It's hard to believe that a week ago today we thought today would be the day that Clare and Luke would be born. They have now been with us for 3 days already. Today, however, was not as exciting as we hoped it would be. After chasing down the Reclining Buddha and checking out some other sites in the morning, we headed to the hospital hoping to bring the babies home. We met with the doctor who told us the previous day that it would depend on their numbers, both the weight loss/gain and the jaundice-related statistic (which she presented as anything under 10% is 'good and go home' and anything 10-12% is 'stay one more night'). Clare has lost a tiny bit more weight, but nothing to worry about. Her jaundice measurement was 7%, so great. Luke's weight was also fine, but his jaundice measurement was at 10.2%, and, unfortunately, that 0.2% does make a difference. We were advised to keep him in the hospital overnight so he can be under the lamps and improve. We were given the option of bringing Clare home today, but we couldn't leave Luke alone tonight. So, we left his sister in the nursery to keep him company.
This was disappointing news for Chris and me. After traveling now for 2 weeks, we are really craving getting into some sort of routine (as crazy as that will look/be!). We know staying at the hospital a 4th night is what needs to be done. I think it will make their discharge from the hospital even more exciting tomorrow. As eager as we are, we have to remember how fortunate we are they made it to 36 weeks. Though we avoided having the kids need to stay in the NICU, they are still premature and need a little extra TLC. Our time will come to be able to finally have these babies all to ourselves.
With the unfortunate news, we took our subdued spirits to the nursery to see the babies. We 'bathed' Clare...meaning the nurse actually did most of the job...we failed! We have some things to work on with the bath part for sure. We sat and held both Luke and Clare for about an hour and tried feeding them. Clare was awake most of the time but was stubborn to feed. We never saw Luke's big blue eyes today. The boy needed his sleep and had no interest in his bottle. We are hoping this was our last hourly visit with the kids. As much as we've enjoyed the hospital and the nursing staff, it's time to bring these babies home.
No pics today, but I did update post #12 Fathers Last Freedom with our morning adventure if you want some visual stimulation. Hoping to have a more upbeat post with lots of pics tomorrow.
