Jaundice, induction, school’s out and other random updates

Thanks to everyone for the congratulatory comments/emails on the birth of Parker. I can’t believe he is 10 days old and already gained 7 additional ounces.

I’m multi-tasking by typing and nursing Parker at the same time (the talent you say), so here are some random thoughts on what’s been happening at our humble abode.

Jaundice updates

As you’ve read on my last post that Parker was very jaundiced after he was born, the level was so high that his pediatrician wanted him back at the hospital for a phototherapy treatment. I packed my bags and slept in the same room with Parker for two nights. Poor kid was in this incubator getting a “tan”, the temperature was set at around 90 degrees, and only came out to be fed every two and a half hours.

Here he was getting his “tan”.

Sporting a cool “shades”.

My Mom assured me that this is normal for all babies, the jaundice, and I asked her what they did in Vietnam when we were born with jaundice. Certainly they didn’t have the modern technology eons ago. And she said “I brought you guys out in the sun every day, and no more yellow.” Having raised five healthy children, she sure has a huge bag of tricks.

Induction and pitosin

As I’ve mentioned in my last post that I don’t recommend being induced. Let the baby comes out when he/she’s ready. I was only one day late but I was too anxious and was uncomfortable, so I chose to be induced.

We checked into the hospital around 7:15 AM, and the pitosin was administered. It was basically a waiting game after that. I was used to having my last two babies in 20-30 minutes, so the anticipation and the waiting was killing me. By noon, still no baby so I asked the nurse to increase the pitosin level and “let’s have the baby by 2:30″, that was my exact words. And at 2:29 PM…Parker entered the world! He heard his Mommy’s request and complied. What a good boy already!

In hindsight, it was good that I was induced given his size. Can you imagine if he “simmered” some more in the womb for a few more days or maybe a week? He’d have been 11 or 12 pounds. I’m shuddering just thinking about that possibility. Not to mention that the hubbie was fighting a nasty virus with high temps for a whole week, he almost didn’t make it home after the birth because he was so sick. Not to mention he might have given me the ear infection and the rest of the kids the virus as well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Who has an ear infection at my age? I don’t remember having an ear infection ever in my adult life.

Thank goodness for my sister and Mom who were there to help out with the kids.

Siblings bonding

We were worried that Sophia, our third child, might be jealous of Parker. But so far, she has been anything but. She loves kissing Parker every where, and very concerned when he cries. Even the boys have been a great help too, making sure Sophia is not too rough with Parker.

I hope they will be best of friends when they grow up.

Here are our four pride and joy, Sophia was crying wanting to hold Parker, so the boys had to comply.

Parker a.k.a. Porker

I think we should change Parker to Porker because, man…the kid can eat! I feel like a milk open bar. When he’s up, he wants to be fed…PRONTO or he would scream his head off. He’s up every 2.5-3 hours to be fed, and it’s like clockwork. I might have to hire a wet nurse just to keep up with his demand.

So technically, I’m still eating for two. But of course, no more cravings for Devil Dogs or those bad stuff. Even if I did have cravings for the junk stuff…can’t say “the baby wanted it” any more. Got to get back in shape, you know. Summer’s here.

School’s out

The boys are done with school, it’ll be interesting to have four kids under the age of six for the summer. I’ll let you know how it is in two weeks when I’m on my own with them. Have to find lots of activities to keep them occupied. Any ideas, just send them my way and please say a prayer for me while you’re at it.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm and is filed under CHILDREN, GENERAL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.