It's been quite the adventure this week. I really thought that when we took our perfect healty baby girl home from the hospital, that we'd be done with the hospital for a while! Last Tuesday, we took her to the doctor for just a quick check up and ended up at the lab to have her bilirubin levels tested, because her skin was looking a bit yellow. When the results came back, her levels were well over the 15 the doctor wanted.
So, they sent out a bili-blanket for us to use at home. Unfortunately, we got pretty poor instructions, so we didn't use it correctly the first night. The next day, her levels were over 20. The doctor wanted us to bring her in to the hospital so they could put her
under the larger lights. We were not at all excited about that, so we asked for more time so we could use the blanket more effectively. Her levels went down by one point, but the next day they were back up to 22, the highest they had been so far.
At that point, the doctor was insistent that we bring her in to the hospital, and I agreed. I just wanted to get it fixed as soon as possible. So, we spent this weekend in the hospital with Sally. She got to spend most of her time in a box under the "smurf light". She hated it and especially hated the little mask she had to wear to protect her eyes.
Fortunately, on Sunday morning her bili level was down to 10, and the doctor sent us straight home. Unfortunately, Lil Kay, who had been staying with Grandma and Grandpa has been running a fever all weekend and complaining of a sore throat. The doctor thought we should keep him away from Sally, so he's still there, but is seeing the doctor. Hopefully, he'll be home soon!
Seriously. I thought I'd bring my baby home, and we'd settle right down to being a family of four! This is harder than I expected!
Every October, my side of the family all gets together at the pumpkin patch for an afternoon of fun and pumpkin gathering. This year, we chose to go to the Smoky Hill Bison Pumpkin Patch. Of course, it was Sally's first trip to the patch. Unfortunately, she spent most of the afternoon under her carrier cover thanks to the brisk Kansas wind. We snuck her out a couple times for photos, but that's about it! I was pretty thankful for her cute little pumpkin hat to protect her tiny ears.
There were plenty of activities to keep the kids busy. We conquered the corn maze, raced rubber ducks, nailed wooden chickens with bean bags and climbed on a giant spider web. My sister and four year old niece even braved the zip line!
Obviously, our main goal was to gather the perfect pumpkins. We came home with four small to medium sized pumpkins, including two orange ones, a blueish-green one and a white one. Well, I say "we came home with", but actually we forgot them at my parents' house. I'll be making a trip over there to pick them up before our pumpkin carving party next week!
