Beyond continued

Before our doctor left our room, she asked if she could pray with us. She prayed a blessing over our new family. It was a powerful moment!
After an hour or so of marveling at our baby girl, Mike went to get our parents. We also took a few minutes to text some friends our big news!
The grandparents couldn't wait to see Summer. They all got a chance to hold her. Everyone was instantly in love!
After a couple hours, they left (begrudgingly) so we could get a little rest. Then Great Grandma came to visit.
They finally took Summer away for a few minutes (though it seemed like forever) to bathe her. They brought her back all swaddled up and wearing a pink knit hat.
Jen and Tyler came to visit after dinner. And surprise, so did Nate! Summer's aunt and uncles were smitten too!
Finally, our visitors left and we were left as a family of 3. Our night was exhausting as every sound Summer made woke us up. We didn't know what was normal and what wasn't (everything was normal!) or what her cries meant. We were able to get some sleep though.
Tuesday morning my parents came back...Tracy and Rich came too! Our day was filled with sporadic visitors: Jodi, Brett & Rachel, Jen & Tyler, Mark, Jen, Kaylyn, & Libby.
Mike asked if we could send Summer to the nursery on Tuesday night so we could get a little more sleep. I agreed, as long as the nurses would bring her back to eat--no formula and no pacifier. We still didn't get much sleep as she was back a few times to eat!
Nursing was taking us a bit of getting used to. But we had an "angel" nurse that night. She told us we should have been waking Summer up every 2-3 hours during the day to eat. We had previously been told that as long as she at twice in the first 24 hours, she was fine. Turns out she wasn't getting enough practice nursing, so that was probably why she wasn't wanting to latch on. Our nurse was so patient and showed me various positions and techniques to help both Summer and I. The sugar water really helped! We were so thankful for that nurse!
Wednesday afternoon we finally were discharged and got to go home. It was so nice to be in the comfort of our own home, but at the same time felt so odd to have a baby in the house.
We had a rough night, but it was more the dog's fault then Summer's! Every time she made a noise, he would whine or bark or scratch his cage. It was a long night for all of us!
Friday, we had Summer's 1 week Dr appointment. They were a little worried that she had lost too much weight, she was down to 7 pounds 4 ounces. They suggested that we supplement with formula to get her weight back up. They also said that her bilirubin levels were too high, so we had to go down to the lab to have it checked.
She was at a 17, and normal is 10 or below. We were told she needed to be on a biliblanket to bring her levels down. We also needed to have her levels tested every day. She peaked at 18 before slowly going down, and so she was in the biliblanket for 2 weeks. It was an inconvenience for us to have to have her constantly laying on the blanket, but it was important for us to get those levels down! Since she needed to be on the blanket as much as possible, we had her sleep in her Moses basket in the living room. The tubes and wires would be a pain to put in the crib, and her basket was easier. I slept on the couch next to her every night to keep an eye on her and the blanket.
For the first 2 weeks of Summer's life, we were at the hospital or doctor nearly every day for a bili test or a weight check. At her 3 week appointment, she finally weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and we were told we didn't need to return until her 2 month appointment. Finally!
We began to settle into a routine--eat, sleep, poop. Life is great, things are going well, and we can't imagine life without our little Summer Joy!