Elli update

Bottom line is...she's wonderful.  She's such a good baby.  She eats well.  She sleeps well.  And well, that's about all she does at this point.  But she's a content little one.  The girls were chaos from the time we brought them home.  They didn't eat.  Therefore, they didn't sleep because their little bellies were talking to them all the time.  Honestly, it was downright miserable.  But little Miss Elli is a dream. 

I had a lactation appointment yesterday.  Before I was discharged from the hospital, the nurse was going over my discharge instructions.  She told me the date and time of the appointment and followed it with "please bring your baby with you to this appt."  I had to interrupt her and ask if she seriously had to tell me that.  Do women actually show up to a lactation appointment without their baby?!  Hmmm.

Anyway.  Elliana nurses like a champ.  Which is such a far cry from the girls.  We were lucky enough to keep them awake for a full two minutes to eat before they zonked out.  In all honesty, they probably could've cared less if I didn't feed them for a week.  But Elli is a great little eater.  She'll stay awake long enough to actually fill her belly...usually anywhere between 20 to 45 minutes.  Her weight did drop a bit more, but she's still in the good range.  She was 8lbs 7oz when she was born.  When we were discharged, she was an even 8lbs.  And yesterday she was 7lbs 13oz.  They expect babies to lose between 5-10% of their body weight and right now she's at about 7%.  So she's doing just fine.  We'll actually head back to the clinic on Monday just for another weight check.  By then, she'll probably have started the upward swing.

The nurse did notice that she was looking a bit yellow at the appointment.  So afterwards, she ordered a bilirubin lab draw just to make sure she wasn't too jaundice.  Her level came back on the high end of normal for a 4 day old.  Dr K just told us to keep an eye on her over the weekend and if she started to look a bit more yellow I needed to call the on call physician.  Now if only we could get some sun around here, I'd be laying her by the patio window!  But all it wants to do is rain and/or be overcast.