Vomit, Poo and Drinkable Yogurt

Our first 24 hours at home have been terrible, to put it nicely.  Hope vomited after 90% of her feeds yesterday and would cry as they were going in.  I had a feeling the level of formula I was adding was too high, but had checked the sheet from the hospital many times and verified it was correct.  Eventually, I couldn't handle seeing Hope vomit any longer and decided to call the hospital.  As I suspected, she was having too much formula mixed into her breast milk.  The nutritionist at the hospital had given me the wrong paperwork.   She had given me the mixture for mixing it with water and not milk.

Our first night, we decided that I would do the first and last feed and Shawn would do the middle feed at 4am.  I slept for just over an hour and then got up for my first feed.  As soon as the feed was finished, Hope began vomiting.  She started by covering the blanket and sleeper she had on, and finished on my shorts.  I had to walk to the change table to get her cleaned up while the vomit on my shorts dripped down my legs.  After I cleaned her up, I decided to change her diaper.  As I was doing so, she pooped all over the clean sleeper and new blanket.  When I changed her into the third sleeper of the night, the vomit returned.  To make this all worse, Hope sleeps on a sensor that alarms if she stops breathing.  Shawn had read all the manuals and set everything up, and I hadn't even looked at how it worked.  When I picked Hope up after she started vomiting, the sensor thought the baby had stopped breathing and began alarming.  Shawn had to get up and come shut it off.

I got to bed 1 hour before Hope's middle feed that Shawn was supposed to do.  I was so nervous that she would throw up again, so I never fell asleep and just listened to the monitor.  I got another 1 or 2 hours of sleep before I got up for Hope's final night feed.  It was again full of vomit and a diaper that had exploded out the side.  All due to the incorrect mixture of her feeds, I have some choice words for the nutritionist if I ever see her again.  As I was finishing up her final morning feed, Sadie woke up and it was time to start giving Hope her meds.  I woke Shawn up at 8:30 and went back to bed for another hour an a half, before it was time for another feed.

When I got up, I gave Sadie a drinkable yogurt.  She managed to spill it all over a blanket in the family room.  I was too tired to care and just gave her a hug and told her it was an accident and mommy would get her another one.  I'm no longer sure if it was an accident,  as she poured that yogurt all over the baby swing and then painted the back of the couch with it.  I wasn't very kind and forgiving after that "accident".

A friend picked up Sadie at 1pm, as Shawn and I were about to fall over and would not make it until evening.  We both had a nap in the afternoon and felt a little better later in the day.  It is now 5:30am and we have almost completed our second night at home.  We gave her pure breast milk through the night to give her stomach a bit of a rest.  There hasn't been any vomiting or explosive poo.  I feel completely exhausted, likely a build up of the last two nights.  It's overwhelming to think about doing this for months, I'm trying to focus on today and not let myself have a complete melt down.  I know that it could be so much worse and I should be thankful.  When we're not doing something for Sadie or Hope, we seem to only be capable of watching tv.  I find it difficult to even find time to eat, and yesterday we only had dinner because someone graciously brought it over.  I didn't get a chance to eat anything until 11am and felt ill through the morning.  I'm trying to work at not allowing that to happen, but eating tends to be a hassle now.   Pumping has also been difficult to find time for, so please pray that I won't end up with mastitis a second time.  That would truly push us over the edge and make this all more difficult.

Pray, we simply ask that people would pray for us as we go through this adjustment.  I wish I was 16 again and could function on such little sleep!