On Wednesday, August 15th, Gemma and I got to go home! I was extremely glad to be getting home. Unfortunately here dads/partners can't spend the night in the hospital, and there isn't a nursery where the babies can go to, so this made for pretty much no sleep for me for 5 nights. Gemma lost over 10% of her body weight by day 3, and we were struggling with nursing, so that meant I was having to pump either before or after feeding her (I tried a couple different regimens based on recommendations by the pediatrician, midwives, and lactation consultants). It was really hard those nights in the hospital. I had some great midwives/nurses, but they had other patients to look after too. Gemma lost a little more weight on day 4, but gained some on day 5 (discharge day). Here we are all ready to go home!
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| Mom and Gemma |
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| My hat is a little too big! |
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| Off we go! |
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Bubbles checking out Gemma
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It was great to be home! My own bed never felt so good, and it was wonderful to have Paul there around the clock. Unfortunately we struggled with nursing/pumping for another two days. The public health nurse visited on Friday after we got home, and Gemma had lost a bit of weight again. The amount that was coming out in her diapers was also decreasing. It just wasn't working for us. I struggled with the decision to give it up, but the evidence was pretty clear. We started formula Friday afternoon, and the change was almost immediate. She had a lot more alert periods, her output increased significantly, and when we had a weight check with the nurse again on Monday the 20th, she had gained almost half a pound! We had her two week check with the GP today, and she had gained another 160 grams, so she's back up to her birth weight!
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