1st week home

Well, it's been an interesting week at the Chilcote house. We got home on Sunday and Tuesday morning we went to the Pediatrician for the first time. Reese had been doing great although she remained a bit yellow from the slight jaundice we noticed in the hospital. We were curious to see what her biliruben level would be. On the good side, she had regained almost all of her birth-weight and was 7lbs 10oz. But she was still yellow in her face and chest, so our pediatrician decided that we needed some extra treatment for the jaundice. Rather than go into the hospital and lay under the UV light, Reese was put on a "Biliblanket," which is a plastic "blanket" with fiber-optic strands of UV light pumped into it.

To make a long story short, we kept Reese wrapped up in the Biliblanket non-stop (except to change and bathe her) and it was quite cumbersome at the beginning. Eventually, we got used to wrapping her up, holding her, and even feeding her with the blanket around her torso. The bad part was, the blanket was attached by an inch-wide tube that connected to the light-source. So we set up camp all week in the living room and let Reese sleep in the pack-n-play. Nicole took the couch and I took the floor.

Along with the biliblanket, we needed to up her feeding schedule. The UV light helps her body to break down the biliruben (her liver will do this once the levels are down enough. Right now it's just too much for her to handle on her own) and then she needs to have lots of wet and dirty diapers to remove the toxins. So we started feeding her every 2 hours instead of 3 hours. But this challenged Nicole's body to produce enough milk quick enough. So we've been doing some formula in-between breastfeeding. A side issue is, as Reese's body works on eliminating the biliruben, she is really sleepy. She probably sleeps 20+ hours a day! That makes it even tougher to feed her every two hours. Sometimes she'll even sleep through a diaper change! We do what we can to wake her for the half-hour feedings. Normally you want your newborn to sleep through the night, but that's not our case. Let's just say the last few nights have been rough! It's exhausting trying to wake a sleeping baby!

BUT, today we finally got the green light to put the blanket away! Reese is lying in her pack-n-play all by herself and tonight she'll get to sleep in her bassinet for the first time since Monday. We are so excited! Hopefully we can re-establish a routine with Reese over next week.

On a lighter note, Nicole's mom has been with us all week and her dad came yesterday. Reese is their first grandchild. It was awesome to introduce Reese to her grandma and grandpa! It's been great having Roslyn here. While we work with figuring out what Reese needs,

Roslyn's kept up with laundry, dishes, and food. We're looking forward to just enjoying some time with them tonight and tomorrow.

Keep checking back for more updates next week! Love you all!