THE JAKEHAMMER ARRIVES
Jan. 3rd, 2015 05:43 pmOn December 30th on tumblr I posted that my pregnant sister had been admitted to the hospital with possible preeclampsia. It turns out that she DID have preeclampsia, and they had to induce labor, so Jake came into the world at 2:03 pm MST on December 31st! He’s only 4 lbs 11 oz, and though he did not cry initially, he later started the sort of wailing that lets everyone know his lungs are a-ok. When my brother-in-law went to cut the umbilical cord, though, they saw that there was a KNOT in it, meaning that it’s probably a good thing he was born when he was.
Unfortunately, his blood sugar was dangerously low (18) when he was born, and they’ve been working for days to get it up and make sure he’s getting adequate nutrition. Because of the early birth my sister’s been having trouble breastfeeding, but she’s started pumping and he’s having a combination of her milk and formula, via both bottles and his feeding tube (my poor bitty-boo has a feeding tube). She was discharged from the hospital a day or two ago, but she’s able to stay in a room there for free so that she can be close to Jake.
I haven’t been able to hold him yet, but a few hours after he was born I was able to spend some time with my sister and him in the hospital, and stroke his head and watch him make funny faces. And my sister shaded his eyes with her hand so that he could open them a little and look around. I am smitten.
(Not smitten as in “I would like to grow a human being inside my body and pop out one of my own”, but smitten as in “I love this tiny human and I will dote on him for the rest of my life.” Also, we can bond over having terrible birthdays.)
Ugh, and I just heard from my mother: they took out his IV today, but his blood sugar dropped again and they had to put it back in.
I still want to write up a review of 2014 and goals for 2015, but so far I’ve been too busy just working and cleaning and being the most fretful aunt.
Unfortunately, his blood sugar was dangerously low (18) when he was born, and they’ve been working for days to get it up and make sure he’s getting adequate nutrition. Because of the early birth my sister’s been having trouble breastfeeding, but she’s started pumping and he’s having a combination of her milk and formula, via both bottles and his feeding tube (my poor bitty-boo has a feeding tube). She was discharged from the hospital a day or two ago, but she’s able to stay in a room there for free so that she can be close to Jake.
I haven’t been able to hold him yet, but a few hours after he was born I was able to spend some time with my sister and him in the hospital, and stroke his head and watch him make funny faces. And my sister shaded his eyes with her hand so that he could open them a little and look around. I am smitten.
(Not smitten as in “I would like to grow a human being inside my body and pop out one of my own”, but smitten as in “I love this tiny human and I will dote on him for the rest of my life.” Also, we can bond over having terrible birthdays.)
Ugh, and I just heard from my mother: they took out his IV today, but his blood sugar dropped again and they had to put it back in.
I still want to write up a review of 2014 and goals for 2015, but so far I’ve been too busy just working and cleaning and being the most fretful aunt.