We had quite a scare!

We came home from the hospital on Thursday (April 5) with orders from the Dr to go see a lactation specialist the next day.

At the appointment on Friday morning, it was determined that Lexi was dehydrated and they wanted us to supplement with formula. 2oz every 2 hours. Once we got home she was sleepy and not interested in eating. By 3:30pm she had only had about 3oz and was VERY lethargic.

She stopped responding to touch and was in a daze. No matter what we did she would not move. So we rushed her to the closest urgent care. They were not set up for a baby so they transferred us to another hospital in the area that was better equipped.

We got to the new hospital at 11pm and by 3am they had still not really determined what was going on. I knew that something was wrong, but all the nurses were saying that she is sleepy because she is a newborn.... but I know my baby... something was seriously wrong. FINALLY at 4am, a nurse noticed that she wasn't responding to pain - they pricked her foot for a blood test and she didn't cry or even startle. So that started a whirl wind of tests.

Basically they determined that she was severely dehydrated and was diagnosed as "failure to thrive." (because she wasn't eating very well)

Over the next few days they continued to re-hydrate Lexi, but she was still having problems eating. She couldn't wake up long enough to eat. Saturday night we called the Dr in to see us and she realized that the IV fluids were causing her to not feel hungry. The Dr discontinued her IV fluids and by 3am on Sunday morning she was waking up every few hours to eat. What a relief!

They performed numerous tests on her and thankfully she did not have any underlying issues other than dehydration. After a few days of observation, she was allowed to come home with us on Monday afternoon!

Now that we are home, Mike and I are pretty anxious. We constantly check on her when she is sleeping and count down the minutes until she wakes up. We are charting her food intake and constantly checking to make sure that she is eating enough. I'm sure that we will continue to stay a little paranoid for a while, but we cant help it.

Here are a few pictures of Lexi in the hospital: