SOOOOOOOOOO glad to be home!!!!!!!

This past 9 days has been quite a ride! The arrival of Mason Benjamin Bucher came on Sunday, December 14th at 4:01am. We went into the hospital around 2am and I was dilated to 7cm. By the time my epidural was done, I was ready to push and had him about 20 minutes later. Thank goodness for our bodies knowing what to do after the first kid!!!

So he was 8lb 7oz, 19 3/4" long and absolutely beautiful and healthy! We planned on going home the next afternoon but got a call from the pediatrician that afternoon saying they found out that he has an ABO incompatability. This means that he has a difference in his blood type which I made antibodies to and passed him. These antibodies then fight against his red blood cells and cause them to break down and die and turn into bilirubin. A lot of babies get jaundiced in the first few days after birth but because of the increase in his red blood cells dying, his bilirubin went way up really quickly and he was at risk for dangerous side effects if we didn't do anything. So for 2 days in the newborn nursery he was under phototherapy lights. We thought we were going to get to go home and then his bilirubin level went up again. So I was discharged from the hospital and we transfered Mason to pediatrics for closer monitoring. When his levels went up even more the next day, they decided to put him in the NICU and give him some medicine through an IV that would bind to the antibodies and stop breaking down his red blood cells. After 2 doses of that, his bilirubin level started coming down and after 6 days in the NICU we were finally able to bring him home today. We have a "bili bed" that he has to be in most of the time other than to feed and cuddle him a little. Hopefully that will just be for a few days and then we're home free on the bilirubin. They said though that with babies with ABO incompatabilities, a lot of times they will need a blood transfusion at around 4-6 weeks due to their red blood cells dropping faster than other babies. So, we are praying that he will not need that, even though it is a routine in and out of the hospital thing.

God blessed us so much throughout this whole thing. I was able to get a room to stay at the hospital every night so I could feed him and be with him every day. God allowed him to be born at full term when he was at his healthiest and biggest so he didn't have any other health issues to deal with during this. He also took care of Mason and allowed the best doctors and nurses to care for him from day one and we were able to avoid an exchange transfusion (they basically exchange his blood for a donor's). God is so good and answered our prayers the whole way! Thanks to all of you who were praying for us, we appreciate it and know that it helped!

Through all this Cole has had a week between grandma's houses and being home a few nights with Adam. He has faired wonderfully and we are so excited to be able to be home with him and get back to being a normal family! And to be able to be home for Christmas is such a blessing! We are looking forward to the holidays and just enjoying being a family of 4! We hope you enjoy these pictures and have a wonderful Christmas!

at right: Mason in his "suitcase" phototherapy bed.