The boys are all better

I took Joel in Monday morning to have blood drawn again and his levels dropped from 15-something on Friday to 11.3 on Monday, which Dr. K was THRILLED with. I guess plopping him in the carseat in front of the kitchen window to work on his tan Sunday afternoon worked after all! He also went in for his weight check this morning and is up to 8 lbs 1 oz. So he gained 5 oz in 5 days, which again Dr. K was thrilled with and he's back up to his birth weight, so I can stop worrying (at least a little . . . for now). This morning also marked the first time that I've taken both kids out solo and it went fairly smoothly! I don't know that I'm ready to tackle Target or the mall, but its good to know that I can survive a trip to the doctor's office with both kids in tow.

My dad got home on Sunday and seems in pretty good spirits. I think the whole experience really ran him down, but hopefully getting home and back in his own bed will help. And getting back to breakfast and coffee with "the guys" will help, too, I'm sure.

Healthy? Bah humbug!

I took Joel in for his 2 week check up this morning with Dr. K. He's doing okay, but not great. Still not up to his birth weight (he was 7 lbs 12 oz this morning), so we have to go in for a weight check next week. Dr. K wasn't too concerned, but it was a little disheartening for me since I'd felt like I was doing really well with nursing this time around, but Alyssa was up almost a pound from her birth weight at her 2 week appointment, so I had hoped the Joel would be following in her footsteps. They thought he still looked a little yellow, so checked his billirubin (sp?) levels and they jumped up again, which again is disheartening. We take him back to the hospital on Monday to have them rechecked and if they haven't dropped Dr K wants me to stop nursing him for 3 days and put him exclusively on formula. I'm so anxious about what that would mean. I worry that I won't be able to pump enough to keep my supply up. I worry that after being on bottles for 3 days straight Joel won't want to nurse anymore. I worry that he won't take a bottle at all and it'll be a huge struggle. I had a lot of difficulty pumping with Alyssa, so I'm not sure that if it came down to need to pump exclusively I could physically do it. And it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong because I chose to breastfeed him and that can increase a baby's odds of having jaundice. But on the up side, they did check his liver function and that checked out perfectly, so the jaundice is probably just due to all the bruising he had after birth and not a sign of a more serious issue.

During this appointment, my mom was at our house watching Alyssa. Both she and my dad were supposed to come down, but my dad hadn't been feeling well and was actually going to the doctor himself this morning. Which was a huge sign that he felt REALLY bad, because its like pulling teeth to get that stubborn Dane to go to the doctor. After I got home from Joel's appointment my mom said that my dad had called and his doctor wanted him admitted to the hospital immediately. All my dad could/would tell my mom was that the doctor said that he was really sick and needed to be in the hospital. They've still been a little vague with me (don't want to worry their "baby", I suppose), but it sounds like he just has a bladder infection, but the doctor wanted him on IV drugs to help him get over it more quickly. When I talked to him tonight the doctor had just left and had said that it was a really good thing that he came in when he did because if he had let it go even until later this afternoon Dad would have been in a lot of pain and in a lot worse shape. My mom says that he looks good and he's feeling better and when I've talked to him he seems in fairly good spirits, so I hope its something that passes quickly.

Funnies from Alyssa

Trying to be just like mommy . . .

Last weekend I was sitting on the couch feeding Joel. Alyssa climbed up next to me with one of her dolls in her arms, then proceeded to pull up her shirt and "feed" her baby. Adam went for the video camera, but thankfully Alyssa's baby was done eating by the time he got it all set up. It was cute, but I have to admit, it still makes me blush and I was a wee bit embarrassed.

We have a seat in our shower that I constantly will put my foot up on to wash/shave my legs because I'm too lazy to lean/bend over. Since we brought Joel home one of Alyssa's "fun" activities is getting to shower with me. She's started trying to prop her leg up on the seat in order to wash it . . . the only problem is the seat is about 20 inches high and she's only about 33 inches tall . . . a little bit awkward, but incredibly cute!

Anyone know . . .

what the weight limit for a Kick 'n Play bouncer is? I'm willing to bet its less than 30 lbs, but Alyssa won't believe me. ;)

Introducing . . .

Its old news for most of you by now, but thought I better do my official blog entry anyway. :)

We are thrilled to announce that Joel Norman joined our family Saturday Feb 3rd at 12:07 PM. He weighed in at 8 lbs even and was 20 inches long (not too shabby for a "premie" since he was 1 day shy of being 37 weeks/considered full term). Overall he's a really great baby so far. He did have some fairly serious issues with jaundice the first few days, so he was confined to a his own little "tanning bed" until yesterday afternoon, which was really heartbreaking, but I kept reminding myself that at least he was home with us and we didn't have to take him back to the hospital (or leave him there on Monday). Alyssa really seems to love having him around (knock on wood) and she is a FANTASTIC big sister.