Grandpa paid us a quick visit. Here he is holding Lily.
We tried to get a picture for birth announcements. Here Addison and Lily are sharing the swing.
Denuen checking things out.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Some pictures from our fourth week
Friday, July 28, 2006
Addison the music conniseur
Mike and I thought it would be great to get out of the house. Even if it was just to drive to CVS pick up a prescription and drive to Lowe's for a quick purchase. Out of pure inspiration (and kindness to Mike's mom Brenda) we decided not to leave the girls with Brenda and take them both with us.
The trip started beautifully. Lily started screaming the second we placed her in her car seat. Not to be out-done, Addison piped in as well. Determined, we put them in the car and drove off...screaming billowing from the Xterra. Without consulting one another, Mike and I started singing...loudly...Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (yes, Mike has learned the words). Lily was enchanted and stopped screaming. Addison lowered her volumn. A rendition of A-B-C (yes, Mike does know most of the words) and all crying had stopped.
In CVS Addison started crying again. Back in the car and Twinkle, Twinkle and A-B-C were not enough. Mike started the ND fight song (of course he knows the words), I joined in, Addison stopped crying.
We made our purchase at Lowe's, back in the car...Addison crying again. Hmmm. Twinkle, Twinkle, A-B-C, ND fight song....not enough. OK. The only song that came to mind was When you Wish Upon a Star. I don't know the words. Mike certainly doesn't know them. But we mumbled through a bit and once again Addison was appeased.
So apparently each time in the car Addison expects a new song. Suggestions and lyrics are welcome!
The trip started beautifully. Lily started screaming the second we placed her in her car seat. Not to be out-done, Addison piped in as well. Determined, we put them in the car and drove off...screaming billowing from the Xterra. Without consulting one another, Mike and I started singing...loudly...Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (yes, Mike has learned the words). Lily was enchanted and stopped screaming. Addison lowered her volumn. A rendition of A-B-C (yes, Mike does know most of the words) and all crying had stopped.
In CVS Addison started crying again. Back in the car and Twinkle, Twinkle and A-B-C were not enough. Mike started the ND fight song (of course he knows the words), I joined in, Addison stopped crying.
We made our purchase at Lowe's, back in the car...Addison crying again. Hmmm. Twinkle, Twinkle, A-B-C, ND fight song....not enough. OK. The only song that came to mind was When you Wish Upon a Star. I don't know the words. Mike certainly doesn't know them. But we mumbled through a bit and once again Addison was appeased.
So apparently each time in the car Addison expects a new song. Suggestions and lyrics are welcome!
Friday, July 21, 2006
Return to the scene of the crime
So Tuesday we packed up the family and headed up to Columbus to the Children's Hospital Craniofacial Clinic. On Tuesdays they have a clinic for cleft lips/palates. During the clinic patients are seen by the cleft "team". We met with the surgons, a geneticist, a dentist, a speech therapist, an ENT specialist, and a nutritional practical nurse. The diagnosis was as good as it could be in that there was no indication of any other problem other than the soft palate issue. We tentatively plan to get Lily her surgery in March and the team believes that there should be no further problems once the repair is made. She will be as good as new!
The girls did great for their day in the Big City, until we got about ten miles from home and we had a good ole' fashion meltdown. I don't blame them, I was tired and wanted to get home too. All crying stopped once we got home and out of the car seats.
Children's Hospital where the NICU is located. In the upper right hand side of the picture you can see the helipad that was right outside of the room where Lily and Mike were placed the first two nights of their stay. Quite soothing for a 1 day old.
The Memorial Tournament NICU where Lily was held for 5 days. Perhaps she IS destined to be a golfer.
Angie, the nice nurse who enjoyed showing off Lily as the "healthy" baby in the unit. She was also instrumental in getting Lily out of baby jail.
Nice nurse or not, Lily expresses her feelings about the return to baby jail for a visit.
Jack caught a whale who cannot swim (see life vest). No Johah, just a squeaker that was extracted in about a day. The whale did not make it.
The girls did great for their day in the Big City, until we got about ten miles from home and we had a good ole' fashion meltdown. I don't blame them, I was tired and wanted to get home too. All crying stopped once we got home and out of the car seats.
Children's Hospital where the NICU is located. In the upper right hand side of the picture you can see the helipad that was right outside of the room where Lily and Mike were placed the first two nights of their stay. Quite soothing for a 1 day old.
