Liam's Current Stats

Today's Bili is at an acceptable level of 12, which means it hasn't really increased since leaving the hospital. Doc still wants close monitoring, so another day of doctors and/or hospitals. Seems like it's one or the other every day.



Liam is doing well overall. He went into the bili-hospital with almost 9% loss of his birth weight, from 7 lbs-4oz to 6 lbs-10oz. Now with the aggressive bili-feeding approach and strict 3-hour feeding schedule, he has gained weight and is now at 7 lbs.

Bili Update: The Light at the End of the Bili-Tub

These past few days reminds me of the song "Blue" by Eiffel 65 as Liam and I have only seen blue while trapped inside a tiny little sterile room. Everything feels like it appropriately fits with a techno-beat blue song.

"Yo listen up, here is the story about a little guy, that lives in a blue world, and all day and all night, and everything he sees, is just blue... "




Labor and delivery was relatively short and easy compared to the past few days, which have been frustrating and tiresome. Liam has been such a trooper through all the blood draws, needle pricks, forced eye mask, and a blue tub isolation without much cuddle or holding. Mama has not been such a trooper, running on 1 hour intervals of sleep getting maybe 4-5 hours of sleep in 24 hour period, going back and forth with hospital personnels on the care of Liam and fighting traditional mentalities with modern preferences, while trying to "recover" from giving birth.

To recap and correct prior posts, Liam's bili went this way --> 7.1 --> 9.2 --> 15.3 --> 18.3 --> photo-therapy --> 15.3 --> 11.9 (yeh! below 12 means we get to come home!) Objective is to have a low number and/or a low delta gain the following day. So, from 7.1 to 9.2, delta gain is relatively low. But then it jumps from a 9 to a 15. Big delta change for a day's worth. And then from 15 to 18 in just a few hours. Not good. The numbers don't mean much, the concern is that 18.3 is very high and getting close to danger zone and other issues, so it was good that we did get re-admitted to the hospital to deal with this, even though it was very not fun.

We are now home, but not exactly out of the woods. The photo-therapy and increased in Liam's protein intake through formula supplement and me vigorously feeding him every three hours and additionally increasing milk through pumping after his feedings helped to bring the bili number back to a manageable level. Now the docs needs to see that Liam's liver can handle the bilirubins on their own, which we hope, and we will get an idea of that with another doc visit/blood draw tomorrow. So.. out of the woods, but not in the clearing yet.

Here's Ryan and Emilia paying Liam and I a visit:

Labor and Delivery Details

Connie first started having contractions on Wed around 3 pm during her midwife checkup. They remained brief and irregular until around 9 pm. For the next hour, they became quite regular and more intense. We contacted the hospital, and they said we should come in as soon as possible. So we dropped off Emilia with the nanny, and arrived at the hospital around 11:40 pm. The midwife checked out Connie, and she was already at 9 cm!

Things were happening very quickly so the midwife was even concerned about me leaving to get our things from the car. When I got back, Connie was getting close to having the pushing urge. It came and went a few times, and I was beginning to think that this might go on for a while. But then it came back strongly, and before you knew it, the midwife said the baby was crowning. With a couple more pushes, the baby was out in less than a hour after we had arrived at the hospital.

The baby was immediately given to Connie for the mother/baby skin-to-skin bonding. At that point, we knew this baby was very different from Emilia. He cried only briefly, and was quickly calmed and even nursing. We've found that it takes quite a lot to rile him up, and he prefers to lounge and sleep. Even the Vitamin K shot only elicited a brief cry unlike Emilia who screamed as if she was being unbearably tortured. Yes, these do seem to be two very different babies.

We're waiting now for the pediatricians to arrive who will exam the baby, and let us know if there are any concerns. The hospital requires a minimum 24 hr stay so the earliest we can be discharged is presumably around 11:40 pm on Thursday. If everything looks good, we'd like to get out earlier than that; otherwise, we spend another night here.

Connie's doing great, and trying to catch up on some sleep when not working on nursing the baby. The biggest challenge in nursing him is keeping him awake - he loves to sleep!

The Count Down Begins...

Update on Emilia's Roseola: She is now starting to look and feel better. The rash is mostly going away, only a faint remnant. She lost about a pound during this, but her appetite is coming back. She was still really irritable yesterday, but today her mood seems to be more on the chipper side.

And so, with Emilia back to high-energy, we've started getting ready for little bro's arrival. The count down begins as we are less than a month away from due date. I'm at 36 weeks preggers right now, able to hold a mug of water on my table of a belly, and at the last check up, baby bro is upside down and has a weight estimate of 5-5.5 lbs right now with 4 weeks left to go.

I'm not sure how much Emilia understands the concept of a baby brother coming, but she loves to give her "brother" sweet little pats and kisses (that is, she loves to pat and kiss my belly). She "reads" the baby magazines and loves to point out all the babies in it. And I've referred to our family and how much fun her play time will be when she'll have her baby brother to play with.

Thank you thank you to friends that have given baby boy or gender neutral clothing to us! He is well equip with clothes up to 6 months now and even has a few items up to 9 months. We're slowly, but surely, getting ready for the big day... washing everything, bringing out all the stashed newborn gear and cleaning them - baby carriers, carseats, bouncer, bottles, etc.

Just like with Emilia's birth, we are planning for this blog to be the source of information update. Makes it easier. Family and friends can check in on their own time and be updated on the latest news. We're excited and nervous at the same time. As we've heard from so many, that life changes even more drastically with the arrival of a 2nd baby. Baby boy, we're ready for you. Come on out soon!

Emilia's Birth Announcement

Six weeks old now and we have gotten to know so much about her. Ryan and I are amazed every day to all the laughter she brings. We love those moments where she wiggles and nuzzles in our arms to find the comfy position or when she cries all out like a Yoda only to calm down and start cooing. We are so lucky to have her.

Here's to welcoming our daughter who is true to the phrase "our bundle of joy".