Dear Peanut,

Today, you are officially #3WeeksOld. Earlier today, we stayed at your Lola Mommy and Lolo Daddy’s home because of the 12-hour full electrical shutdown at the condo. Today, [part of] your umbilical cord finally fell off. YASS! Puwede ka na namin i-bidet kapag naliligo.

We also went to SM Marikina because of the 1-day Thanksgiving Sale and the SMAC member’s sale at Ace Hardware. Your grandparents shopped like crazy (mostly for raffle prizes this coming holiday) and we also bought some items for the condo. It was your first time at an SM Mall. Yes, for a Filipino kid, that’s a first worth mentioning, haha.

Anyway, the past 3 weeks flew by in a blur of diaper changes, breastfeeding emotional breakdowns (that’s for another entry), your bath time wails, and per-3-hour feeding schedules.

In a span of 21 days, your father and I have turned from bat-shit scared, walang-mga-alam, first-time parents to chill, kaya-natin-ito, 21-days-in parents. We’ve seen and gone through a lot of changes in the past 21 days, both physical and emotional and we have a lot of stories to tell you, anak. But for this post, I want to share with you how our supposedly 3-day stay at the hospital became a 5-day staycation.

The Simpson Kid

On Day 3, we noticed that your skin has become yellowish. The nurses who check on us noticed it too and already gave a heads up to the head nurse so she can inform your pediatrician #2.

Backstory: Your original (pediatrician #1) Dra.CTP was out of the country when you were born on Nov. 2. So Dra.CTP asked her reliever Dra.CL (pediatrician #2) to step in on her behalf.

Dra.CL checked your condition and explained to us all about physiological (normal) jaundice. I won’t explain the entire thing on this post, so for those following #DearPeanut blog, you can read about physiological (normal) jaundice here.

Anyway, the point here was that it’s normal for newborns to experience this. In an ideal scenario, kailangan lang paarawan yung mga sanggol. But given the November Rain (pun intended and a tribute to Guns N' Roses’ iconic song, it was a rainy first week of November), Dra.CL was reluctant to give the discharge order.

We had two options. First, we can send you to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) so you can get the treatment for physiological jaundice, which was phototherapy. The better option was to have the phototherapy machine placed inside our private room so we don’t have to be away from you and we can breastfeed. If we took option 1, we can do the breastfeeding every 2 hours at NICU. We took option 2.

So through the night, we tried to breastfeed (but we were already having issues, more on this later) and place you under the phototherapy machine. You had to be naked (except for the diaper, booties, and mittens) so you can maximize the light exposure. You also had to wear this piece of carbon paper inside your diaper to protect Buckbeak Jr. Why we named your penis after a Harry Potter character is an inside joke I can’t share here, hehe.

They also provided us this shabby, makeshift, carbon paper eye cover to protect your eyes. We both hated this eye cover with our entire being. You kept on crying and tugging at it and it frustrated us both.

Makeshift tanning salon inside our private room.

And since you won’t stay or sleep in your hospital trolley/carrier unless we swaddle you, we had to wait until you’re asleep to put on the stupid eye cover (I hated it because it made you uncomfortable, but I knew you needed it -- all I’m saying is that perhaps the hospital could provide a better one) and turn on the phototherapy machine.



You were so fidgety and would only calm down if you’re sleeping on top of a pillow that was placed on top of my thighs. Your father and I took rounds that night because we can’t sleep at the same time. You would wake for feedings and we had to make sure you were getting as much light exposure as possible so your bilirubin levels would go down.

It didn’t help.

The following morning, we were advised to send you to NICU so you can get phototherapy treatment and close observation. Your skin was more yellowish than before. They had a grade/level system for that and you were already at level 3.

While we didn’t want you away from us, we also knew that staying at NICU would mean you’d get the treatment you need in a more efficient manner, faster treatment too, so we could all go home.

The doctors explained to us that I can visit NICU anytime to breastfeed you but during that time, we already had some issues. Unfortunately, the hospital didn’t have enough stock breastmilk (BM) that time because “umulan ng premature babies” (one of the midwives said) during the last week of October.

They told us we could ask for BM donations from friends and Breastfeeding Groups but we didn’t know any. So we agreed to give you formula milk (FM) while you stayed at NICU. We are well aware of the benefits and advantages of breastfeeding but if you're already hungry and getting irritable, we don't have any qualms about giving you what you need at a specific time. I’ll explain the drama I that took place in the breastfeeding room in another entry.

Of course, we didn’t want to stay longer at the hospital. In fact, when the resident OB-GYN Dra.IG checked in with us and informed Dra.JMF that we were still at the hospital, Dra.JMF was surprised because she already gave the discharge order to us on Day 3.

Mothers can visit NICU anytime so I made sure to check in on you before sleeping. The resident pediatrician there Dra.SEE told me that at first, you were quite irritable—crying all the time and hard to calm down. But after a few feedings of FM, you calmed down, therefore, the nurses there were able to feed you better.

I felt really, really guilty because I thought that our breastfeeding issues almost led to you becoming dehydrated. The doctors and nurses at NICU reassured me over and over that you didn’t become dehydrated but you were quite hungry when you first came in.

It was only your father and me who stayed in our private room on the 4th night. We were so exhausted due to lack of sleep for 4 days in a row. So that night, we grabbed the rare chance to sleep for a full 8 hours despite the regular checkups from the nurses and resident doctors during their rounds.

I still felt guilty and told your father all about my worries (waterworks included) and he told me that sending you to NICU was the best option because you’re getting round-the-clock observation so your bilirubin would go down fast and we can all go home.

He also told me what all the doctors already said—that physiological jaundice is normal and that phototherapy is a fancy way of saying you’re getting a tan at a fancy tanning salon inside the hospital. That’s one of the best things about your father—he knows how to make me laugh. But I told him to refrain from making jokes for now because whenever I sneeze, cough, or laugh, I would feel a sharp pain in my C-section wound.

On Day 4, Dra.CTP visited us and she reassured me that physiological (normal) jaundice in newborns is well, normal, and very common. She also checked you and told us that your complexion already looked good and we might not need another test to check your bilirubin levels. We slept soundly that night and were thankful for a full 8 hours of sleep before we face the happy chaos (because everyone is so excited for us to get home) again.

The next morning, Day 5, we received a call from NICU that Dra.CL already gave a discharge order and we can all go home. YEY! True enough, kulay tocino ka na. Hindi ka na kulay turmeric chicken!

Kulay turmeric chicken.

Kulay tocino! Ready to go home! Bad lighting, nasa waiting area kami ng basement parking.

After settling the bill and packing up our things, your father and I went to the hospital chapel to pray and thank God for all the wonderful things that have happened in the past 5 days at the hospital. And of course, for the wonderful new addition to our family.

Before we left the hospital, we also made an official announcement about you. :) Here's what we wrote:

Heeeeeere's Johnny!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped us navigate the past few days. It was a rollercoaster ride of milestones!

Longer post on http://dearpeanut2017.blogspot.com/ soon! 😎😒😍

Finally, we can take you home, anak.

XOXO,


Update (as of March 29, 2018): Changed my codename from Queen Bitch (QB) to Tiger Mom (TM).