We got visits at the hospital, the night before we came home. Everyone was relieved that she was better. They weren't allowed in the NICU so no one had seen her for a week.
She was less fussy in the following days and her real character began to come out.
She still couldn't focus her newborn eyes, but she would try to stare at faces. It was as if she was catching up for the first few days she was out of commission.
RF would gamely take on anything he could short of feeding her as she was still breastfeeding. However, he did get the hang of cup feeding her from the hospital and he would tell me to pump a bit so he could feed her if she was hungry while I snatched a few minutes more of sleep.
Oona really slept a lot during those following days. We would watch her as she slept and try to make her as comfortable as possible.
Her color improved and so did her temperament. Of course, RF coming home from night shift would still take her to the rooftop deck for some sun. Then, they would come down for breakfast and fall asleep together.
Oona's Second Album: PAGES 17-19
Posted by Mommyluscious Labels: album, baby, birth, fatherhood, home, motherhood
This is back to the hospital for us.
The pedia didn't let us leave after her check-up. We had to have her admitted at the Newborn Intensive Care Unit for emergency light treatment.
That blue light is what kept her alive.
Without it, she could have lost the function of vital organs and her brain function.
I thought jaundice was just a small thing. It really is normal since all babies are born with it and their liver is able to process it immediately with the help of mother's milk.
The nutrients in the milk helps push out the toxins. But sometimes, it's not nearly enough. So, for my Oona, we had to spend a few more days in the hospital fighting it down.
I almost camped out at the NICU, spending more time there than in my own room. I couldn't bear it when I had to leave her after feeding time. I would instead spend the time in the nursing room, pumping milk for her. The good thing about it though, she was a natural being fed from a cup, as the hospital wanted to avoid bottle-feeding to help the newborns get used to their nursing at their mother's breast.
I was also unable to save the piece of left-over umbilical cord that fell off. Traditionally it's kept but Oona would have to do without the gross awe of seeing a piece of her cord when she's older. If she had gotten any worse, the pedia was preparing us for the eventuality of a blood transfusion. The only way to do that with a vein large enough was through her navel. I shudder to think how. So they kept her navel prepped and damp so the navel wound would be tender enough for the procedure. So naturally, the cord fell off and was thrown out.
Poor RF had to go back to work since his paternity leave was only a few days. He came straight from the office everyday, to crash on the hospital couch in my room. I was still being monitored for my blood pressure and the nurses had to tell me in no uncertain terms that camping out at the nursery was courting a relapse or binat.
Thankfully, the jaundice went down far enough for the pedia to be sure that it would continue going down after she's taken off from the blue light and we didn't have to go for the blood transfusion. Seeing her in the NICU with the clinical paraphernalia surrounding her with a dextrose, I don't think I could stand seeing her suffer anymore. She was just too tiny!
We were finally allowed to go home with out little tomato girl. Although her face was still puffy from the dextrose and the medication, her redness had lessened and we were told that the yellow would disappear.
We were just glad to have her out of danger, that even if she were marked with yellow eyes all her life, I wouldn't have minded at all.
Oona's Second Album: PAGES 12-14
Posted by Mommyluscious Labels: album, baby, birth, home, husband, love, memories, motherhood
These are the first few days at home. Sleepless, still racked with pain, exhausted and overly worried about Oona.
Is she crying because she's hungry? Too hot? Too cold? Not swaddled enough or too tight? Did she poop or pee? Does she want to cuddle? Be sung to? Are we too noisy or too quiet? Is she in pain? Is her navel bothering her? Is her jaundice getting worse?
Hay, the insecurity of new parents!
Plus the added worry that her pedia wanted to see her immediately after the weekend was over. The usual was seven days, but we were scheduled to see him three days after coming home.
It was the rainy season and no sun was coming out long enough for her to absorb as much vitamins as she can to beat the jaundice in her system. We were putting her under fluorescent lamps night and day, but we were scared it wasn't enough. At first she was just newborn red, then before the weekend was over, her eyeballs were yellow.
I was sick scared and RF was better at managing the worry. I didn't know what to do.
I was so frustrated because I just wanted her to be okay. I wanted her to be a normal, happy baby. I wanted not to be worried sick that the doctors would need her back at the hospital. I wanted to be well and mobile enough and RF and I to be rested to take better care of her. I wanted to know everything before she even had to cry so heart-breakingly for anything.
I think, it was my most helpless time. I didn't want to lose her.
