Caroline- Weeks 1 and 2

Week 1- October 20th- 26th
Week 2- October 27th- November 2nd

Week 1 was mostly spent in the hospital. Grandma Gayle and grandpa Jon held down the fort at home with the boys while Bryan and I spent our 4 nights and 5 days with Caroline. Bryan had a trip to Atlanta planned for the first 4 days that Caroline was going to be home. It was baby #3, and we had a bunch of help, so I told him to still go. He left the same morning I got checked out of the hospital.

Caroline had some tests run before she came home. They detected a heart murmur, which was nothing, but they still wanted to do a Heart Echo on her before she left. Her blood sugars normalized after the first few days, and she was eating like a champ from a Dr. Brown's bottle (of course, not a bottle we had in our stash of 30+ bottles at home). We sent Bryan off at 6am Monday morning, and grandma came to bring us home that afternoon.

Over the next few days, we got into a routine. She was not a terrible sleeper at night, going 2-3 hours between feedings. She hated her crib, so she slept all swaddled in her Rock 'N Play. By the end of the week, I was ready fro Bryan to come home, and I was not feeling all that hot.

Week 2 was also spent, partially, in the hopsital. This time, it was for me. I had some complications after I got home, and things like "Congestive Heart Failure" and "Postpartum Cardiomyopathy" were thrown around, but ultimately I had a form of Postpartum Preeclampsia. We had not planned to be overnight, let alone there for 3 days, so Bryan drove pumped breastmilk back and forth to grandma and grandpa who were now on duty for ALL 3 kiddos!! Bryan stayed with me the first night, but we didn't bring Caroline to a floor with a bunch of sick people. Then, we moved to a Postpartum floor and she joined us overnight. SHE SLEPT TERRIBLY! It is amazing how much different a 9-day old baby is than a 3-day old baby.

We went home the night before Halloween. Grandma and grandpa left the morning of Halloween, and we were finally staring to settle in to our life as a tribe of 5...ALL FULL OF SUGAR!

 Not the best family photo, but it is what it is :)

 

BIG BROTHERS!!! 

She finally got back from the NICU at 3pm on October 22nd, after 36 hours. We don't have as many photos from the hospital because we were busy making up for lost time with her, and honestly didn't have many visitors (and we even forgot to take photos of some of the few we did have).


On the way home.

Grandma and grandpa did a lot of story times, and bed times, when we were with Caroline in the hospital.  

 MOPS announcement :)

The only night she slept in her crib...

First trip to Target!
SHE REALLY LIKES TO SLEEP!! I realized there are bunch of photos of her sleeping.

Then, she slept in her Rock 'N Play only after we got out of the hospital the 2nd time.

 A few photos from our 2nd hospital stay.

And, finally at home again, and at Caroline's newborn photos at 13 days old. She was extremely cooperative~ since she likes to sleep, and all.