1 week old

Lexi turned 1 week old yesterday. 1 week. It's hard to believe she's been here for that long. I wasn't even expecting her for another 3 weeks, and here she is 1 week old. She had her first trip to the ER on Wednesday. DH was feeding her and noticed after that the skin around her mouth, not her lips, was blue. Around her eyes as well. So after trying to call my aunt, who is a NICU nurse, and getting no answer, we called the on call number at the ped's office. The nurse there told us to take her to the ER. What did we learn when we were seen? That she was cold. Yep, apparently, and I have never read this, infants have poor circulation in that area of their bodies and when they get cold, it can turn blue. The NICU doctor that came down to see her said it's normal, and we should "panic" if her lips and/or tongue turned blue. We felt silly leaving, but even my aunt said later, with babies as small as she is, and given that she was early, you can't take a chance. They can go downhill quickly. So 3 hours and a $100 co-pay later we were on our way back home.

Nights have been interesting. We've been co-sleeping with Lexi. She doesn't like sleeping in her pack-n-play. She fusses and ultimately starts crying. She sleeps on an infant sleep positioner between DH and I. And she sleeps like a log. We've been able to get 4-5 hours straight from her. I know this will change as she gets older, but right now, it's VERY nice. She's a very good baby overall. Doesn't cry too much...as we know when she's hungry already before she cries. She makes this little face and grunts.

Feeding. Well, I had wanted to breastfeed exclusively, but that isn't happening. She failed her blood sugar test once while in the hospital, and she couldn't latch on to me...her mouth was too tiny, so I had to give her formula. Right now, I'm pumping and feeding it to her in a bottle...with formula supplementation. I get about 2oz from each side during each session. Which is enough for 2 bottles for her. But she still gets some formula at night. I'm still trying to put her to breast and try to get her to latch on, but I'm not going to force the issue on her. I'm happy she's getting breast milk at all.

Lexi also lost her umbilical stump on Thursday. At 6 days old! I was so sad to see it fall off (I was changing her diaper when it did, so yes, I have it, and yes, I know it's gross!).

I think that's about all for now. I must go tend to my little angel now...