Survival

This past weekend has been one of the most stressful I have ever experienced. Ammon and I were having a difficult time nursing. Since he wasn't getting food, he was getting sleepy. And since he was sleepy, he wouldn't wake up to eat. This resulted in a trip to the ER at 2 in the morning--no wet diaper in 24 hours, no food in 10 hours. Plus, he has jaundice and it his bilirubin levels were growing. Eventually, we had to feed him something in some way so we gave him a few bottles of formula while my milk was arriving. Once my milk came in and I got the hang of pumping, we fed him the breast milk through a little medicine dropper. It was like feeding a little birdy. A medical in-home service came over and dropped off this...thing (I don't know what to call it) that Ammon would have to be strapped to to get his bilirubin levels down. Our schedule went put Ammon in his bouncy seat which had the "thing" for three hours; wake up Ammon up and feed him with the dropper (Steven would do this while I pumped for the next feeding); burp and change Ammon; rock Ammon back to sleep; strap Ammon back into his bouncy bilirubin thingy. It was frustrating that we couldn't hold him or play with him. But it all paid off. Today was his first doctor's appointment: his levels are down. No more "thing" to be strapped onto. And I went to the breast feeding clinic at the hospital and they taught me how to nurse him. We have had two successful nursing sessions. No more pump! Today has been just a great day. We are so very happy and blessed today.

Our glowing little baby. Ammon in strapped to his "thing."

Another ailment of the weekend was my spinal headache. Since they punctured me several times for over 90 minutes to get my epidural going, this resulted in a spinal headache. Read this for information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_headache. Before I left the hospital on Friday, I had a blood patch done and the pain went away. Then on Sunday, after lifting Ammon's baby carrier, I felt the patch go and the pain start up again. I had to spend Sunday laying on my back watching Lifetime for the pain to go away. If I raised my head, the pain would come back and I couldn't function but I had to so I could pump and take care of my baby. It's been tough and there's not much I can do but wait it out. My doctor has prescribed me to drink caffeinated soda so Pepsi and water are the only beverages I've had in the past 24 hours. The headache is getting better, which makes this day even better. For those who have ever had a spinal headache, my heart goes out to you.

My dear family and friends, I am so sorry how weepy and stressed out I have been these past few days. A few of you have called to talk and I just ended up sobbing my guts out. Thank you so much for the calls and prayers. Now that we are doing better I promise that you can come over and visit now. And for those family members on Skype, we would love to chat now! We can't wait for Ammon to meet all our cool family members and friends.