Pictures

Sleep deprivation has robbed me of the ability to craft a creative post, but I wanted to share some pictures of the kids from the past few days. Thankfully Maren is doing well other than a nasty diaper rash and waking every 2-3 hours at night to eat. I figure I'll get a good night's rest in about 18 years. Something to look forward to.Maren has changed so much already.Lots of pictures in her car seat - poor Maren gets dragged along quite a bit.
And Warner has kept himself busy. He loves wearing Kevin's cowboy hat:Shades are a must when we're out in the sun.He did this himself.

Home again

Thankfully Maren was released from Children's late last night. The infection has improved significantly from the IV antibiotics - the redness and swelling are almost gone. She is now on oral antibiotics every 8 hours for 10 days and so far she's taken the yucky medicine in stride.

We visited the pediatrician again today for a follow-up. She finally received the lab results from the culture they took from the wound and unfortunately they found the infection was caused by the MRSA virus. I wasn't very familiar with MRSA and after googling it I'm (of course) freaked out. It's the "super bug" that's become resistant to most antibiotics and can even be deadly. And, once you have it, you always have it. I am praising God that He gave me the discernment to take Maren to the Dr. to begin with, as I'm usually one to wait until it gets bad. And I will continue to pray that God will give me peace about this diagnosis and that worry and fear won't plague me.

Here is a picture of poor little Maren at the hospital (how pitiful, huh?):

Back to the Hospital

Unfortunately I'm writing this post from Children's Hospital. Maren has developed mastitis - an infection of the breast tissue that normally occurs in nursing mothers.

I took her to the pediatrician yesterday, feeling a bit silly, thinking she just had an infected pimple or boil on her chest. Thankfully I took her because the doctor took one look and said it was indeed neonatal mastitis and one of the worst cases she'd seen at that. She sent us home with a prescription for oral antibiotics and instructions to put warm compresses on the infected area to help draw out the infection. We went back to the pediatrician today for a checkup and after she determined there was no improvement she sent us to Children's.

We are finally in our own room after spending an excruciating 4+hours in the ER (with the television stuck on the Disney channel - ugh). Maren is getting IV antibiotics every 6 hours. I'm not sure how long they'll keep us - one doctor guessed 2-3 days but another said we might get to go home tomorrow if she's improved enough.

Thankfully there don't seem to be any long-term complications of this infection, if caught early. It looks like they won't have to surgically drain the infection which is great because that could cause damage to her breast tissue and create problems down the road.

Please pray that we get out of here soon with a healthy little girl. It's horrible to see my baby back in the hospital at 13 days old hooked up to IV's and monitors. Hopefully my next post will be a good one!

Settling In

Well, we are home from the hospital and settling into somewhat of a routine - with a lot of help. Kevin's parents stayed with us until Sunday until my mom arrived to take over. Maren has jaundice so we've been going back to the hospital to have her biliruben levels checked. As of Tuesday they were on the way down and her weight finally stopped dropping so I'm praying she's turned the corner. Until she's back to her birth weight the Dr. wants us waking her every three hours to eat. Needless to say I'm anxious for more than a few hours of sleep in a row so I'm doing everything possible to get this girl to eat!
Warner and Maren in the car together for the first time. Warner thinks it's pretty neat to have a friend in the backseat with him.
Maren's first bath at home. (She wasn't a fan.)She is a fan of lying in the window to catch a few rays.Relaxing in the bouncy seat.Warner has transitioned so well to being a big brother. He always wants to check on Maren, give her kisses, help burp her, etc. He's often caught scaling the side of her pack 'n play to get a better look at her.
He's also excited to share with her the finer things in life - like chocolate for her milk. He drug this from the fridge the other day to show her. I'm sure they'll make quite the pair in the years to come.