Hawke in the NICU

Hawkins spent 5 days in the NICU. The first couple days he was in the incubator and had fluids through an iv. They allowed me to start nursing him right away which I was so happy about. And surprisingly this little boy latched like a pro and was doing so good with his nursing. They said typically babies that little have a hard time in the beginning. But he did great! 

We started asking when he'd be able to go home, and got a few differing answers from different people. We had heard he needed to meet a certain weight, or that he would have to transition to a different nursery outside of the NICU first... But we finally got some answers from his NICU doctor who was just amazing. He's a big advocate for breast feeding and the babies going home as soon as they're able. He's done so much research for the hospital, and many of the new things they're implementing in the NICU is because of him.  He said if he can prove he can live outside the hospital, he'll be able to go home, no matter what his weight is. 

So if he could nurse and get enough, that he wouldn't need an iv, show no decelerations in heart rate or breathing, and maintain his own body temp, then he would be able to go home.

After a couple days they decided to test him and see how he did without their help. They took him off the iv fluids and took him out of the incubator. 

His weight went down to 3pounds 11 ounces. 

He was able to nurse and acquire enough dirty diapers to show them that he was eating well, and he did manage to keep his body temp up, when double swaddled and double hatted ;) We were instructed that qwhen we did get to home, to keep the house warmer than usual and to keep him wrapped up, because when he was out of a blanket for a 30 minute nursing session, his body temp dropped down. 

In the middle of the night, the night before we were expected to be discharged and bring him home with us, his billi level shot up and they said we couldn't take him home with us. He needed some phototherapy. 

We were so sad that we had to go home without him! I couldn't believe I was actually leaving the hospital without my baby. It made me think back to the first time we delivered there and we left the hospital without our baby. It was because she had died. And here we were again, leaving the hospital without our baby. Thankfully he was doing okay and in good care if we couldn't be there. I could barely sleep at home that night, despite how tired I was. 

The next day me and Harlow went back to UAB and spent the day there with our boy. 

They checked his billi levels and they had come back down to a safe enough degree, that they were okay with him going home, as long as we followed up with his pediatrician at the end of the week. 

It was so nice driving home with both of my littles in the backseat asleep :)