Back to the hospital :(

A day after coming home, we were sent back to the hospital.
On Saturday morning, Aubrey's vomit turned lime green. I jumped on the internet to see what that meant, but because I've been blessed with perfect timing of things, her doctor called right there and then to follow up. I told her about the vomit, and she had us schedule an appointment at their after hours clinic to bring Aubrey in.

Apparently, it was a serious issue. We learned that her intestines were twisted (not too badly, but bad enough) and she needed an operation. We weren't expecting any of this. I thought they'd just give her meds and we'd be sent home. Instead, we're here at the hospital for another 4 days while she recovers.

They operated on her last night, and it wasn't an easy moment for me and her papa. We knew it had to be done, we had to watch her get poked at with needles for the IV (and her little hands got bruised in the process), see her little body move around in xray..... it's just very hard to take it all in, knowing she's only 3 days young and has a very small body. She's inexperienced with most things, yet, she's experienced one of the major things her body will ever go through already.

Her jaundice level also went up, but as of this early morning, it started going back down. Later today they will run lab on her to determine the level, and we are hoping that she doesn't need treatment for it.

Mama's here in the room waiting for her to heal, while papa went home to spend some time with big brother Gerard..... we all miss him so much, and it breaks my heart that we can't spend these precious days together. It feels like we haven't seen Gerard much in the last month because of moving house (he'd been staying with grandparents), and then Aubrey's birth, and now her surgery.... hospitals aren't allowing children under 16 to visit. Aubrey's been grunting and letting out a cry here and there, it also breaks my heart that I can't hold and comfort her. I won't be able to feed her until doctor says she's ok for it. In the meantime, I've been pumping. Before we took Aubrey in for treatment, she did latch on to me already 3 times. It's unfortunate that none of what I was feeding her really made it through her intestine, which explains why she was vomiting the formula we were giving her prior.

Papa and I can't wait until we can bring her home, and for us to be together again with Gerard. Christmas is coming up, we haven't had the chance to put our house in order or put any decorations up, or even bring Gerard out to see the lights. I almost feel like we might have to skip Christmas this year, but we'll do what we can to make it warm and memorable under the circumstances. I still need to buy Aubrey her own Santa stocking because the 3 of us already have one of each from last year. This year was supposed to be a meaningful Christmas to but we got set back with this operation. However, by all means, we are so very grateful that this was detected early as things could have been worse. So I am thankful that these doctors and nurses are around (instead of taking their holiday vacations early) to help us through these times.....   if it weren't for such people, I don't know how life would be for anyone who has medical needs. Ever since Gerard's birth last year, my appreciation for nurses have really taken a shot up because they are the most wonderful service people I can think of -- they do their jobs well to make it comfortable for patients.