Guess what we did for NYE?

We had our 2-day Midwife appointment down in Denver NYE morning.  The Midwife was a little concerned about Ryker's jaundice, so she heel poked him (heel poke #1) to get his levels.  Multiple other semi-concerns popped up- a bit high respiration level,  and a loss of 7% of birth weight.  We left the appointment with the advice just to continue to breastfeed and she would call us when the jaundice results came in later that afternoon.

We went home, played, napped, ate and then decided why not get some extra rays just in case...




Pretty sure minutes after I took this picture we got the call from the Midwife stating that Ryker's levels were above the cutoff and they wanted us to go to the hospital to get him checked out.  She warned me that there was a great chance we would have to stay overnight and potentially a couple of days since "they don't like to let 2-day olds get very far".  GULP.  I got off the phone and completely lost it.  Combine hormones, tiredness, and the FACT that we purposely avoided birthing in a hospital and now we had to go there and survive all the tests that were going to happen to our little man.

Russ took charge of calling multiple people to make sure that this was the best decision, and found out that indeed it was.  We packed our bags, said Goodbye to Aylen (thank god Grandma was here, because otherwise it would have been me taking Ryker and Russ staying with Aylen), and headed to Longmont Hospital.  We arrived and everyone was admiring our cutie.  I said thanks, and avoided eye contact because I had those lovely RED,RED, puffy eyes from crying my eyes out.  

The ER doctor requested multiple tests be ran to rule out...well honestly he NEVER told us what the tests were for but through our own work found out there were to rule out infection, as well as test Ryker's billirubin levels again.  THIS SUCKED.  This was the exact reason that I was so bummed about the hospital visit.  Ryker had his heel poked twice and squeezed so hard because he was not "bleeding enough".  UGH.  Thank god the nurses were so kind and tried their best to make it tolerable.   So Ryker laid on the GIGANTIC ER bed with two nurses squeezing and poking his heel, while I talked to him and kissed his head.  They still weren't getting enough blood so they ended up deciding to do an IV.  I know my nurse friends/family know this, but I never thought of an IV for a 2-day old.  It made me sick to my stomach.  Poor little Ryker.  Thank goodness again that the nurse was awesome and found his lil arm vein on the first try.  They attached a board to his arm so that IV was secure.  He also had an x-ray done to rule out any type of chest issues.  He did amazingly well and slept through it.


 After getting the billirubin levels back it was decided that we were going to get admitted into the Peds Unit.  They transported us up there and we were introduced to our awesome nurse, who also had a son named Ryker.  


After finally being able to consult with Ryker's doctor we all decided that Ryker would have the IV taken out (GRRrrr-for even putting it in!) and that because his levels were borderline he did not need to be under the Billi-lights at all.  Our doctor felt that since we were already at the hospital it made sense to just stay and have him monitored and that we were do another blood test in the am and if his levels were okay we could go home.  I was very excited to hear that the IV could come out, and even more excited about no billi-lights because this hospital did not have the fancy blanket-but rather the bed that he had to sleep in and we would not be able to hold him:(


We all got settled and Russ fell asleep in his chair around 11pm.  Ryker and I fell asleep just in time to not ring in the new year.  I swear, Ryker knew that he needed to have a good Billi level in the morning, because he nursed EVERY hour on the HOUR and single-handedly got my milk to come in overnight.  This was ultimately what needed to happen so that he could have better levels.  So combine nursing every hour with the DARN Oxgen level machine that would beep EVERY 5 minutes it was an Awesome night.  This was us after pretty much, maybe 2 hours of sleep...

Levels were checked in the morning and the results dropped Ryker from the High Risk down into the Low Risk category.  We were hopeful that this meant we were going home!  Russ had all of our bags packed and ready to go by 8am (the time our doctor stated that he would be in).  TWO HOURS later (which felt like an ETERNITY) our doctor showed up, checked Ryker out, and gave us the go ahead to go home.  I'm pretty sure we were out of the building within a minute.  


What an experience, and not a NYE I ever, EVER, ever want to repeat.  Ryker is doing fine, his coloring looks almost perfect now and he weighed 9lbs 3oz last Wednesday, which mean he was 4 oz over his birth weight in less than 1 week!  HALLELUJAH!  Perfect news for this nursing Mama to hear!



(Sidenote-I seriously have so much respect for parents of sick children...who have to stay at the hospital or visit frequently.  I couldn't quit thinking of Russell's parents who were in and out of hospitals and doctors all the time with Russell's sister, Jenny.  How unfair for everyone involved..life is definitely not supposed to be like that.  The powerless feeling with your own child in pain or discomfort is seriously probably the worst feeling that I have EVER felt in my life.)   

I feel so relieved that everything turned out okay for our little Ryker.  And ultimately, as frustrating as the visit was-it was and will always be better to be safe than sorry.  But it sucked.

Love,
Momma