Friday, March 29, 2013

Our little Gloworm

Let me fill you in on the past couple weeks.  Haddie Grace is now almost 2 weeks old, and the first week was a crazy one.  When she was 24 hours old she was jaundice**; she had high bilirubin levels.  We were planning on leaving the hospital around 1pm on Wednesday, but of course that didn't happen because the theme of Haddie Grace's birth was: it's not supposed to be like this.  When the nurse practitioner came around Wednesday morning she ordered them to repeat the bilirubin test at 2pm and pending the results we could leave Wednesday evening.  Well, of course her levels were higher (and apparently were in the "dangerously" high zone) so she had to stay in the hospital an extra night on phototherapy.  I was discharged, but thankfully there was extra space so they allowed us to stay in the hospital an extra night as "nesters" so we didn't have to go home without our baby.  If we had to leave her there overnight I would have lost it.  Actually I wouldn't have left...I would have slept in the waiting room or something and figured out a way to nurse her, but thankfully it didn't come to that.


**A quick note of clarification for those of you unfamiliar with jaundice.  (Again this is just as I understand so don't take my explanation into any scientific exam...)  Jaundice is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin (and mucus membranes) caused by high bilirubin levels.  Bilirubin is basically a byproduct produced by your body as it breaks down red blood cells.  Your body is constantly breaking down red blood cells and your liver works to rid your body of the bilirubin.  A newborn's liver has not fully developed so sometimes it has trouble  When babies are born they have a very high concentration of red blood cells that were necessary in utero.  Those red blood cells are broken down after birth which can sometimes cause high bilirubin levels in the newborn.  Jaundice is more common in exclusively breastfed infants.  My pediatrician said that 95% of breastfed infants have some form of jaundice (not all of those require phototherapy) which has led some to question as to whether there is some physical benefit to being slightly jaundice at birth.  Anyhow, the dangers of jaundice is that if the bilirubin levels get too high the bilirubin crosses the blood brain barrier and can cause brain damage- worst case scenario. 


So Haddie Grace was put on "moderate phototherapy" in the hospital.  Basically, she laid on top and underneath UV lights that help the body excrete bilirubin.  The lights in the hospital were actually pretty neat because they were 2 pads that were not connected to the bed.  So I could still hold her and nurse her "under" the lights.










Baby girl is stylin' with her sunglasses and tan...  In fact someone came to visit us at home the other day and one of the first thing she commented on was how "tan" Haddie Grace was compared to Chris, Phoebe and I.  That's because she spent the fist several days of her life in a tanning bed...
They re-tested her levels Thursday morning and again Thursday afternoon before she was discharged home with a bili-bed for continued phototherapy at home.  After multiple visits to Kennestone Hospital to have her blood drawn (via heel stick) at the outpatient lab, her levels came down low enough to stop the phototherapy on Sunday evening.  Poor baby's feet were like a little pin cushion.  I think we may need to go back to the hospital on Monday for one last heel stick just to make sure everything is within the normal range.


Whew, we were glad to finally get home and get rid of the lights!  I'd like to say things have been smooth sailing from there, but then of course there's breast feeding...  I'm beginning to wonder if God didn't intend for me to nurse babies...

Linking up with The Friday Baby Shower, YOLO Mondays, Mommy Mondays, and Monday Mingling 



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13 comments:

  1. Isn't it amazing what all our babies tolerate? I would hate to have cords and bright lights around me 24/7!! Not to mention the sweet shades Velcroed round head. My second son developed jaundice on his 3rd day. We were a bit shocked b/c all was well up til then. It took almost 7 days of home light therapy for his levels to regulate. Those daily heel pricks were horrible, broke my heart. Glad to hear Haddies all better! Keep at BF'ing. It will sync soon :) xo!

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  2. hang in there- God's holding you together :)

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  3. i had that when i was a baby. SO glad you got to stay at the hospital with her! and I LOVE LOVE LOVE her name - beautiful!!

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  4. I'm glad she's out from the lights! I wonder what babies are thinking about the glow lights and the heel pricking...

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  5. My sister was jaundice too, and I remember all the home movies from that first month (July) were of me playing in the plastic pool in the driveway while my mom held Kacey out under the sun. I loved that little pool, though, so I just played and played and played. Kacey was super tan too!

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  6. Thanks for linking up on Mommy Mondays! Our first child had jaundice too.

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  7. Awww she's so cute! My baby had that when he was in the nicu and he kept trying to pull the sunglasses off! He only had the overhead lights though, not under too. Thanks for linking up with us and I'm glad to read everything is going well now!

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  8. so glad you are able to be home now! haddie grace is beautiful :)

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  9. aww my little sister had that and my mom stayed with her for a week in the hospital!! I was so ready to get out of there by day 4 lol!!

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  10. So glad all now going well and that you were able to stay with here - like you don't think I could have coped being separated.

    I will be featuring this post at this week's Friday Baby Shower, Alice x

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  11. Oh Jen, I'm just catching up. Sorry about the jaundice. All my babies were jaundice but never had to have the lights. Very thankfully. Hope the breastfeeding got better. I had a rough start too and have with all 3 of mine. In fact I had a clogged duct this morning. :(

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  12. My son had jaundice and he didnt have to do phototherapy at the hospital but we did have to stay an extra day for them to keep an eye on it. He ended up having to come home with a blanket! it is funny how that Jaundice makes them look tan!! lol. my son was that way and everyone commented on how pretty his skin looked. lol. I just laughed and went on with it. No need to explain to everyone that comments on it. haha. =)

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