The NICU and some Potty News

Kian was doing well and home for 6 days when we had a big scare. We took him to get circumcised on day 6 and the doctor said the procedure went well. He immediately went to sleep which we thought was normal since the cir probably knocked him out. However, after 3 hours, Kian was still dead asleep and not responsive to us waking him. Then we checked his diaper and saw a considerable amount of blood on the circumcision. We called the doctor who told us to call 911. The paramedics came and we got admitted to the ER. After several hours (we were there from 8pm-2am) and many doctors/nurses later, we were told to admit him overnight in the NICU to make sure the bleeding would stop. We also found out through a lab test that he had severe jaundice (although his pediatrician who had seen him that day thought he was okay, despite us asking her if she thought he looked too yellow). So not only did he stay overnight at the NICU, he also was under UV lights. We thought we'd be able to take him home the next day but the doctor thought he should get one more round of UV lights so he stayed another night. The good news is that the circ bleeding stopped. Thank goodness for that. What a traumatic first week for the little guy! It was hard seeing him back in the hospital but at least he won't remember a thing.

In other news, Alia is now almost 100% potty trained. I have been introducing her to the potty for the last 8 months but haven't been consistent with it. She has never actually tinkled in the potty at home, just gone #2 a few times when I've caught her in the act and put her right on it. But she seemed to understand the concept which was frustrating to me because I didn't understand why she just didn't "go." She showed interest in the potty, would make me read all these potty books to her, would want to use toilet paper and flush, and would even simulate the sound of pee! She just wouldn't actually pee in it.

Since she is in school now, after the first two weeks, they put the kids right into training pants and make them use the toilet. Alia's first week of potty at school was last week. Imagine my surprise when she had only one accident the first day and 0 accidents the second and third! She totally "got" the toilet at school and was going on it! But at home it was a different story. She would want to sit on the potty but just wouldn't go. It was so frustrating and she was also starting to either hold it for many hours or have an accident. I didn't understand why she wouldn't go at home but would be perfect at school. Finally I tried a tactic my friend told me about which is to just hold her down and force her to go even if she resists. To my surprise, this actually worked and we finally had a breakthrough on Sun when she resisted and tried to get off and finally peed in the potty. Since then she has gone with little resistance except for the few times when I do have to hold her down still. Also she continues to go at school with no pee accidents. What a relief!

Here are some recent pictures of the two, but mostly of Kian. I have so many pictures of Alia, it's nice having a second subject to shoot now!