Home, Sweet Home!

After four long days in the hospital, we were able to bring our sweet Hattie home. We were so anxious to get out of the hospital...and to get home. It took forever, but of course we wanted to be sure that Hattie was healthy and ready before we left. Her blood sugars stabilized over the last 24 hours, and on Monday we went to the pediatrician for a check-up. They gave her a clean bill of health. The hospital physician wanted us to talk to our doctor about her white blood cell counts, blood sugar, and anemia. Our doctor was a bit frustrated and said that the "hospital made her anemic with their heel pricks at every feeding." And that she would most likely recover just fine now that she wasn't being drained 10 times a day. I guess it's really common for babies in the NICU to get anemia with all the poking and prodding that they undergo. Also, they had heard some hip clicking and were worried about hip dysplasia...by Sunday they only heard it one out of three times and by Monday our doctor said there were no concerns. YAY!!!

So when we did arrive home on Sunday we had special someone's waiting on us. Gigi and Aunt Cynthia came with Leah, Kiersten, Macy and Colby. The girls were super excited to see Baby Hattie...Colby really wasn't that interested. Cynthia had told him her name was Hattie. He laughed and said "that's silly, that's what goes on your head." I just love him. Cynthia was dying to get her hands on her...I think she secretly wants another baby...I not-so-secretly want her to have another baby, Ha! It was a good first day home, and we are settling in nicely as a family of five.

Oh, and one more thing...Have you ever heard of Harlequin Color Change? Yeah, me neither, but Hattie has it. Scared me to death the first time I noticed it in the hospital. Mitch thought I was crazy, but after a few feedings he saw it too: It is when half of a baby's body becomes discolored during feeding. There was a clear line down the middle of Hattie's body where half was white, and half was bright red. It's not serious, and not concerning and disappears on it's own within a few minutes. I can't get a picture of it, because by the time she is done breastfeeding it's gone, but I will attach a trusty Google Image so you can see. The literature says that most parents don't even realize that their baby has it because A.) It can come and go so fast, and B.) often a new baby is fed in dim lighting. Our pediatrician thought it was interesting that I caught it so quickly, and wasn't concerned at all. She said if it starts lasting more than 20-30 minutes at a time then worry, but for now I think it's gone in three-four minutes or less and I am only really noticing it when she lays on her left side. What more can this baby throw at us??? Sweet Hattie is going to keep me on my toes!