The Schneider Family: Alaska: Part 2 :)

So much has happened this week that I'm shocked I am managing another blog post this early.

I left off with us leaving the hospital on Friday night, getting home around 11:00pm. Matt was great the whole time we were in the hospital, and it continued when we got home. Helping me take care of Isabella while I'm a huge hormonal mess. We tried our best to sleep Friday night, but Isabella has other plans. She isn't big on sleeping alone, and once we put her down after she has fallen asleep, she wakes up again and cries. That was Friday night. Saturday morning my parents, sister, niece and my grandmother came over to see Isabella. Then my friend Teresa and her mother came to meet Isabella also. People were gone by noon and we spent the rest of the day relaxing and taking care of Isabella. Sunday we relaxed for the most part. Matt cleaned up and made dinner and cookies for dessert.

On Monday Isabella had her first pediatrician appointment. She was weighed and we found out she had lost an entire pound off her birth weight. Plus she had another jaundice test done (she had one done at the hospital and her score was 13, 0-7 is normal). The results of this test showed her jaundice level at 18, she was almost admitted to the hospital. They were concerned, but not enough to send her to the hospital just yet. They wanted to give her a chance to get over it on her own. At this point too, she was having trouble at home with her eating. I'm sure that had something to do with her jaundice level not going down, but going up. The only way for babies to lose their jaundice is to poop it out, and she wasn't pooping because she wasn't eating well. So the nurse practitioner at the pediatricians office (our pediatrician saw us at the hospital but is now on vacation until this next week) suggested we start feeding Isabella every 1 1/2 hours. Oh my gosh...that was crazy! We hardly slept, getting up to feed her every hour and a half. We did that Monday night, then went back into the office on Tuesday so they could evaluate her jaundice again and weigh her. She had gained one ounce over night (YAY!) and her jaundice was looking better, but still not well, so they did another test, and the result of that one was 14 I believe. It went down from 18, so that was another good thing! He still wanted us to keep feeding her every 1 1/2 hours...that was disappointing because we were hoping for some more sleep. Oh well, you do what you need to do. We went back to the office on Wednesday afternoon (after standing with her in the sun in our living room for about an hour. Apparently that's another way to help them get rid of the jaundice) and had her weighed, and she had gained another ounce and a half. Slowly she was starting to do better. He didn't even test her jaundice level on Wed because he could visibly tell that she was less yellow looking. He said we didn't have to come in again until Friday to give her an extra day to get better. Also on Wednesday, when we got home, I noticed that I was having some calf muscle pain. I remembered that on my discharge paperwork from the hospital it said something about calling my healthcare provider if I was having calf pain, firmness, warmth etc. So I called my doctors office and told them I was having calf muscle pain. They strongly suggested I go to the ER and be checked for blood clots. So of course I start freaking out, thinking any minute I'm going to drop dead with leg blood clots. So we called my mom out to the house to babysit because after all, going to the ER sometimes you are hanging around for hours and hours. Well, an hour and a half later, and a doctor telling me I'm fine and most likely the pain is just from the whole delivery process, we were back home. Glad I went and had it checked though!!

Today (Friday) we went to her pediatricians appointment and had her weighed. She had gained 6 1/2 ounces since Wednesday! Plus she isn't yellow at all! She is doing so much better now. I'm glad that's getting better. We aren't feeding her as often anymore, now it's more like every 2 - 2 1/2 hours or so. Since she is gaining so well, we aren't going to force her to eat anymore when she doesn't want to. After that appointment, we had to run to my doctors office because I was having symptoms of a UTI, most likely from the catheter I had in the hospital. They tested me, and sure enough I do. They don't want to put me on meds though because what they would put me on I won't be able to breast feed Isabella. So they gave me instructions to chug the cranberry juice this weekend and try to flush out in the infection with out drugs. We will see how well that goes. At the same time, they took my blood pressure and it was high. My blood pressure has been high for months and for some reason now it's turning into a big deal. So much so that the doctor put me on high blood pressure meds! ACK! I still can't believe this...28 years old and I'm on high blood pressure meds. Hopefully it won't be for too long. My 2 weeks postpartum appointment is on Wednesday and they will be checking me again then to see how it's going.

Matt and Isabella had dropped me off at my doctors appointment because my mom, sister, grandma and grandpa were due to meet us at our house to visit with Isabella after her appointment (mine was last minute). It worked out so they actually picked me up from my doctor's office and took me home so Matt didn't have to come back. We had a nice visit with everyone. My sister had made us a couple of casseroles and a couple of quiches for us to freeze. We ate one of the casseroles tonight and it was really good! We are very thankful for food that we don't have to prepare, just heat up. Especially after a long day like today was. After everyone left we had yet another appointment to go to, then we had to run to Walgreens to get my prescription then finally we were home. Poor Isabella has left the house every single day this week. She liked the car rides though :)

Also this week we have been having a furnace crisis. Over the winter we have been having issues with the furnace not working. It won't kick on when it should, and Matt will have to go and mess with it. We have been more worried about it recently having an infant in the house. Sometimes it would get so cold at night, it would be 56 degrees. Well he called a heating place this week and had them come out and look at the furnace. Apparently it's original to the house (1989), Lennox doesn't even make it anymore, and you can't get parts for it either. Awesome. So in a nutshell, we are getting a new furnace, courtesy of the Mat-Su Borough. That is a blessing because the least expensive one (including labor) is around $6,100. So that will be installed on Tuesday. We are pretty excited about it too because it's going to be a way better furnace, higher efficacy, and it's going to regulate the temperature in each room better. Isabella is always sleeping in our room because it's the warmest room. Eventually she will need to start sleeping in her room, but right now even with the house temp set at 66 her room doesn't get that warm. Our room, on the other hand gets to 70 so we feel better about her being in here. So on Tuesday while they are installing the new furnace, Isabella and I will be spending the day in our bedroom with a space heater going and the door closed.

Well, I think that's about it. Like, I said, this has been a week and it's been very tiring, scary and exciting. I hope in the coming weeks we will be able to get a little more sleep and get back to being half way normal. :)
It occurred to me after I posted the last blog that I didn't include any pictures! Here you go!