The Memorial Tournament NICU where Lily was held for 5 days. Perhaps she IS destined to be a golfer.
Angie, the nice nurse who enjoyed showing off Lily as the "healthy" baby in the unit. She was also instrumental in getting Lily out of baby jail.
Nice nurse or not, Lily expresses her feelings about the return to baby jail for a visit.
Jack caught a whale who cannot swim (see life vest). No Johah, just a squeaker that was extracted in about a day. The whale did not make it.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Great and Growing
Quick visit to the pediatrician today. Lily has gained 6 oz in the last week and is now up to 6lb 10oz. Addison gained 5 oz in the last week and now weighs 5lb 14oz. We've been released of visits to the pediatrician for 5 more weeks when we go back for the girls 2 months visit.
Tomorrow our whole family is taking a trip to Columbus. Not for a visit to the zoo or aquarium or Babies R Us or anything fun like that. Nope, we are going back to Children's Hospital (site of former attrocities against Lily). We are going for a Cleft Palate clinic. Apparently we meet with the team of specialists who will further evaluate Lily and her future needs. The team includes the plastic surgeon, geneticist, orthodontist, ears/nose/throat specialist, speech pathologist and maybe much, much more! Hopefully we'll all be more educated by this time tomorrow.
Tomorrow our whole family is taking a trip to Columbus. Not for a visit to the zoo or aquarium or Babies R Us or anything fun like that. Nope, we are going back to Children's Hospital (site of former attrocities against Lily). We are going for a Cleft Palate clinic. Apparently we meet with the team of specialists who will further evaluate Lily and her future needs. The team includes the plastic surgeon, geneticist, orthodontist, ears/nose/throat specialist, speech pathologist and maybe much, much more! Hopefully we'll all be more educated by this time tomorrow.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
We're walking!
Amazed at how far our girls have come in just 2 weeks? Well, it is exciting that we're walking but alas it was not Addison and Lily. Rather Mike, Teresa and Gram took Lily and Addison in their stroller for a walk. 
Our friend Jennifer Bagwell paid a visit to Addison and Lily. Well, officially she came over to discuss work with Mike, but the girls know she really came to see them. She cautiously held Addison until just before meltdown time.Addison and Lily have 2 very different personalities thus far. Lily due to her stint at Children's Hospital is quite the sleeper. She does not get bothered by Addison crying. Addison on the other hand also sleeps well, but will stir if Lily is crying...we also think she gets rather defensive of her food supply if she hears Lily in the room, but that is a whole other story. We are convinced that Addison will be quite the comedian. She spends lots of time entertaining us with her smirks, smiles, laughs and grimaces.
Lily is more stoic, but her personality is starting to come out. This afternoon, her Notre Dame clad dad was holding her and we were able to catch her smiling. Perhaps it was the close proximity to the ND logo?
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Lily - "My parents are geeks!"
Happy 2 week birthday!
As I mentioned in the last post, we've been keeping up with Lily's intake in Excel. Today Mike created a chart so we could visually see how we are doing. Click on it to get a better view. The top light blue line represents the top amount of recommended consumption, the dark blue is the low end of recommended consumption, pink is Lily's actual total consumption, and the orange is her breast milk consumption. So our goal is to keep the pink line between the two blue lines and get closer to the light blue line. By the way the numbers are not complete for today (July12).
Today we paid a visit to Dr Broecker to get Teresa checked up on. We saw Terry the nurse who visited every week to give Teresa a shot during the last 18 weeks of pregnancy. And Karen the ultrasound tech who saw us LOTS and LOTS during the pregnancy. They both came into the room while we were waiting for Dr Broecker. By the time we had Dr Broecker, an intern, a med student, Terry, Karen, Mike, Teresa, Lily and Addison in the room it was quite a party! Here's a picture of Mike and the girls in the waiting room.
Lily sleeping on Mike after an early evening meal.
Addison sleeping in her Moses basket in her favorite position
As I mentioned in the last post, we've been keeping up with Lily's intake in Excel. Today Mike created a chart so we could visually see how we are doing. Click on it to get a better view. The top light blue line represents the top amount of recommended consumption, the dark blue is the low end of recommended consumption, pink is Lily's actual total consumption, and the orange is her breast milk consumption. So our goal is to keep the pink line between the two blue lines and get closer to the light blue line. By the way the numbers are not complete for today (July12).
