Mother's Day, one day late

Last year was officially my first mother's day as a mom, but it wasn't what I pictured my first Mother's day to be. For starters, I thought I was still going to be pregnant for last year's Mother's day! Audrey was 6 days old, we were trying to figure out breastfeeding, not getting much sleep and Audrey was jaundiced, which is typical of babies born a little early (she was about a week and a half early, so it wasn't too bad.) Anyway, the poor thing had to get her heel pricked and squeezed 5 out of the first 7 days of her life. The blood sample told the doctors if the jaundice level was ok or if it was too high. It wasn't high enough that she needed treatment right away, but just high enough that we had to keep drawing blood and re-checking the level every day until she was 5 days old and then the doctor finally decided that she needed to have the light treatment. And it just so happened that the 24 hours that she had to lay in the torture chamber, uh, I mean, the light therapy bed, was on Mother's Day.

Audrey was born the Monday before Mother's Day, so I was very excited, and had my heart set on having Audrey's first time at church be on Mother's Day...that did not happen.

She spent Saturday evening and Sunday morning in the light bed. She had to lay there in just her diaper. We could only get her out to feed her and change her diaper, other than that she had to lay under the lights with these ridiculous goggles on (which she hated). She would scream and cry and pull on the goggles. We eventually figured out how to get the goggles on her once she was sleeping and then gently lay her in the light bed...it was not fun. The only perk about the bed is that it was warm. As a mom, especially a first time mom, it was such a helpless feeling. I knew the best thing for her was to lay under the light as much as possible, but it was so heart wrenching to hear her tiny 6-day old cry and not be able to scoop her up and comfort her in my arms. Tyson and I took turns watching her during the night so we were each able to get a few hours of sleep. Here's a few pictures of her getting the light therapy:



This picture shows just how yellow her skin was. And this picture also proves what diligent parents we were to keep the horrible goggles in place all night...she kind of looks like a little raccoon.
Saturday night some dear friends came over to bring us dinner and we asked them to stay and eat with us. Of course, she had to be in the light bed as much as possible, and she was mad in the light bed. Our friends assured us that her crying didn't bother them; the wife was pregnant so they said they'd better get used to the crying, anyway. Along with dinner, they also brought me my very first mother's day balloon! It was so sweet of them. And it helped make my first mother's day a little better.

Well, here we are a year later. I just celebrated my second Mother's day as a mom yesterday and the second year was much better than the first. I knew it would be. :)

Happy Mother's Day (a day late) to all the mommies out there...