Jaundice

So, the last few post I feel like I have tried to squeeze weeks into a few words--which is why I decided to do a whole separate post on our experience with Jaundice.

It was the day we were leaving the hospital, Thursday, when one of the doctor's from our pediatrician office came into our room to update us on Madison's blood work that they drew the night before. Her jaundice levels were higher than they wanted them to be, but they said they had also expected this because Madison and I have different blood types. This is when they told me to supplement so we could keep up with how much she was eating and to increase more dirty diapers to clear out the jaundice. The ped. updated us on what jaundice was and what the plan was--hoping it would clear up itself without treatment. Her jaundice level was 9 that morning, and they get worried when it reaches the 20's. I thought ok, that doesn't seem so bad then but we were still worried new parents though and freaking out a little bit. It had been smooth sailing at the hospital and then to have that dumped on us just an hour before being discharged was a bummer. We were told to come back to the hospital the next morning for them to draw more blood, which meant poking her little foot AGAIN.

Friday morning we went in, they took her blood and about an hour later the pediatrician called us with the results---12. Since this was such a significant jump, they wanted us to come in to get the home photo therapy which was essentially just a blue light (about the size of an iPad) that we placed her on 24/7. We just slid the light between her back and her onsies. She was also to sleep on it as well. At, this point we were freaking out that we had to go get a light and that her levels were rising.

Saturday we had to go back in for blood work, and got a call stating that her levels had gone up to 15. I was really bummed as I had thought for sure they would have gone down a little since she was on the light. We also had an appointment for her with the her ped on Saturday. Her weight was 7.1 lbs and they wanted us back in next week to check her weight again. They wanted to see her closer to her birth weight, 7.9lbs.

With that being said, we had to go back AGAIN on Sunday. Her levels had gone down to 12 I believe and they said to take her off the light and just to put her in direct sunlight for 15 minutes every 3 hours. They did not want us to do any more blood work, they just wanted her to come in Tuesday for a weight check and examine her for the jaundice. At this point, I could clearly tell it had improved and I had not realized just how yellow her skin was until it got better. You could see it in her eyes though and we were told this was the last to clear up. At this point they were not concerned and I guess they knew it would continue to drop as it did. Her eye's eventually whitened back up.

Looking back at this now, I realize how common jaundice is. We were so nervous about it at the time. You don't want to hear anything is wrong or have any reason for the doctor to have to keep an eye on your baby. We were in good hands though, and Gwinnett Ped's. was very thorough in keeping up with the situation. We are just glad to have it all cleared up and better! :)