Hospital Adventures

Approximately half of Molly's first 40 days of life were spent in a hospital. The first 6 of course were just after birth but even so they were far short of boring! During that stay she was treated for low blood sugar, had her frenulum clipped, was diagnosed with a heart murmur, and had outrageous jaundice levels that prevented us from being discharged. But she sure looked cute through it all:

The super sweet cardiologist

Molly's first round of jaundice therapy...the bili bedShe loved her goggles! Daddy's finger feeding here (glad that's over!)
Chillin' under the lights
I hated this. She?...loved it!

Our Superhero!

We got to be home for a couple of weeks--well sort of...that is if by being home you mean traipsing off to the hospital daily to have blood drawn for bilirubin tests and then going to the pediatrician on your days off only to discover that she's not gaining weight fast enough (because of the jaundice) and her jaundice is still not clearing up!--and then one Thursday afternoon (the 24th) I picked her up from a nap and she felt unusually warm so I did the temperature thing and it was 100.4...just at the point where normal becomes fever for an infant. I called the pediatrician and they told me to go straight to the ER. Well that freaked me out! I was sure that they had heard me say 104 instead of 100.4 so I called back and, though they hadn't misunderstood me (newborn fevers are extremely serious I've learned!), they arranged for us to come into the office instead. They did a blood test and a catheter on her (her second one in a week poor thing!) and found that she had a UTI and sent us straight to Scottish Rite where she was admitted immediately. Now we were already aware that Molly would be more susceptible to UTIs because of her ureterocele but she'd been on a preventative antibiotic since birth so we weren't expecting one. Once we were at the hospital they finally got her IV in on the 5th try and started pumping her full of fluids and antibiotics. She was a trooper! We stayed with the lovely doctors and nurses at Scottish Rite for 4 days before she was discharged with a new oral antibiotic and a surgery date of October 7th (and a new skin color! Goodbye jaundice thanks to all the IV fluids--nice side effect).

Our poor sick baby:(

Getting feel-good kisses from Daddy

They finally got the IV in...on the 5th try!
Old man hairdo after a hospital sponge bath Sleeping beauty

"Seriously guys...can we go home now?"

One of my favorite memories of Molly's little life so far is that second hospital homecoming. The first homecoming she had known nothing other than hospital life but the second...as soon as we put her in her carseat she knew something was up! Something good! When we walked in the door she completely relaxed...she was home! We gave Molly her first full immersion bath that evening and that continues to be one of her favorite activities (ours too!).

First big bath at home

Completely chilled...there's no place like home!Our pumpkin minus the orange color!

Molly and I had a nice week at home while Ryan caught up on work. She had several firsts that week: first bath, first walk outside, first hand sighting (her own anyway), first look at (and fascination with) herself in a mirror, first month mark, first great grandparent meeting with Mawmaw and Pawpaw Sellers, first time at church for Daddy's deacon ordination. Then it happened again. Sunday night, October 4th, I got up at 3 a.m. to feed Molly and she was steaming hot. By this time I knew the drill and took her temperature immediately. It was 101.6 which translated into a trip to the ER. We piled in the car and made our way back to Scottish Rite in the pouring rain.

First walk outside in the stroller

Slept through the whole thing

First hand sighting

Mirror fascination

First Great-Grandparent Meeting
There were only two other families in the ER when we arrived so things moved pretty quickly initially. They had to do lots of testing again--blood tests, catheter, a spinal tap. It was of course another UTI and 5 hours later we were admitted and in a room to wait out the new plan of action. They decided to put her on two IV antibiotics and once it was established that we were sure to be there for awhile they opted to put in a PICC line for further drug administration and to make taking blood samples a bit easier. They took her away to do this and she came back with a certificate of bravery...I don't wanna know!! We were worried that her infection would postpone the surgery that had already been scheduled but Dr. Smith was anxious to get it over with in an attempt to stop the vicious cycle we'd gotten into. The hardest part was handing her over to the OR nurse. Thank goodness our little Hot Ta-Molly won't remember a bit of this:)!

Molly in her little hospital gown with hand and foot warmers

E.T. toe

IV in, all tuckered out, waiting for a room

Molly Blue Eyes (and her robot arm as Ryan dubbed it)Her IV was in her hand and the PICC line was in her arm

Sleeping with Daddy right before surgery

Happy to be back with Mommy!

So our baby is fixed for now! She came back from surgery and just looked happy to be with us again. We stayed another 4 days to await more blood test results and because we just couldn't get enough of the hospital coffee shop's hot chocolate (it was good but not that good!) The best part was when they took out all the tubes and wires and we could hold her and love on her without abandon...that was a good moment. Our first activity once we got home?? A nice warm bath...