Today we paid a visit to Dr Broecker to get Teresa checked up on. We saw Terry the nurse who visited every week to give Teresa a shot during the last 18 weeks of pregnancy. And Karen the ultrasound tech who saw us LOTS and LOTS during the pregnancy. They both came into the room while we were waiting for Dr Broecker. By the time we had Dr Broecker, an intern, a med student, Terry, Karen, Mike, Teresa, Lily and Addison in the room it was quite a party! Here's a picture of Mike and the girls in the waiting room.
Lily sleeping on Mike after an early evening meal.
Addison sleeping in her Moses basket in her favorite position
Monday, July 10, 2006
The Weighting Game
A very popular topic in our household these days is weight. I like to talk about how delivering twins is the best diet ever! Losing 20 pounds in 5 days...who'd a thunk? Now breastfeeding is also holding up as a great diet plan as well. We all like to talk about Addison and Lily and how much weight they are gaining.
So today we found out. Addison and Lily are 12 days old. The doctors like to see babies regain to their birth weight by the time they are 2 weeks old. We saw the pediatrician today and found out that Addison currently weighs 5 lbs 9 oz...5 oz more than her birth weight. Lily weighs 6 lbs 4 oz...4 oz less than her birth weight. So we still have a few days to go for Lily to gain back to her birth weight. Also an interesting stat is that Addison has gained 11 oz in the past week...Lily has gained 6 oz. From what we've read babies should gain 4-7 oz per week during this period, so Lily is doing just fine.
It still amazes us that Addison who survived on minimal volume of colostrum for days and has only been breastfed (except for a small amount of formula to prevent dehydration when she was 4 days old) lost less weight and how she has regained quicker than Lily who was whisked off to the special Children's Hospital where she was fed formula on a regular schedule and monitored closely for intake. I think this speaks volumes to the advantage of keeping infants with their mothers!
We continue to monitor Lily's intake and "output" very closely. Mike, Gram and I measure her feedings in milliliters and document poops and pees. We were doing the same for Addison until today when we decided any baby who gains so much in one week probably is doing just fine. Mike and I set up an Excel spreadsheet with Lily's feedings so we could get daily totals and compare them to the recommended amounts. (Uncle Jon Kaplan would be so proud!) This afternoon we discussed what kind of charts we should be generating. A little over the top?
One conclusion from the results of the girls' weigh in today was that Lily needs to continue to get breast milk and preferable more of it. The pediatrician agreed as did Pop. Easy for them to say!
So tomorrow we'll get more pictures out here. You can check out Addison and Lily's picture at the O'Bleness Hospital website: http://www.obleness.org/obaby/baby.asp?cid=2192&lid=m
So today we found out. Addison and Lily are 12 days old. The doctors like to see babies regain to their birth weight by the time they are 2 weeks old. We saw the pediatrician today and found out that Addison currently weighs 5 lbs 9 oz...5 oz more than her birth weight. Lily weighs 6 lbs 4 oz...4 oz less than her birth weight. So we still have a few days to go for Lily to gain back to her birth weight. Also an interesting stat is that Addison has gained 11 oz in the past week...Lily has gained 6 oz. From what we've read babies should gain 4-7 oz per week during this period, so Lily is doing just fine.
It still amazes us that Addison who survived on minimal volume of colostrum for days and has only been breastfed (except for a small amount of formula to prevent dehydration when she was 4 days old) lost less weight and how she has regained quicker than Lily who was whisked off to the special Children's Hospital where she was fed formula on a regular schedule and monitored closely for intake. I think this speaks volumes to the advantage of keeping infants with their mothers!
We continue to monitor Lily's intake and "output" very closely. Mike, Gram and I measure her feedings in milliliters and document poops and pees. We were doing the same for Addison until today when we decided any baby who gains so much in one week probably is doing just fine. Mike and I set up an Excel spreadsheet with Lily's feedings so we could get daily totals and compare them to the recommended amounts. (Uncle Jon Kaplan would be so proud!) This afternoon we discussed what kind of charts we should be generating. A little over the top?
