We're still in the hospital :(

Baby Rania is 8days old today. And we're still in the hospital.

Got discharged from the hospital last Tuesday and was readmitted on Thursday as Rania's bilirubin count was high - 325. And we've been here ever since. She made pretty good progress the past two days but this morning the count went up a tad bit (from 258 to 260). Based on my experience with Keisha, it will nicely progress down and will go up a bit once before it goes off..so here's hoping that her jaundice will go off all the way after this.

No doubt I'm very stressed out. Dealing with post-labor pains, sore nipples and all those post labor pains we women will go through..it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

And I'm missing Keisha tremendously.

Including labor, I've been in the hospital for more than a week now. Longest I've ever been. Thank god for supportive suami and mama..they come everyday as Keisha seems to be looking for both baby and I when she wakes in the morning. So suami tries to make it a point to bring her to me everyday. Apparently I've been missing out on quite a few milestones Keisha's achieved within this one week I've been in here.

It seems like ever since the baby arrived, Keisha has been amazing..a little bit sensitive when scolded but no more unnecessary patience-testing-tantrums or antics. She's been very gentle with baby, always wanting to stroke her hair and give her a kiss. Been giving me won't-let-you-go hugs everytime I ask for one (which just breaks my heart everytime she gives me one), and has made pretty good progress with her vocabulary. Her sentences are still mostly gibberish, but she's improved a lot in telling us what she wants.

As for my progress..this stress I'm under is affecting my milk supply for baby Rania which is not good. Being under the UV light for her phototherapy, she gets VERY thirsty everytime she wakes up and I don't seem to be able to satiate her even after almost 3 hours of feeding. I have resorted to signing my consent with the hospital to supplement Rania with some glucose water on top of my breastmilk. Else, she won't settle down, which means she doesn't want to be put under the UV light, which also means it will be harder for her jaundice to go off.

Suami has been great. I pity him tho. It's been pretty stressful for him to to travel back and forth between home and the hospital throughout this whole entire duration. He starts work again tomorrow. He can easily apple for compasionate leave, but really I don't see a point anymore even if we can be discharged tomorrow. Besides, he's been gone for a week already. Am sure work is piling up on his desk (and in his head) right now. If we do get to be discharged tomorrow, the hospital (and us) can wait til he gets off work). I've been here this long, what's a few more hours right?

So okay, dinner is here. Didn't take much lunch just now. I lost my appetite..but I need to replenish for Rania's sake.

Til later, hope everyone else is having a better day than we are,,,