In our private room, we had some time to ourselves as the new family. I was tired, cranky and yes, in pain. I wanted to get over the pain already and start enjoying my new family!
We were all adjusting to the new state of things and I wanted to cry myself when Oona cried. I couldn't move as fast as I wanted, to feed her or check on her . . . 
my regard for single mothers and the mothers of the past went up profoundly when I think of the comforts, medicine and advice readily available to me during those few hours. Not to mention my tired but loving and attentive husband, for whom I'm sure, the world changed with his daughter's first cry.
RF couldn't stop taking pictures even when he was so tired and sleepy. Oona for the most part was either sleeping or crying. She still drives us nuts nowadays but not as badly as the first few days. I wanted to develop mind-reading powers just to spare her the heart-breaking cries!
I sincerely don't know how we managed.
We were also able to welcome our first few visitors then: the proud family!
Oona was a first grandchild and niece on my side of the immediate family so most pictures here are of my clan!
Oona's Second Album: PAGES 5-8
Posted by Mommyluscious Labels: album, baby, birth, family, fatherhood, love, motherhood, second album
Our first family picture! I was so stoned. I was near blacking out while the doctors were cleaning me and Oona up. RF hovered. I thought Oona was going to drown on my boob. I was aware of fractured sounds, images and thoughts...I don't know what they gave me but I was higher than high. 
I was fighting it for all I was worth but the drugs, the exhaustion and the physical exertion was too much for me.
Oona and I roomed together from the get go. I still don't know if that was a good idea or not, but all I know is, I couldn't have let her out of my sight for a second. Although St. Luke's is a good hospital, I've heard too many horror stories of babies getting switched or kidnapped. Or maybe it was the drugs working on a new mother's paranoia. Nevertheless, the nurses and our new pedia (we acquired one between the delivery room and the post-op) gave us all the attention and care we needed as a new family.
I was still racked up with pain and RF was desperate for sleep. I don't know where we got the strength we had that day, but seeing Oona, holding her frail little babyness was an incredible experience.
She was so sweet! So tiny! So incredibly ours!
She looked like a burrito, swaddled in her blankets. RF was afraid to hold her because she looked so fragile! He was afraid he'd drop her but the nurses insisted he learn ASAP. I wanted to laugh so hard but all I managed was a dry chuckle. Pain. I was also so very thirsty from not having taken any liquids or eaten anything for over twelve hours.
Looking at Oona's pictures now, I can tell you straight away that at first I was struck at the absence of the intense feeling you kept reading in books. I understand now that it's a romanticized version of parenthood, although it does happen.
For me, I had the certainty that no matter who this little person would turn out to be, she was mine. Not in a possessive, I-own-you kind of way. . . She is a part of me I gave to the world. A part of my body, my soul. She is her own person, but she is as my own.
You know what they say about having children.
It's making that decision to have your heart walk around outside your body.
She was it.
I'M GETTING "PUBLISHED"!
Posted by Mommyluscious Labels: dancing banana, Databazaar, interview, PrintalesWell, interviewed actually. Online. But it's basically the same banana.
Hehe. Watch and be mesmerised! 
Anyhoo, back to earth, Kate Hughes of Databazaar came by Scraps Away and liked what she saw. So much so that she's asked me to participate in their site's blog feature articles called PrinTales.
*smugnessss* Let's take a moment to worship me . . . . . . . . . Alright, moment done.
Basically, Databazaar is a website for and about mostly printers. Desktop printers, large-scale printers, you name it, they know about it. They have information about faxes, paper, ink cartridges and different brands. Their articles in PrinTales are stories of people who do creative stuff with their printers.
And I'm being intervyoooowd! La-la-la-la-laaaa!
Of course, I have to come up with a project "with a special twist" to showcase on their site. The twist is to personalize it somehow for Databazaar and the project is whatever I can think of.
At first I thought it would be easy-peasy. But scrapbooking, per se's been done; cards and giveaways are out; framed stuff, someone's wrote in about that too. I wanted to be spectacular! Well, I could settle for original. Or at least, hasn't been featured yet.
So, my deadline being on September 2 and having no other time to do it, I did it during the weekend. I went back to basics, to way back when I literally threw scraps together and came up with something (Recycling is good!) like gift wrappers, notebook covers, etc. It was easier this time because I can jam things together using digital materials and I don't have to worry about the mess.
After it's approved, I shall post it and sleep! It's simple enough but I hope it shall be liked.
Again, the dancing banana!
{credits: wax seals; shabby princess harvest spice, fall holiday sampler and vintage florals}*blush*