One conclusion from the results of the girls' weigh in today was that Lily needs to continue to get breast milk and preferable more of it. The pediatrician agreed as did Pop. Easy for them to say!
So tomorrow we'll get more pictures out here. You can check out Addison and Lily's picture at the O'Bleness Hospital website: http://www.obleness.org/obaby/baby.asp?cid=2192&lid=m
Friday, July 07, 2006
Moo
Just guess the topic of this post...yep...breastfeeding. Gentlemen, if you are squeamish on this topic, best to just skip it. Ladies, you are welcome to skip it as well. I believe it is fairly G rated...
I've put the text into a comment so it is easy to skip down to the other posts with pictures.
I've put the text into a comment so it is easy to skip down to the other posts with pictures.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Post partum does not equal coherent
Hello all. And happy 1 week birthday to Lily and Addison. Having a blog is an interesting thing. All day long things happen that I think...that would be really funny to talk about on the blog. And here it is...the end of another day...time to post some pictures for all to see...and those witty, funny, coherent stories are somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind. And all that is in the forefront is incoherent babble.
Regarding comments from Grandmama that we needed bigger pictures so she could really see the girls...below in the pictures segment of this post there are a couple of individual pictures of the girls while sleeping. If you click on them, you'll get a larger view of the picture. Still not going to be big (as I'm not sure blogspot would like us to use up their entire server space), but bigger. By the way, all pictures can be clicked on....I just didn't make all of the large versions as large as these two.
Here are some pertinent facts. Today we took the girls back to have their bilirubin levels checked to see if their blue light Wallabys are doing the trick. The report this afternoon was good...Lily's level has gone from 17.9 Monday to 13.8 today. Addison's has gone from 15.9 Monday to 13.9 today. Decreasing is good. We are hopeful that the pediatrician will call tomorrow to tell us we can say good-bye to the Wallabys.
When Gram and I first brought Addison back from the hospital, I attempted to introduce Addison (all 4lbs 13oz of her at that time) to Peoopee, Denuen and Jack...our 2 coonhounds and our cocker spaniel. Jack and Denuen got excited and did lots of licking and sniffing. Peoopee got a little too excited. You see Addison is about the size of the small animals Peoopee likes to hunt down. And when he gets in hunting mode he gets this wild look in his eyes. I saw that look as he was sniffing and sniffing at her and her car seat. I quickly sent Peoopee downstairs and rushed upstairs with Addison. Not exactly the joyful homecoming I had expected. The visions I had of Mike and I, Addison and Lily and the 3 dogs sitting down to enjoy a Notre Dame football game on TV...or of the girls laying against one of the big dogs...or of the girls playing fetch with Jack...all quickly went out the window as I feared that Peoopee was really going to nibble off a tiny foot. Today, though, we brought the dogs into our room and there seemed to be much less excitement on all dogs parts. Jack licked the girls. Denuen barks when they cry. Peopee seems less hungry...all progress.
OK. Funny thing just happened to Mike. We are anxiously awaiting the return of poops from Lily. She's farting up a storm, but not pooping. Oh...and she's eating what we think is a lot. So Mike was changing Lily (again no poop) and I took the opportunity to say "Hey, while you're changing...how about changing Addison? She's got a poop." Mike, being the good daddy and husband and the one of the two of us who took a nap today, agreed. He started changing her and said, "No poop, just pee." He'd just gotten the words out when he quickly replaced the diaper and said "Now there is poop." And the look on his face...not a happy one.
And finally, the magic of Notre Dame. Mike has taken to singing the fight song and Notre Dame, Our Mother to the girls. He does this becuase he does not know any other songs. Really, how does someone not know the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This afternoon he tells me that Lily had the hiccupps and to cure them he sang her the fight song. A bit sceptical, later this evening Lily had the hiccupps again, and I sang her the fight song, and sure enough, the end of the hiccupps. Just a few minutes ago, Addison had the hiccups, and like a miracle, Mike sang the fight song and the hiccupps went away. The alma mater seems to work well in getting them to sleep.
Pop Makes his first of many visits to see his new grandchildren.
Regarding comments from Grandmama that we needed bigger pictures so she could really see the girls...below in the pictures segment of this post there are a couple of individual pictures of the girls while sleeping. If you click on them, you'll get a larger view of the picture. Still not going to be big (as I'm not sure blogspot would like us to use up their entire server space), but bigger. By the way, all pictures can be clicked on....I just didn't make all of the large versions as large as these two.
