The Fun of Jaundice

Jaundice is something new and exciting that we're dealing with this go 'round.  It's funny because I swear Andrew was more yellow than Elliot is, but his numbers were fine and Elliot's weren't.  When we were still in the hospital his jumped from 7.5 to 11.5 so before we could leave we had to get a photo therapy light to take home with us.  His numbers aren't dangerously high, but apparently they were high enough to warrant a little extra precaution.

Chillin' on the bili light

On Monday we had to take Elliot to the pedi to have a heel stick so they could run the labs again and see how we are doing.  I had high hopes that maybe they would have gone down because he'd been nursing (and pooping!) like a champ.  Thank god J went with me so he could hold Elliot during the heel stick because it was awful. Hearing him crying and screaming like that had me in tears.  My poor little baby  :(   His weight was at 6 lbs 14 oz, so he was only down 10 oz from birth weight at two days old.

We made another appt for Wednesday and I was really hoping maybe we wouldn't have to go to it. They didn't call with the results like Dr. Graham said they would so I called the office Wednesday morning.  The nurse said they had the results and Dr. Graham said he would go over them with us at the appt.  So off we went to another pedi appt at four days old.  His bili had gone up to 14.8. Damn.  I thought maybe we wouldn't need another heel stick, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. This time Elliot was a champ and barely cried (so neither did I).  Dr. Graham really thought that his number would be down to 13 or so based on just looking at him. He said they'd call with the results this time but to be on the safe side we'd keep him on the lights for another 48 hours. (Oh, and he gained 3.5 ounces in two days and was up to 7 lbs 1.5 oz).

Yeah, I wouldn't like it either!

We got him home and back on the light. I was nursing him when the nurse called with the results.  Up to 15.9. Double damn.  So we had to make another appt for today for yet another heel stick.  Ugh.

A little family lounge time

We have been much more diligent about keeping him on the light these last two days because I do NOT want to have to go through yet another check.  Today's was just as bad as Monday's with the crying. I handled it a little better, but it's still so hard to see your little tiny baby in distress.  We didn't get a weight check today so I'm not sure what he is up to, but the kid can eat so he has to be gaining.

Speaking of which, I can hear the little guy starting to stir so it's time to go feed him.  I want him to eat as much as possible to flush all this bilirubin out of him.  Keep your fingers crossed that the light and the nursing are doing their job and we get good results today!