we just can't stay away.

Apparently Claire loved her first few days in the hospital... enough so that we were only home for about 12 hours before we made a return trip.

We're still here.

Did you know that staying in a hospital this long feels like you're in jail? In case you didn't know that, let me enlighten you-- it does. And it stinks, especially when your baby girl is the reason you are here.

Miss Claire had a doctor's appointment the first day post-discharge to check on her weight, since she's a preemie. I also wanted to talk to the doctor about what I thought was probably reflux. Gabe is on Zantac, and reflux is really common in preemies, so I thought the constant vomitting was probably from that. It had worsened a LOT since we came home from the hospital, though.

The doctor Claire saw noted she had lost more weight (10% of her body weight, to 5 lbs 3 oz) and agreed it sounded like reflux but wanted to double check with the head doctor prior to starting her on medication. She is so little and this particular doctor had never put a three-day-old on medication before. The head doctor came in to consult and said because it was unknown if I had group B strep, he'd like to take Claire's temperature and then send us to the hospital for a quick blood draw to rule out any infection. Well, when he took her temperature it came back at 95 degrees. He canceled the rest of his patients for the next couple of hours and escorted us to the hospital immediately for admission, a full sepsis work-up, and a spinal tap. When we got to the hospital Claire's temperature was 94 degrees, even with a fleece car seat cover and two blankets. The doctor warned me that if her white blood cell count was too high or low, he'd be calling a team from Vanderbilt Children's to come pick her up and transport her to Nashville. We were pretty scared.

Thankfully, her WBC came back okay, as well as about 95% of her labs and her spinal tap. We are still waiting on one or two more cultures. It took six hours in a 90 degree isolette, but eventually her temperature came back up and she is no longer vomitting, just spitting up. For the last twelve hours, Claire has been maintaining her own temperature in an open air crib with the help of a hat, shirt, and six blankets :) She is a bundled up little peanut, but things are starting to look up.

Nursing seems to have finally clicked with her, although she is still very tired, and she has gained an ounce or two. She is going to start Reglan for reflux today and see if that makes a difference. She is going to finish some antibiotics she was given via IV (side note: did you know how hard it is to start an IV in a baby her size? I didn't either, until I saw her bruised hands, feet, arms, etc. from her veins blowing every time the NICU team tries to start one!) and if all continues to go well we should be going home tomorrow!

We're so excited... and can't wait to have a family picture that isn't in the hospital. Grow, Claire, grow!