Here are some pertinent facts. Today we took the girls back to have their bilirubin levels checked to see if their blue light Wallabys are doing the trick. The report this afternoon was good...Lily's level has gone from 17.9 Monday to 13.8 today. Addison's has gone from 15.9 Monday to 13.9 today. Decreasing is good. We are hopeful that the pediatrician will call tomorrow to tell us we can say good-bye to the Wallabys.
When Gram and I first brought Addison back from the hospital, I attempted to introduce Addison (all 4lbs 13oz of her at that time) to Peoopee, Denuen and Jack...our 2 coonhounds and our cocker spaniel. Jack and Denuen got excited and did lots of licking and sniffing. Peoopee got a little too excited. You see Addison is about the size of the small animals Peoopee likes to hunt down. And when he gets in hunting mode he gets this wild look in his eyes. I saw that look as he was sniffing and sniffing at her and her car seat. I quickly sent Peoopee downstairs and rushed upstairs with Addison. Not exactly the joyful homecoming I had expected. The visions I had of Mike and I, Addison and Lily and the 3 dogs sitting down to enjoy a Notre Dame football game on TV...or of the girls laying against one of the big dogs...or of the girls playing fetch with Jack...all quickly went out the window as I feared that Peoopee was really going to nibble off a tiny foot. Today, though, we brought the dogs into our room and there seemed to be much less excitement on all dogs parts. Jack licked the girls. Denuen barks when they cry. Peopee seems less hungry...all progress.
OK. Funny thing just happened to Mike. We are anxiously awaiting the return of poops from Lily. She's farting up a storm, but not pooping. Oh...and she's eating what we think is a lot. So Mike was changing Lily (again no poop) and I took the opportunity to say "Hey, while you're changing...how about changing Addison? She's got a poop." Mike, being the good daddy and husband and the one of the two of us who took a nap today, agreed. He started changing her and said, "No poop, just pee." He'd just gotten the words out when he quickly replaced the diaper and said "Now there is poop." And the look on his face...not a happy one.
And finally, the magic of Notre Dame. Mike has taken to singing the fight song and Notre Dame, Our Mother to the girls. He does this becuase he does not know any other songs. Really, how does someone not know the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This afternoon he tells me that Lily had the hiccupps and to cure them he sang her the fight song. A bit sceptical, later this evening Lily had the hiccupps again, and I sang her the fight song, and sure enough, the end of the hiccupps. Just a few minutes ago, Addison had the hiccups, and like a miracle, Mike sang the fight song and the hiccupps went away. The alma mater seems to work well in getting them to sleep.
Pop Makes his first of many visits to see his new grandchildren.
Lily sleeps at one week old.
Addison Sleeps at one week old.
Mike teaches Lily the Art of Napping
Lily Sleeps as Addison Plots...Developing
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Free at Last, Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
On Wednesday, June 28th, approximately 3:00pm Lily arrived at the Columbus Children's Hospital. I arrived about an hour later. Before the transportation of our precious baby girl, Dr. Wallace showed me a small hole in Lily's soft palate. Her concern was that she might have eating problems. And she wanted us to see a specialist about getting this minor problem fixed. I was in a daze. I saw lots of my wife's innerds, two wonderful babies pulled into this world and suddenly, the next thing I know, I am about to see my family split in two. I followed Lily to Columbus, arriving about 4:30. Lily was in the C4 NICU, a second tier of NICU, where non critical children who need significant oversight are placed.
I would love to tell you what happened on each day I was there, but honestly, I lived in three hour increments. Lily was feeding every three hours on a bottle, and by God, her dad was going to do it. She did not have any problem feeding, what seemed to me to be the primary reason we were sent to Children's. I sat, slept, and stared at Lily and the monitor above her head, showing her heart rate, blood oxygen, and resperation rate...
The primary doctor on call (Dr. Gist) finally saw Lily and indicated some quantity of food that Lily would need before they would consider allowing her to leave. Being a doctor of accounting, in my expert opinion, she was being asked to eat a lot more. I know at some point I told Dr. Gist that Teresa and I did not like him...not in a funny way, but in a I really don't like you kind of way.
