Ruthie's home!!! 10/30/11

RUTHIE'S HOME!!! RUTHIE'S HOME!!! RUTHIE'S HOME!!!

What a crazy few weeks it's been. We finally got to bring home our pumpkin on Wednesday, October 26th. It was an exciting, nervewracking time....I never knew there were so many potholes in a road I've driven a thousand times in the last three months, but suddenly when there's a fragile baby next to you in the car, you feel every little bump. We got her home and put her carseat on the coffee table....then looked at each other and said, "Now what?"

We put her in her crib and she has pretty much kept to her NICU schedule ever since. She eats every three hours, at 3/9/12/6, gets changed, cuddles for a few minutes, and goes back to sleep. She really is (so far...knock on wood) a very good baby. She had her first pediatrician appt Friday morning and checked out great! We had a very fussy night Friday night, and ended up taking her back to the dr to have her checked out. I originally called just to ask if they thought it could be reflux, but since she is so little, they wanted to see her. To back up a little, her NICU dr wanted her to be put back on some Neosure in her breastmilk to give her some extra fortifying. As much as I really didn't want to do that, I agreed to (and did). She does NOT tolerate Neosure at all. That has been her problem all along. When they originally put her on it, she started throwing up after 2 days. This time, she was on it 2 days and started screaming/crying/arching/flailing....it was so upsetting. I never want to see Neosure again. The ped agreed to try breastmilk over the weekend to see if it was the Neosure (it was) and if all went well, to try her on Enfamil Enfacare on Monday. I may or may not do that. I want to see how well she gains on just breastmilk first. When we weighed her the first night, she was 6lbs 1oz (yes, we bought a baby scale, lol), and last night she weighed in at 6lbs 5.5oz, so she is definitely gaining.

My mom has been AMAZING. She's been staying here since Jay had to work loooooooooong shifts Wed-Fri and went out of town this weekend (more on that later) and I am so glad. She has let me sleep at night and that helps my anxiety so much. I start freaking out when it gets dark and get so overwhelmed and I know it's partly b/c I'm so tired. She has done feedings, diapers, cuddling, soothing.....she's been so great and I would be in a padded room right now if it weren't for her.

You may or may not know that Jay's paternal grandfather was recently diagnosed with cancer. He had to go to the hospital last week for some complications and Jay really wanted to try to get down there to see him while he could. He wanted it to be a complete surprise and it was HARD not to say anything when his mom called yesterday and wanted to know how/what everyone was doing. He got there around 4pm and was able to surprise his brother, sister-in-law, and parents all at once. It was a short-lived good time, b/c not long after he got there, his mom got a phone call that her mom (Jay's maternal grandmother) had been killed in a head-on collision around noon that day. This is the first grandparent he's lost and it was a real shock for everyone. He is going to go up for the funeral and if we can arrange it somehow around Ruthie's schedule, I'm going with him. My mom has offered to keep Ruthie here at our house. I have to try to reschedule R's eye appt, as it's on Wednesday and the funeral will most likely be on Wednesday. I feel like it's very important for me to go with him...just lots of details to work out in a short time frame.

Gotta go. Got a hungry baby waking up from her nap. :)