Wasn't all smooth sailing

On Wednesday, the day we were suppose to be discharged the Dr. came in and said that our baby's bilirubin count was really high and he needed to be put under bili lights for awhile and see if he improves. Unfortunately after more tests, he was not improving and he was showing signs of inflammation in his system, so he was headed to the NICU. For any parent who has had a child sent there ( ours wasn't half as serious as most, but it was still scary for us), knows the scary feeling that comes over you when you hear this kind of news . After many tears and prayers we moved forward with a positive attitude. Thank goodness we have such a strong boy who is a fighter. His bilirubin count continued each day to go down and the possible signs of infection went away. He was in the NICU 3 LONG days and then got to go home.
I was lucky enough after being officially discharged, to board in my same recovery room at NO cost, so I could nurse Ash and be there 24/7 for him. What a wonderful option this hospital provides. We were soo grateful for the amazing loving care our little guy received and for how well informed the Dr's and nurses kept us through this whole ordeal.
He is actually still considered "at risk" and we were sent home with a bili blanket, which he has to lay on all the time and it just provides a small amount of phototherapy for him. He had blood work done today and his count has gone up again, into the intermediate range. So we have to go tomorrow and draw blood again, in hopes that it hasn't continued to go up, otherwise we may be headed back to the hospital. We sure hope not! The hard part about all this is he seems fine. He eats well and shows no sign of illness. We will keep an update going on our little guy.
My parents have been soo much help throughout this past week. Watching the kids whenever we needed them to, bringing me treats to the hospital, dinner, and just being so understanding and supportive. I am soo grateful they moved here just in time. I was especially grateful they could be there for the delivery, as well as my sister. That really meant soo much to me, to share this special experience with them.

So much in just one week.......

WOW, this has been one amazlingly long week, full of soo much excitement and emotion!
First of all, thanks Karli for getting a jump start on the BIG news for me. Finally, five days after the big day, I have a few moments (I should be going to bed though) to share the events of the week. Just to update a few details from karli's blog-our little guy, who has a name now, is
Ashkiilani Katsumi Hanamaikai. His first name is actually a combination navajo/hawaiian name which means heavenly boy. We really wanted to give him a navajo name since he is actually more that than hawaiian and no one in the family has taken on a navajo name. We will probably call him Ash for short. His middle name is one of Quinn's. We stewed over the name thing FOREVER but finally after 3 days in the hospital, it was official. A few other details, he was born @ 4:43pm, weighing 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 20 1/2 in. long.














Ame is such a proud BIG sister. Ash actually looks a lot like Ame did as an infant. She is always watching him, loves to hold him & feed him a bottle whenever she can. She is such a good helper with him. We are soo happy to have this new addition to our family. Even kaipo seems excited to have baby Ash around. He is slowly learning to be gentle and calm around the baby.