- Born on December 9, 2017 (induced labor one day after due date), weighing 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) and 50 cm (19.7 inches) long, at RIPAS hospital in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
- Adelyn actually spent more time in the hospital than out during her first month of life, although it was close to a 50/50 split. We spent her first week at RIPAS hospital while she received preventative antibiotics as a precaution and was monitored for signs of GBS infection (since I did not receive IV antibiotics during labor). After we came home a midwife visited us every other day for a week. Then my parents came to meet Adelyn and celebrate Christmas/New Years with us. On the day we picked up my parents from the airport, Cameron had started coughing and was running a fever. Over the next week almost everyone in the house caught Cameron's cold, including Adelyn. On December 30 (3 weeks old), although she didn't have a fever and I was carefully suctioning her nose regularly, we noticed Adelyn's congestion and coughing had gotten much worse to the point that it looked like she was struggling to breathe. We decided around 10 pm that night to take her into the 24 hour clinic and they admitted her to the NICU a little after midnight due to low oxygen saturation. The next day, test results revealed she had RSV. She was in the NICU on oxygen support for 3 days, then transferred to a normal hospital room where we could stay together for another 6 days until she was finally deemed well enough to go home. The next day she turned one month old. So in the end, that month we spent 17 days the hospital and 14 days at home. On the upside it provided me lots of opportunity for postpartum rest and recovery and time to bond with and snuggle Adelyn with no other distractions, but on the downside it was very lonely at times and not easy to watch her suffering.
- Size: (At 1 month checkup/5 weeks old) Weight: 3.7 kg/8.2 lbs (14.2%ile), Length: 54.4 cm/21.5 inches (52.4%ile), HC: 38 cm/15 inches (77.4%ile)
- Sleeping: During the first 2 weeks she was classically flip flopped and awake frequently during the night and sleepy during the day, breastfeeding every 1-3 hours and sleeping in between. Around 2 weeks she started sleeping for one or two longer stretches at night, up to 4 hours. She settled into a rough schedule of 4-5 daytime naps with bedtime around 10:30 PM, a long stretch of sleep until 2 or 3 AM, and another long stretch of sleep until 6 or 7 AM. Alternatively, sometimes she'd wake for an extra nursing session, so instead she'd be up around midnight-1 AM, 3-4 AM, and 6-7 AM.
- Eating: Exclusive breastfeeding, every 1-3 hours round the clock, excluding longer nighttime stretches (up to 4 hours) that developed after the first 2 weeks. Not the easiest transition for me back to nursing, but it also could have been worse. I think she had a bad latch the first few days which caused me quite a lot of pain, but we corrected it. On day 8, the day we came home from the hospital, I started to feel some pain and tenderness and that night and the next day had a high fever. I think it was probably a blocked duct, but it resolved after a few days. I also was concerned about my supply dropping when she went into the NICU because I wasn't allowed to breastfeed her for the first 12 hours after she was admitted. I was completely unprepared to stay that night so didn't have my pump, and they didn't have a pump there that I could use (#wut #expatlife) so I ended up hand expressing into the sink (seriously) and later into a bottle during the early morning hours until Justin was able to bring my pump the next morning. I pumped quite a bit while she was in the NICU, sometimes nursed her directly and sometimes the nurses gave her pumped bottles, and my supply remained adequate.
- New This Month: First bath given by the nurse at the hospital on day 2. Met Grandma and Grandpa Olson for the first time. First Christmas. First sickness. Lost all her hair off the top of her head at 3.5 weeks. First smile at 4 weeks + 1 day.
- Likes/Dislikes/Habits: Likes snuggling with mommy, nursing, and sleeping with a pacifier. Dislikes baths, having her nose suctioned, and being poked by needles (duh).
Photos by Nicole Payne--all rights reserved.
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