Life with Bennett {Week 1}

It's hard to believe we have known our sweet boy for a whole week already!

 If you’re new here and wondering, what the heck is wrong with this baby, you may want to read about my condition here, as well as Lucas’s first week of life here. The good news is that Bennett’s first week has been a lot easier on me than Lucas’s was, because I know what to expect this time around. This is not my first rodeo, friends! 

Here's a day-by-day breakdown of Bennett’s big week in the NICU!

Friday: 

Bennett arrived at 1:13 AM! I know I still need to write up his birth story, but everything went really well! We got to snuggle with him for a little bit before he was taken to the NICU for breathing issues. By the time Trav and I got to see him in the NICU around 4 AM, he had a c-pap to help him breathe and he was also under a whole bunch of bili lights.

His bili was 5.85 at birth, but quickly rose to 9.12 by the end of the day Friday!

Ella and Lucas came up to see me in the hospital, but they would have to wait one more day to see Bennett (siblings under 18 are only allowed on Saturdays and Sundays). 

Lucas loved looking out the window in my room for crane trucks...

...and Ella loved the wheelchair!

When Ella and Lucas went home, they both got cupcakes for Bennett's BIRTHday! 

Meanwhile, Trav and I visited our sweet boy as much as possible...

...and snuggled when he was allowed to have a break from his lights! 

He also got to lose the c-pap mid-afternoon and has been breathing great ever since! 

Bennett also got his footprints made!

And we kept the 0 birthday cupcake tradition going!

Saturday:

Saturday was a very exciting day because Ella and Lucas got to meet Bennett!!!

It was also fun to bring Lucas back to the very same NICU where he spent his first 12 days of life! Some of the nurses and doctors even remembered him!

Bennett also got an IV in his head which kind freaked me out...but the nurses were running out of places to put it! And they also wrapped up his arm so he wouldn't mess with the IV! (Spoiler alert: he managed to pull the IV out anyway!)

The reason Bennett had that IV was because he got something called IVIg on Saturday night! It is used to help with bilirubin, and it somehow prevents the antibodies from attacking Bennett's red blood cells. You can read more about IVIg here!

Sunday: 

I was discharged from the hospital, which was awful because it meant leaving Bennett behind in the NICU. Not my favorite thing to do. On top of that, Bennett's bili went up to 12.8. Days 3-5 are my least favorite, both with Lucas and with Bennett. 

Monday:

Bennett's bili tricked us and started to come down, so the nurses began to take him off of some lights!

Tuesday:

Bennett's bill continued to drop and we all were getting really excited! That IVIg was working!!

We also met Ella's preschool teachers! She is going to have a great year in the 4s class!

My mom also got to visit Bennett in the NICU!

Wednesday: 

Ugh. Bennett's bili crept back up to a freaking 14.12, so back under triple lights he went. 

He also had to be put in an incubator, which is so ridiculous...but with the lights, he had to be in an environment where they can control the temperature. And an incubator was all they had available this day! (The NICU was totally NUTS Tuesday and Wednesday! Babies were moving around, going to surgery, coming in, leaving...it was crazy in there!)

Back at home, we took a trip to Lowe’s to pick out some new plants, since the deer keep eating and killing our current ones! 

Thursday:

Bennett's bill started to drop again, so we were able to hold him for short periods of time with the bill blanket on! He looked like a little glow worm!

We also planted our new plants...Ella is quite the gardener! She loved watering the new plants with “plant food.” Lucas just liked digging in the dirt. 

I “paid” my dad for planting our new plants by letting him feed Bennett on his way back to Virginia!

Friday:

Well, it took him a whole week, but Bennett finally mastered pulling off his googles that he has to wear under the lights! So the nurse got him a different kind today...it made him look like a little dinosaur!

Bennett actually was able to come off ALL his lights this afternoon, and even got to wear real clothes!!! 

Next steps are: checking his bili tomorrow morning, as well as checking his hemoglobin and hematocrit. I'm shocked he hasn't needed a blood transfusion yet, as the MFM said he would probably need one as soon as he was born! But Bennett has held off on that (and I think the IVIg also helped with this as well)! As soon as all of his labs come back good and his bili is stable, he can come home! We are hoping it will be in the next few days!!! Fingers crossed!