Day 1

Today I brought Lily home from the hospital. Her mother went into premature labor at 35 weeks pregnant. Lily was underdeveloped and had a low birth weight of 5 lbs 4 ounces. She was kept at the hospital for 4 weeks to overcome many obstacles. Lily was born addicted to cocaine and began having spasms shortly after birth. She needed a feeding tube because she did not have the ability to suck on a bottle. For ten days she needed a respirator to breath. She was kept in the neonatal intensive care unit and given medication to help her overcome the symptoms of withdrawal from cocaine that was in her mother's system. When I brought her home she was screaming and crying most of the time and then would suddenly fall asleep. The best advice I was given was to keep the baby swaddled to prevent her from thrashing around an getting hurt. The swaddling gives her a sense of comfort.