When there are too many people to take care of ....

Today has been a rough day for everyone. Here's a brief recap:

Yesterday Jace came down with a fever -- we believe it has finally broken. At one point today his temp was 103! Joe called our pediatrician and made a game plan ... but so far, Jace has not met Baby Elsie ... and Joe has had the burden of caring for Jace, Elsie, and myself. Poor guy was caught in the middle of Jace needing him at home, and an emotional wife needing him at the hospital. Luckily both Grannie and Grandad are at our house, so we have had the freedom to take shifts on the Jaceman and the Wifey.

Today I started off great, getting my catheter out at 8 am and my IV out by 9. At 10 or so I was up walking the halls and was able to kick the compression boots. By the afternoon -- my gas had started to build up in my abdomen and I started to feel mighty uncomfortable. I've walked the halls several times and am hoping that the exercise will make me feel better.

Elsie passed her hearing test and was checked by our ped. Everyone thinks she is beautiful and is talking about the 10 lb baby with a full head of long brown hair.

By about 2:00 in the afternoon, Elsie was becoming more and more fussy. She wasn't satisfied with the feedings she was getting and was making sure we knew about it. I tried to feed her off and on for about 4 hours straight! She'd eat for 5 min or so and then fall asleep. She'd wake up minutes later cranky so I'd feed her again. There was a shift change for the nurse -- and I got a nice high strung one ... I don't do well with high strung!

She kept asking how/when she was eating and I couldn't' tell her. At this point, Deja Vu was setting in with Jace's non-eating experience. So I started to stress (again high strung nurse not helping!) Nurse told me to start feeding her every hour on the hour to help increase my supply and to get her fed!

Luckily there was another shift change and I spoke with this to my new nurse. Instead of focusing on the eating -- she decided to focus on the fact that Els was breathing too fast. She talked to Dr. Esham and at about 9:40 tonight they decided to put her on an IV and run some labs. It is possible that by breathing so fast -- she could inhale while swallowing, causing more problems. It is possible that Els could have (or be developing) Pneumonia. Or, Els could be dehydrated and just need fluids.

We got the lab results back almost an hour ago and everything looks good -- but she is borderline with infection. They are going to run more blood work at 5am in the morning and see if her number goes down. If it does -- we are in the clear and no problem. If it goes up, they'll start her with some anti-biotics and continue testing. So right now, we get some sleep and see what happens in the morning.

*update*

Her numbers lowered over night, which is good good news! I'm not sure what numbers they were testing -- but i don't care!! i'm just grateful it is down. She had 2 very small diapers over night, suggesting a bit of dehydration. I guess it's close to time that Joe and i decide if formula is the way to go!! Luckily the IV will help her flush her newborn poop out and we can just get home asap.