Little Miss Jainna, part 1

Born Saturday, February 20, 2010

After 2 weeks of false labor warnings, our 6th child (5th daughter) came to our family in a quick rush. I want to tell her story, but I can't seem to find the time to sit down and write it all out at once, so for now I will give a brief update and later hopefully find the time to give more details as to how she came to us.

First of all, we have finally settled on Jainna as her first name. The middle name is still undecided, but at least we can stop calling her "that baby with no name". Second, she is still in the care of the wonderful hospital staff at American Fork Hospital. Although its hard to not have her at home with us, we know it's where she needs to be.

She was 5 weeks early, and therefore is not ready for some of the daily demands life puts on her. She initially had trouble breathing properly on her own, but that was under control within the first 12 hours. The next main hurdle was (and remains to be) her eating ability. She is so sleepy and does not have the energy to wake up to eat. Also, she does not have the internal instinct most babies have to suckle and nurse. These are all typical responses that "near term" 35 week babies have problems with. It's nothing to panic about, just something that time and patients will bring her success.

At this point, I am allowed to attempt to feed her twice a day. So I go in every morning for her 10:30 feeding and then again in the evening for the 7:30 feeding. We have had no success in getting her to nurse at this point, but she could turn that corner at any time.

At a later time I will share more about her delivery, but for now all I will say is she came FAST (meaning about 25 minutes from arriving at hospital to actual birth time). Apparently one of the side effects of such a fast delivery, is that her eyes are bruised - it looks like someone punched her in both eyes. I'm not sure how long the redness and swelling will last, but I cant wait for that to be remedied.

She was on an IV to give her fluids, but now they have removed that and now is on a feeding tube instead. A "feeding tube" sounds more intimidating than it really is - its a teeny tiny tube in her nose that leads to her stomach to give her food directly. It doesnt get in her way, and she is not bothered by it at all. I'm glad the IV is out because that WAS in her way and she seemed constantly bothered by it (or perhaps im just thinking of how I would feel to have that in my hand all the time - no thanks).

She did have slightly elevated levels of jaundice so the put the "bili lights" in her bed for one day. But she conquered that event quickly and is back to normal lighting.

One of the hardest parts is that the other kids have not had a chance to hold her or even get a good look at her. They are so anxious to have her home with us - as well are Brian and I. We took the kids school pictures and taped them to her bed.

I think she will be at least another week before she even starts to be interested in eating, and another week to get her up to speed with proper nursing amounts. But that is just my guess - any and all prayers are appreciated.

More to come later, until then enjoy these pictures and video (if it will work).

Love, Liz