Adjusting

Becoming a family of five has proven to be quite the adventure. Emiliana's first week with us was very exhausting. At her first check up with our pediatrician we discovered that her jaundice was still pretty bad, and as a precaution we were sent back to the hospital so Emmy could have some blood work done. They wanted to check her bili levels and run a metabolic screen to make sure there weren't any underlying issues causing the jaundice. My poor sweet four day old was poked over and over again as they tried to draw blood from her tiny veins. I am not one to get upset when my babies receive shots, but hearing her little cries as they bloodied her arms, hand, and tiny heels had me in tears. Finally they got enough blood to run the tests they needed and we were sent home. At that time I had barely slept since she had been born, I hadn't seen Evie and Catherine in days, and my postpartum hormones were going insane. I was worried that something serious could be wrong, that she could be readmitted to the hospital, and I had a few breakdowns in the hours we waited to hear results. Our pediatrician called later that afternoon and told us the good news: there was nothing seriously wrong with our baby. And the bad news: her bili levels were up to 19. If they reached 20 she would have to be admitted. She told us to get her as much sunlight as we possibly could, and to feed her any chance we got to try to get her to go through diapers. They would test her again in the morning, and if there was no change she would have to be admitted. By golly, we did everything in our power to make sure that wouldn't happen. We returned to the hospital again the next morning (this time we were sent to the pediatric floor where she was only poked once) and we found out few hours later that her levels had dropped to 16. It was a huge weight lifted, and I went home and took a three hour nap, and woke up ready to begin our life with our three precious girls.

Things since then have been pretty uneventful. At her 12 day checkup Emiliana weighed in at 9 pounds even, about the size my other two were at 5-6 weeks. It was a weight gain of 22 ounces in 8 days. Nights have been a little rough, as she seems to have a lot of tummy problems in the evening. It makes the days hard, because I can't sleep when she sleeps... I have two other children to take care of. The big girls have been great with their new baby sister. They love to hold her and give her hugs and kisses, and Evie especially is always ready to help when she is crying.

Jordan has returned to work, and I'm still learning how to juggle all three of them while he is gone. I know it will get easier, but I definitely miss him when he's not here. Overall, even with the lack of sleep and even though I sometimes feel overwhelmed, I have loved becoming a mommy to three little princesses. I can't imagine my life without them, chaos and all.