Home Sweet Home

We've been home from hospital for just over two weeks now. Mr Ang had two weeks off work and did an excellent job if looking after Sproutling and I while we rested. Well, I rested and tried to catch up on missed sleep - Sproutling just slept, fed and poo'd as newbies do.

The first few days at home were a challenge as we had to keep the Sprout attached to the biliblanket, to treat his mild jaundice. This meant being tied to a power point all day and night, and having a flat covered plastic glowing mat shoved up the back of your shirt all day can't be a comfortable experience.

We had visits from midwives each day as well as a pathologist the second day to take a blood test.  The bloods had to be taken again on both Saturday and Sunday, to check Sprout's bilirubin levels. Unfortunately the pathology mob don't do house calls on the weekend so we had to make a couple of trips out to get the bloods taken. By the end of the weekend the poor little guy's feet had been pricked so many times that when someone took hold of his foot he started crying because he knew what was coming!

Happily, after the blood test on Saturday we had a call from a paediatrician to say that his bilirubin levels had come down enough that we could stop using the biliblanket, so with a sigh of relief we turned off our glowbaby and were much more mobile after that.

The rest of the two weeks have passed in a jumble of nights with broken sleep, multiple visitors all bearing beautiful gifts and telling me to sit down so they can wait on me hand and foot (which I really haven't objected to). Sproutling is still growing, is still feeding every 1.5 - 3 hours and occasionally I get to sleep for more than two hours at a time.  To be honest, I'm starting to get used to the broken sleep. I know it will get harder in a few weeks when settling him is more difficult and sleep deprivation starts setting in.

In general the Sproutling has been a good little boy. He rarely cries except sometimes when hungry and the worst habit he has so far is managing to pee outside his nappy every now and then - something which baffles Mr Ang and I.  No matter our bits-arranging, he still manages a leak once every couple of days. Perhaps when he gets big enough for the cloth nappies we have for him it won't be a problem.

The hardest part of the last couple of weeks has been the last few days. I started feeling a bit flu-ey and thought I was coming down with a cold, but when I started getting fevers, my mother cried "Mastitis!" and packed me off to the doctor.  Sure enough, the doc pointed out a red, slightly lumpy patch on one breast and gave me some antibiotics to try to clear it up. I've been having fevers off and on still, but I'm told the best way to get rid of it is to keep feeding as much as possible, so I am.

We're nearly up to three weeks old already - it seems like such a long time but at the same time, the blink of an eye.

See, he does have eyes!