Yes, Lily was doing time in baby jail. Don't get me wrong, many of the staff had one primary concern, my baby girl. There were many small acts of remarkable kindness to Lily and me by nurses (especially Angie), nurse practitioners (especially Jason). From getting Lily clothes treating her with the utmost respect, to moving me to a private room with a couch I could sleep on and towels, a toothbrush and soap so I could take a shower. But this was no country club, this was "make you bleed in the foot" baby jail.
I met with the surgons in a special cleft clinic at Children's where I found out that they would not do anything to fix Lily's problem until she was 9-12 months. No parole for Lily though. She came down with jaundice, like here sister, so there was another reason to keep her in baby jail.
I was getting a range of sentence for Lily from a few days to a week or so. Thanks, but we were on the verge of planning a daring escape. Then, like a presidential pardon, Saturday during rounds, hope arrived. Lily was eating more than twice what she had been. To be honest, I think the staff was getting sick of me. For them I was some guy living where they work, like that kid who spent his spring break living in a Walmart.
And just like that, we were paroled. I will get some pictures developed of our jail bird giving the bird to her captors.
I would love to tell you what happened on each day I was there, but honestly, I lived in three hour increments. Lily was feeding every three hours on a bottle, and by God, her dad was going to do it. She did not have any problem feeding, what seemed to me to be the primary reason we were sent to Children's. I sat, slept, and stared at Lily and the monitor above her head, showing her heart rate, blood oxygen, and resperation rate...
The primary doctor on call (Dr. Gist) finally saw Lily and indicated some quantity of food that Lily would need before they would consider allowing her to leave. Being a doctor of accounting, in my expert opinion, she was being asked to eat a lot more. I know at some point I told Dr. Gist that Teresa and I did not like him...not in a funny way, but in a I really don't like you kind of way.
Yes, Lily was doing time in baby jail. Don't get me wrong, many of the staff had one primary concern, my baby girl. There were many small acts of remarkable kindness to Lily and me by nurses (especially Angie), nurse practitioners (especially Jason). From getting Lily clothes treating her with the utmost respect, to moving me to a private room with a couch I could sleep on and towels, a toothbrush and soap so I could take a shower. But this was no country club, this was "make you bleed in the foot" baby jail.
I met with the surgons in a special cleft clinic at Children's where I found out that they would not do anything to fix Lily's problem until she was 9-12 months. No parole for Lily though. She came down with jaundice, like here sister, so there was another reason to keep her in baby jail.
I was getting a range of sentence for Lily from a few days to a week or so. Thanks, but we were on the verge of planning a daring escape. Then, like a presidential pardon, Saturday during rounds, hope arrived. Lily was eating more than twice what she had been. To be honest, I think the staff was getting sick of me. For them I was some guy living where they work, like that kid who spent his spring break living in a Walmart.
And just like that, we were paroled. I will get some pictures developed of our jail bird giving the bird to her captors.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Babies have arrived!
Sorry to anyone who sees this and was expecting an email from us with the announcement. After reading on you'll understand our delay...
Wednesday June 28, 2006 Mike awoke to his wife saying (as she rushed to the bathroom) "Honey! My water just broke." Mike flew out of the bed and scurried about for a while. After a few quick showers and a call to the doctor's office we headed off to O'Bleness Hospital in Athens. At 36weeks 5days we were safe to deliver locally. Dr Clark arrived on the scene to direct a well coordinated C-section that resulted in the arrival of our beautiful daughters. Addison Shea arrived first due to her location in her mom's belly at 10:52am weighing 5lbs 4oz and stretching to 19 1/4 inches. Lily Irene was more content with her former locale and gave Dr Clark a challenge in figuring out how to pull her to this world when she kept presenting him with arms and legs in varying order. Lily weighed 6lbs 8oz. Apparently Addison who's water actually broke was ready to join us and see if she could fair better in the nutrition department with her sister around in this world.
