Two weeks old

Today, Briella is two weeks old. It is crazy how fast the time has gone - but in other ways it seems as though she's been with us for far longer than that! We are loving having her at home, but it is exhausting! She is still learning to eat and so feeding her takes a lot of time and energy. On top of that, I'm pumping breastmilk for her as well, which also is demanding. I'd forgotten how much work a newborn is - I haven't had a newborn at home for over five years, since Maddy came home much later. It is all worth it though! 

Yesterday, we went up to the hospital again - I thought it was to be discharged, and for some reason I was expecting to get up there, talk to the doctors straight away and then leave within a couple of hours. It wasn't anything like that though! I arrived at 10am and was promptly told to wait outside of the ward since it was not visiting hours. The nurse told me that she would call me by 3pm to let me know "if Briella had to stay, if she was given more home leave, or if she would be discharged". Not what I was expecting! I posted on Facebook and had a few comments about how the nurse sounded nasty, and in some ways it seems that way - but it is just the difference in culture here. Sometimes it sucks - but she wasn't being cruel or rude, just following protocol and letting me know all possible outcomes. Regardless, it was very impersonal and lacked any kind of warmth that you might get in a Western hospital. 

To cut a long story short, after a few hours, Briella was given more home leave and so we have to go back up to the hospital on Friday to repeat the above experience. At least this time I know what to expect! I think if all is well, she will be discharged then. She is doing very well at home, but she is still not yet back up to her birth weight and I think that is the main thing they want to check again. The feeding issues can make it harder for little ones to put on weight - so we need to keep making sure she's drinking enough every day!

In other "news", Briella's ear started "bubbling" yesterday. Most kids with diastrophic dysplasia develop cysts on their ears within the first few weeks after birth. They stay swollen for a few weeks and then harden, forming "cauliflower ears". The cysts can be treated by a variety of different methods, including compression or draining the fluid. When Maddy was in NICU, hers were treated primarily through compression - you can see some of her head bands in this post here. For Maddy, it kind of worked - her cysts are mostly flat, but they do have a bit of scar tissue in both ears (you can see the end "result" in the header of this blog). For Maddy, however, the compression bandages ended up forming a pressure sore behind one of her ears, and also started misshaping her head, so the doctors decided to stop. We'll see what happens with Briella's ears. She was born with perfect ears so hopefully they don't scar too badly!

Here's a few phone-pics for you to enjoy:

 

Maddy's NICU file is kept on Briella's bed - the doctors and nurses had to review her case in preparation for Briella's birth. Briella owes Maddy big time - I'm positive this is the reason why Briella had a far "easier" time in NICU than Maddy did.

 Sisters

This is what happens when you have older sisters ;)