotional when I saw him for some reason. We had a few minutes and then had to leave for the doctor. Turns out her eyes were watering and goopy because her tear ducts were clogged or not yet developed. So we were told that we needed to massage around her eyes to make sure her tear ducts opened up.
None the less, we had made it to Georgia, healthy baby and all. :O)
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