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Title
Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth
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Fatherhood: 10 Days and Counting
So it's been 10 days since our little Kayleigh was born - life has been a total blur. Susanne and Kayleigh came home from the hospital last Wednesday, and it's been nonstop action ever since. Since she's got to start putting on some weight, her feedings have been almost constant, every two to three hours. Thankfully, Susanne's sister is in town helping out for the week, since I've been rendered useless by a very random case of strep throat.
Kayleigh's doing really great. Like most babies, she lost about 10% of her weight in the days following her birth. She's still not back up to 5 lbs, 12 oz, but hopefully she'll be there sometime later this week. Our biggest concern was a slight case of jaundice and her corresponding bilirubin levels. I'd never even heard of bilirubin until last week. For the first few days I just kept wondering, "Who the heck is Billy Rubin?" - until someone explained to me it was a substance that occurs when red blood cells break down. For a few days, her bilirubin levels were creeping up, to the point that Susanne promised Kayleigh that they'd collectively "kick Billy Rubin's ass." The best way to get Kayleigh's bilirubin level down was to get her to eat more. Unfortunately, preemies don't always know how to breastfeed very well, so it took her a few days to get the hang of it. Combined with a bit of bottle feeding and a lot of sleepless hours on Susanne's part, Kayleigh's gaining weight and Billy Rubin, the sucka he is, is running for the hills. Because of this, we won't have to make any more daily trips back to the NICU ward and the pediatrician's office.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest challenges we had assumed would be waiting for us at home has amounted to nothing. We were worried that our two cats, Winston and Dizzy, would have a hard time adjusting to Kayleigh. Man, we called that one wrong. When we brought her home, we placed her car seat on the floor so the boys could give her a good sniff - with careful supervision on our part, of course. Dizzy approached cautiously, treated her with some suspicion, and left the room. Winston sniffed her foot, shrugged, and sat down on the carpet a few feet away from her. And that's been about it. Occasionally the boys will come over and watch her from across the the room; sometimes they even sit below her crib. They seem to recognize that she's now a member of the family and isn't a threat to their supply of food, water or treats. Winston actually seems almost protective of her, which seems to be a really good sign.
