So now that the Jaundice bed has finally left I can actually relax! We got to leave the hospital on a Friday at 5pm, and had to come back the next day at 1pm to check on her Jaundice. She was at a 19 bili level so they ordered her this bed to come to our house. It looked like a tanning bed for babies lol. One company comes and sets it up, but you have to wait for a nurse to come show you how to use it. Apparently there is only one lady in our area that does this and she called to say she was on her way at 9pm. She showed up at 2:30 am....
Anyway, this lady would have to come every morning and poke her foot for blood testing. After the 3rd day, my pediatrician said she could come off the bed, but since it was the NICU doctor that ordered the testing, he would have to order the stopping of the bed. Well I couldn't get ahold of him and when I tried to just refuse the lady in my house, she said she would lose her job if she didn't take the blood. So my baby ended up having to stay on this bed for 8 days! And she could only come off for me to feed her. It was terrible! I didn't get to play with her or anything.
The lady who came to take her blood was so weird. She kept talking to me about how mainstreaming kids with Down Syndrome is a terrible idea because the teachers are so overwhelmed with the number of kids in their class, the kids with DS get left behind. MY BABY IS A WEEK OLD LADY! I'm not thinking about school! I'm just trying to enjoy this eat/sleep/poop phase. Ugh, it's so frustrating when people want to talk about the future. Do I start talking to other people about the different medical schools I think would be appropriate for their newborns? No. And then she would call me at like 1-2 am to tell me the babies bili levels, and she wouldn't hang up! She would want to chat....omg... Giselle did poop all over her one day, and it was like sweet sweet revenge.
Anyway, don't be alarmed if your baby still looks yellow even after they take her off, especially if you're breastfeeding. They hit a plateau and stay a little yellow for awhile and then it goes away.
Here is a pic of her on the bed.
::Only One at a Time::
Today has been kind of a game with Giselle. I am breastfeeding her (that's right, against all those statistics that said babies with DS won't latch on), and she has decided that she will only eat from one boob at a time. She can be eating for 5-15 minutes on one and when I go to switch (for the sake of my nipple), even if she was still sucking, she does not want to latch on the other one!
But aha! I have found a solution. My guess is she is getting all comfy and snuggly next to me on the first one and just wants to sleep after the half meal. So, in between, I change her diaper. I know it sounds like a lot of extra work because I'll probably have to change it again after she eats again, but it's worth it. She wakes right up during her diaper changes and 3 out of 5 times she's been getting on the other boob! The 2 times she didn't I think she was actually full.
So if you've been having this problem in particular with any baby, you should try doing something that wakes them up in between. Maybe even just try taking their clothes off and get them a little cold.
::Tummy Time::
In other news, we had some tummy time today and she was definitely kicking those legs and moving those arms! So don't let anyone tell you it's too early for tummy time cause she is only 2 weeks old! She also likes to kick around in the bath tub, I don't see us having a big problem with muscle tone at this point but she's a baby!!! My doctor showed me what they would do to her if she went in for physical therapy at this point and it's a joke. They would just move her arms and legs around, you can do that at home! And you probably already do without thinking about it by just playing with her!
So when you hear about physical therapy, just ask your doctor about it. It's not like your doctor (hopefully) will go "Oh crap! We should've been doing this ages ago!!!" If they know about DS, then they know that the kid might need physical therapy. They aren't going to forget. So just play with those chubby arms and legs if you're afraid of poor muscle tone! I know I know, that sounds like such a drag huh? :)
Okay that's my rant for today.
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