Shortly after delivery and while I was still quite on the table having God only knows what done to me on the other side of that BLESSED drape...Dr Clark returned to tell us the measurements of the girls and that Lily had a problem. Dr Wallace the pediatrician discovered Lily has a cleft palate that effects her soft palate. The rest of the story is a little fuzzy for me...drugs and shock have a way of doing that for you. But basically Dr Wallace confirmed the diagnosis and informed us that the best way to handle this situation with a newborn was to send her to a special children's hospital in Columbus, OH where they could check her out, she could see a plastic surgeon about the surgery necessary to fix the defect, and they could make sure she wasn't going to have problems feeding...the primary concern with cleft palates. Easy decision for us and since Addison did not have a need to be rushed off, we decided that Mike would go with Lily. Fortunately before Lily was wisked away, some very sage and non-drugged people came up with the bright idea to 1) allow me to hold Lily 2) allow me to pump colostrum for Lily to have before she left and 3) allow me to feed Lily from a bottle before she left which she did very well...by the way.
Mike and Lily have been gone for 3 days now. It seems like an eternity. Phone calls cannot do justice for the experiences we both are missing in our daughters lives.
Mike patiently parents in a hospital in a distant city while back in Athens Addison has been patiently learning and teaching me about breastfeeding. After the initial day of her being awake and latching on early to her then sleeping 12 hours and despite desperate attempts by me she wouldn't wake enough to feed. In the wee hours of Thursday she did manage to nurse for a while thanks to the capable help of the nurse Stephanie. Thursday morning Dr Clark agreed to let me leave O'Bleness a day early and a day after my section if I wanted to go up to Columbus to be with Mike and Lily. Dr Wallace also agreed to release Addison. After brief consideration, I decided to stay in Athens at O'Bleness because, honestly, should a person who's just had their midsection sliced be travelling with a 1 day old? But Friday I was ready to take off from the hospital early in the morning and catch a ride with our neighbor Kay to Columbus. But Dr Wallace and Addison had other plans. As I'm dressing to leave the hospital a nurse informs me that the pediatrician has noticed Addison is slightly jaundiced and is waiting for Dr Wallace to arrive to assess her. Now dressed, I walked down to the nursery and watch as Dr Wallace exams another baby then Addison. She sees me...but not my foot tapping impatiently I don't believe... and comes out to tell me that she is concerned and needs to figure out how they treat Addison at the hospital and have me nurse every 2 hours despite the fact that I've been discharged from the hospital. When she arrives at my room to let me know what is going to happen it is good news. I can take Addison home with a bili-blanket. This is a special pad that emits blue light that breaks down bilirubin so it can be excreted. But I still need to nurse every 2 hours and come back in the morning for follow up blood work to check to see that her levels do not continue to climb. Several nurses and Dr Wallace also say exposing Addison to sunlight will also help her condition.
Every 2 hours I'm thinking. Geez, I have a difficult time getting her to nurse every 4 hours. Luckily a little time under the biliblanket and in the sunny window in our bedroom and Addison was a much perkier baby. In fact, she woke me up every hour over night to feed. We got a call from Dr Reagan, also in Dr Wallace's practice, today to say her level this morning was 12 where as it was 11 yesterday morning. This is fantastic news. We are staying far away from dangerous levels. Addison continues to feed well and often. We were rather concerned today that she hadn't had significant "output"...peeing and pooping...so perhaps the input isn't great...but then this evening we discovered a very soaked diaper. Seems that Addison and I are on the road to success.
Up in Columbus...well maybe Mike will have the opportunity to convey his experience in Columbus. From my perspective it has sucked. The concern was that Lily wouldn't feed well, but every report I've heard says she is eating great. However she's lost more weight percent than Addison the baby with an inexperienced breastfeeding mom. Each day we hope will bring Mike and Lily home...so far the kind souls at Children's Hospital have been reluctant to say Lily will survive small town living once released from their capable hands, so they keep her and her dad far, far away from the women who love them.
Here are some pictures:
Lily at delivery
Addison and Dad Day 1
Lily and Mom Day 1 shortly after bloodletting...aka, c-section
Addison and Gram
Addison preparing to leave the hospital
Addison Day 3
Wednesday June 28, 2006 Mike awoke to his wife saying (as she rushed to the bathroom) "Honey! My water just broke." Mike flew out of the bed and scurried about for a while. After a few quick showers and a call to the doctor's office we headed off to O'Bleness Hospital in Athens. At 36weeks 5days we were safe to deliver locally. Dr Clark arrived on the scene to direct a well coordinated C-section that resulted in the arrival of our beautiful daughters. Addison Shea arrived first due to her location in her mom's belly at 10:52am weighing 5lbs 4oz and stretching to 19 1/4 inches. Lily Irene was more content with her former locale and gave Dr Clark a challenge in figuring out how to pull her to this world when she kept presenting him with arms and legs in varying order. Lily weighed 6lbs 8oz. Apparently Addison who's water actually broke was ready to join us and see if she could fair better in the nutrition department with her sister around in this world.
