The adventures of Caleb, Caris, Chloe & Family
Chloe is doing great! She saw the pediatrician today and has surpassed her birth weight already. She’s a whopping 7#,12oz. Like her siblings, she loves to eat. She has treated us very nicely. It must have just been the jaundice that made her so fussy and not want to eat in the hospital.
5-Day Stats:
Weight = 7lb, 12 oz
Height = 20.5 inches
Head Circumference = 35cm
Here’s Chloe in her hospital room. Cute little animal designs on the walls. Chloe was getting so fussy. She had stopped breastfeeding well and wouldn’t take her supplemental formula feeding. Baby Chloe was not a happy camper on her bili-bed. She was driving this mommy’s hormones crazy with all her crying. Thank you, Tom, for watching the kids so Chris could come help me at the hospital. It was such a relief to not be by myself with Chloe’s non-stop crying. I was getting flashbacks of Caleb’s colicky cries. Despite Daddy’s soothing and our switch from finger feeding to bottle feeding, Chloe’s still crying up a storm. Finally, the charge nurse takes Chloe and puts her on her tummy. She settles… praise God! This mommy goes to sleep. Daddy goes back home to Caleb and Caris. Chloe starts to feed well again. Yay for pee. Now she just needs to start pooping again. Bilirubin be gone.
Next to my bed is all the breast pump stuff and supplemental feeding supplies. Process of feeding Chloe: Breastfeed on the left side, then the right side. Supplemental formula feed using a feeding tube attached to my finger or my breast. Then pump, pump, pump so I can get my milk supply in.
You can’t see in the picture, but in front of my bed is another table for my computer where I get to do these updates and try to work on my last assignments for a summer class at Fuller.
Thank you, God, for taking care of our little girl and bringing her some quiet moments now on her bili-bed. This mommy is relieved!
Chloe on her Bili-Bed. We’re still in the OB unit, waiting for transfer. Baby Chloe is in her little bili-bed wrapped in a blanket with UV. She’ll head over to the pediatric unit later where she’ll be under the double lights.
Little Chloe is yellow now. Too yellow. She earned herself admission to the peds unit for bili-lights. Hopefully one night of lights will be all she needs. So this mommy will be discharged this afternoon, head home to spend a little bit of time with the big kids, and head back to feed and care for Chloe while she’s in the hospital. I’ll take pics of the bili bed when Chloe gets back from her hearing screening test.
Update on siblings: Caris is loving her little sister. Hmm, maybe a little too much, but we’ll work on that. Pray for unusual gentleness from an active 19-month old. Caleb is having some difficulty with adjusting. He’s excited about Baby Chloe, but his behavior is telling us that he’s a bit anxious about this new addition. Pray for him to adjust well and not need as much attention right now.
Baby Chloe has hair… well, at least for now.
Here’s a link to see some pics of Chloe taken by the hospital photographers. They give us this password, but I didn’t have to use it to see the pics…. 37101307576184
http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=ebbf7043-6f5c-44fa-8bdc-dcb4fd2cfff6
Chloe Hannah Wong
Born September 2, 2010 (or as Chris likes to point out… on 90210)
10:41PM
7 pounds, 9.2 oz
19 inches long
Baby Chloe, you had us so confused as to when you actually might be coming… with some preterm labor before 31 weeks, and lots of prelabor contractions from 35 weeks on, we thought for sure you were coming early. But, you came after 39 weeks only 6 days before your actual due date. And, at 7#9oz, you proved to be the biggest out of all our children, nearly surpassing Caris by 2 pounds. Yes, those extra 2 pounds do make a huge difference for delivery. This mommy is a little bit more tired and sore than the last time around. But that’s ok. You’re worth it! Welcome to the Wong family.
I love my fist!
Chris and I made a decision to not get a van or bigger SUV. It’s just too much of a financial commitment. We weren’t sure if this was going to work or not, but 3 car seats can fit across the back seat of our compact SUV. Our kids are going to have to deal with not having a lot of personal space.
On another note, my mommy nesting instincts are kicking into high gear. I’m having trouble slowing my brain down with my “get ready for baby†task list swarming in my head. Poor Chris. He was so tired, but I made him set up the car seat late at night cuz I really needed to take one more thing off of my checklist. I have a final paper for seminary class due on Sunday (tomorrow). I have a lot of work to do to finish it, but I’m having trouble focusing to get it done. Would love your prayers!
So, Chris setup the fish tank Sunday night… almost. All we got was the fish tank. Here are pictures of Chris getting the fish used to their new water temperature.
Here are our fish in the tank. They really do seem much happier. No more fast-moving gills begging us to give them more air. And we found them alive in the morning. Yay.
We’re missing the cover/hood. The tank came with one, but the switch was broken. We quickly learned that we definitely need a cover with the kids around.
After 2 trips to Walmart to get the cover exchanged and to buy gravel (to keep the tank cleaner), extra filters (to keep the tank cleaner), and a couple decorations (for the fish to hide in when the cats and kids scare them), we now have our fish tank all set up. Caris likes the fish too.
OK, fish… so for all this work in setting up a tank for you, you better not die on us.
No, I’m not referring to the baby girl we’re expecting in the next couple of weeks.
The Wong Family now has 2 goldfish, compliments of the Duarte Library Carnival. Caleb and Caris had all these tickets from participating in the summer reading program. Caleb sees all these kids carrying goldfish in a bag, and tells Mommy that he wants a fish. Mommy goes to Daddy and asks, "Should we get goldfish with these extra tickets?" Instead of telling me that getting fish is a crazy idea, Daddy says, "Sure. Every kid needs a fish." Oh ok. I don’t know anything about fish. How hard can they be to take care of? I’m sure I have some type of vase to throw these goldfish into. 
Now, 2 days later and 2 water changes, Daddy has just gotten back from Walmart at 11:15PM with a 10-gallon tank. Apparently, goldfish are not as easy to maintain as we thought. They tend to suffocate in their never-ending waste production when placed in small bowls that have too small of a surface area for good oxygenation. *Sigh* Our little 1/4 gallon vase is filthy and these poor fish are frantically seeking air at the top of the vase.
Chris & I are both too sympathetic to watch our fish die, so we now have a real fish tank. Who’s going to feed these fish when we travel? Any volunteers?
Man, these fish better not die on us any time soon. Caleb really likes these fish. I’ll post new pictures of our fish in their new tank once Chris gets done setting it up.
Some of you may have received these prayer requests. If not we’d welcome your prayers. Thank you for your prayers.