Miyo had to stay in the hospital for a few days after the c-section. The nurses said she and Caleb had to stay till the end of the week to make sure Miyo was recovering well. In the meantime, Caleb unfortunately became dehydrated and developed jaundice. It was a little scary. Caleb got dehydrated to the point that the Fontenelle, or the soft spot, became visible. This, of course, was a cause for concern and the pediatrician at Rome Memorial didn't sound too sure about sending us all home by the end of the week.
On Friday, Roger and Miyo were anxious to get home. Miyo was all packed and dressed, fully expecting to be let out by mid-morning. It seemed, however, that the doctors wanted to make sure Caleb's bilirubin levels (they measure the amount of bilirubin -- which usually gets filtered out of the blood by the liver -- in the blood) were going down or weren't too high to send him home. We were really worried and just anxious to get our baby home. Miyo was especially sick of being in the hospital at this point, as nice as all the nurses and doctors were. ... It took until almost 3 p.m. that day before the pediatrician got the results and was able to talk to us about what we needed to do to take caleb home.
The pediatrician seemed to be testing us, asking us all sorts of questions about whether or not Caleb's room was ready and if we were ready to take him home (OF COURSE WE WERE!!!). After talking to us a bit about what we would need to do to monitor Caleb's dehydration, tests hwe would need to undergo etc., he finally said "You seem like a good couple, eager to take good care of your baby. I have no problem letting you take him home. Just make sure to follow the instructions I'll give you."
They wheeled Caleb in, and Roger and Miyo RIPPED the hospital's clothes off of Caleb, and put him in the layette set we brought for him. That simple action made us feel like we were taking full possession of our baby, he was now officially OURS!
Read about a special visit from Caleb's Uncle Kaoru and Aunt Diana.
The first month at home with Caleb seems like it was a really long time ago.
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