Monday, December 29, 2008

Silence is not golden

I have to say a baby who sleeps and is quiet all the time is as scary as one who continually screams the house down. We've been worried about Aidan since around the fourth day when he was becoming extremely lethargic and more jaundiced.  And things came to a head yesterday.

Erin and Aidan are tonight spending a second night in hospital.  For those of you who don't know, they went back to St Thomas' on Sunday after the midwife came round to our house.  We saw that he was jaundiced and getting worse throughout the week, and worried, but because of the holidays we weren't able to get a visit from doctors or midwifes.  He also wasn't latching on to Erin to feed so we fed him through expressed milk and a medicine dropper.

When we got to hospital on Sunday they said he'd lost a little more than 10 per cent of his body weight and was jaundiced and needed to stay in for a few tests.  It was an awful feeling but we were, however, reassured that through what we'd told them, they said we'd done everything right.

The tests showed that he was dehydrated and slightly jaundiced.  He and Erin have now been feeding every three hours.  It's exhausting for Erin, but as ever, she's been a trooper and is digging deep.  Even after a full night of feeding and not too much sleep she had the patience to get Aidan feeding this morning by singing songs to him and livening him up.

Tonight he was being cheeky and playing with us (and his food), showing a lot of life, so he's certainly on the road to recovery.

I'll let you know when they're back home, hopefully, tomorrow. 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Give my best to Erin and Aiden; I hope everyone feels better soon.

Beth

Joey said...

Hang in there guys! I so remember when we were new parents and got so much conflicting advice (even from nurse to nurse). Follow your gut.

I hope through the exhaustion you're still able to savor each moment. Hugs to Aiden!

anastasia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
anastasia said...

May you never hear the words "billi" and "ruben" together again after this!

Anonymous said...

It is Aidan, right? With two A's?

Robyn said...

Yes. Aidan with two A's.

Joey said...

Oops, sorry Aidan!

Jay said...

That's OK. You're not the first and won't be the last.

Anonymous said...

Sorry! I'm one of the miss-spellers...won't happen again :)

Glad he's feeling better,
Beth