Shortly after delivery and while I was still quite on the table having God only knows what done to me on the other side of that BLESSED drape...Dr Clark returned to tell us the measurements of the girls and that Lily had a problem. Dr Wallace the pediatrician discovered Lily has a cleft palate that effects her soft palate. The rest of the story is a little fuzzy for me...drugs and shock have a way of doing that for you. But basically Dr Wallace confirmed the diagnosis and informed us that the best way to handle this situation with a newborn was to send her to a special children's hospital in Columbus, OH where they could check her out, she could see a plastic surgeon about the surgery necessary to fix the defect, and they could make sure she wasn't going to have problems feeding...the primary concern with cleft palates. Easy decision for us and since Addison did not have a need to be rushed off, we decided that Mike would go with Lily. Fortunately before Lily was wisked away, some very sage and non-drugged people came up with the bright idea to 1) allow me to hold Lily 2) allow me to pump colostrum for Lily to have before she left and 3) allow me to feed Lily from a bottle before she left which she did very well...by the way.
Mike and Lily have been gone for 3 days now. It seems like an eternity. Phone calls cannot do justice for the experiences we both are missing in our daughters lives.
Mike patiently parents in a hospital in a distant city while back in Athens Addison has been patiently learning and teaching me about breastfeeding. After the initial day of her being awake and latching on early to her then sleeping 12 hours and despite desperate attempts by me she wouldn't wake enough to feed. In the wee hours of Thursday she did manage to nurse for a while thanks to the capable help of the nurse Stephanie. Thursday morning Dr Clark agreed to let me leave O'Bleness a day early and a day after my section if I wanted to go up to Columbus to be with Mike and Lily. Dr Wallace also agreed to release Addison. After brief consideration, I decided to stay in Athens at O'Bleness because, honestly, should a person who's just had their midsection sliced be travelling with a 1 day old? But Friday I was ready to take off from the hospital early in the morning and catch a ride with our neighbor Kay to Columbus. But Dr Wallace and Addison had other plans. As I'm dressing to leave the hospital a nurse informs me that the pediatrician has noticed Addison is slightly jaundiced and is waiting for Dr Wallace to arrive to assess her. Now dressed, I walked down to the nursery and watch as Dr Wallace exams another baby then Addison. She sees me...but not my foot tapping impatiently I don't believe... and comes out to tell me that she is concerned and needs to figure out how they treat Addison at the hospital and have me nurse every 2 hours despite the fact that I've been discharged from the hospital. When she arrives at my room to let me know what is going to happen it is good news. I can take Addison home with a bili-blanket. This is a special pad that emits blue light that breaks down bilirubin so it can be excreted. But I still need to nurse every 2 hours and come back in the morning for follow up blood work to check to see that her levels do not continue to climb. Several nurses and Dr Wallace also say exposing Addison to sunlight will also help her condition.
Every 2 hours I'm thinking. Geez, I have a difficult time getting her to nurse every 4 hours. Luckily a little time under the biliblanket and in the sunny window in our bedroom and Addison was a much perkier baby. In fact, she woke me up every hour over night to feed. We got a call from Dr Reagan, also in Dr Wallace's practice, today to say her level this morning was 12 where as it was 11 yesterday morning. This is fantastic news. We are staying far away from dangerous levels. Addison continues to feed well and often. We were rather concerned today that she hadn't had significant "output"...peeing and pooping...so perhaps the input isn't great...but then this evening we discovered a very soaked diaper. Seems that Addison and I are on the road to success.
Up in Columbus...well maybe Mike will have the opportunity to convey his experience in Columbus. From my perspective it has sucked. The concern was that Lily wouldn't feed well, but every report I've heard says she is eating great. However she's lost more weight percent than Addison the baby with an inexperienced breastfeeding mom. Each day we hope will bring Mike and Lily home...so far the kind souls at Children's Hospital have been reluctant to say Lily will survive small town living once released from their capable hands, so they keep her and her dad far, far away from the women who love them.
Here are some pictures:
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