Friday 8th - Monday 11th August 2008

Having Nicholas at home has been wonderful, I feel better already and am starting to settle into the routine of having a new baby in the house......having my mom here has been an absolute god send and we are sharing the cooking and housework on about a 70/30 split (70 to her and 30 to me lol) which is helping me to walk before I have to run (lol).

The first night home was absolutely horrific and I spent much of the night wishing I could just go back into hospital....I think Nicholas was just very unsettled and with all the new sights and sounds he just couldn't switch off and go to sleep, by 03h00 I was exhausted with no milk left and leaning over the side of his crib crying while he sucked on my finger for an hour. I am delighted to say that things have improved considerably, and Simon was actually able to sleep in our room for the first time last (Sunday) night.

Saturday passed in a blur of dirty nappies and breastfeeding (I am sure all you moms out of there remember those days), I did manage to get out of my pajamas, but only just (lol). Sunday was Nicholas' first bath day and after the initial shock of finding himself undressed and back in warm liquid, he settled down and really started to enjoy himself. We have a wonderful conservatory on the front of our house which is an absolute sun trap and Nicholas and I spent some quality time (with a camera of course) enjoying the warmth and exposing his little "yellow" skin the to sun's healing (but filtered) rays.

14h30 was appointment time at the hospital and although Nicholas's jaundice levels still have not dropped since he left hospital, at least they haven't risen and he has been able to maintain without the lights. I confessed to being a little worried and freaked out, but my logical and calm husband and mother have been talking me through it and I am feeling better about it all now.

Nicholas is definately thriving and has put on another 70 grams which takes him over his birth weight and he is just the most delightful contented baby you can imagine. The elevated levels however do mean that he needs to return to the hospital again on Wednesday for more checks, but I am praying that this time things will have started to change.

Mom, myself and all three children took our first outing into Burgess Hill today in search of Macdonald Burgers and to show mom the wonders of the Argos shop.....Nicholas was a total treasure and slept all the way through the trip and both Megan and Phillip where on top behaviour so all and all a lovely way to spend the morning and after all those days in hospital really really nice to be out.