Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Tristan's first week was a pretty eventful one.


We got home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. We had a few visitors and then just enjoyed our first night at home.

On Thursday morning, he had his first appointment with our family practitioner. He had developed jaundice overnight! =-0 He was also down to 8 lbs., 3 oz. - 12 ounces down from his birth weight. The average loss is usually less than 10 ounces. So, we started pushing fluids and had to feed every 2 hours. He did good for a while, but that night, he started refusing to breastfeed. We had to start supplementing formula to make sure he was getting enough calories.

On Friday, I stopped breastfeeding altogether and started alternating between formula and expressed breast milk. He started eating much better, and his color started to improve. We continued that all weekend.

On Monday, he turned one week old. :0) We took him back to the doctor and his weight was up to 8 lbs., 13 oz.! He had gained 10 ounces over the weekend, so that's a wonderful improvement. His jaundice was also much better, so she said we could start spacing out his feedings. His umbilical cord was starting to get a little infected, so we were told to increase the cleanings with alcohol to every diaper change.

Today, he's eight days old and his jaundice is all but gone. His umbilical cord fell off today... which is worrisome to me, but we called the nurse and she said to keep cleaning it and he should be okay. We've got another appointment tomorrow to get his PKU follow-up, so we can check everything else out then, too.

And now, pictures from his "One Week Birthday":