The Big J

Over the past few days we have been dealing with a little jaundice at our house. I haven't mentioned it here on the blog, because I have just been so bummed about it. But Harper is doing much better and I am trying not to sweat the "small stuff" so I will fill everyone in.

The day we were scheduled to leave the hospital, the resident pediatrician let us know that Harper had high counts of bilirubin (a yellow-pigmented dead red blood cell) and they wanted to keep an eye on her. So of course, I immediately rack my brain of all the baby books I have read trying to remember just what billirubin and jaundice were and Kevin immediately started googling.

Jaundice is when babies have high counts of bilirubin, which is usually broken down by the liver. Sometimes, a baby's liver doesn't work the way it should and the bilirubin settles in the intestines and fatty tissues (skin, brain, etc). And because it is yellow-pigmented, it causes the babies skin and eyes to look yellow or orange. If it goes to the brain, (in extreme cases) it can cause mental retardation. Fortunately, Harper's case wasn't near that scary. The best way to get rid of jaundice is for the baby to poop as much as possible, so that the bilirubin doesn't build up in the intestines. Once it goes to the skin, a baby can be exposed to a bili-light (which mimics sunlight) and the light will break down the bilirubin and then the liver can flush it out. 

After, the hospital nurses checked her bilirubin counts again, they said we could go home but we needed to check in with our pediatrician the next day. We were worried, but we were thankful to go home and thankful that it wasn't any worse.

So the next day we headed to our pediatrician's office, there they drew blood and checked her levels. She was 16. 8, which is considered high risk. We were told to feed her as much as possible and put her under a bili-light. We would come back on Saturday and check her level again. If they were to go down, we could quit the box, if not, we would try again the next day.

 

"The Box"

The home health company came out that day (Friday, 1st day home) and set up the light. We were told to leave her in the light as much as possible, which means all the time, unless she is being fed or changed. She had to be in her diaper only and she had to wear little goggles to protect her eyes. As soon as we heard that she had to lay in there alone, we predicted a lot of screaming. She had been held almost 24 hours a day up to that point and she didn't much appreciate being left alone. However as soon as we put her in "the box" she was out. We were amazed! Kevin asked if it would be okay if we kept the goggles. =)

 

Sun Tanning

The goggles are cute but pitiful

So Harper didn't mind the lights that much, but we sure did. We weren't able to hold her and she had to wear those little goggles, and when she did cry, she had to stay under the lights. It was pitiful! We hated not being able to hold our baby. That first night, we moved the pack-n-play, which contained the light box, into our bedroom. Imagine a flood light shining on you while you sleep. That's how it felt. AND we had to keep the house set at 74 degrees. So the room was hot, and bright, and Harper was pretty mad from about 11:00 to 3:00 that night, so needless to say, we didn't sleep.

On Saturday, we headed back to the pediatrician and checked her levels again. They had only decreases by 0.4. We had to use the lights for another 24 hours. I was heartbroken! I've always been one to get my hopes up. And no matter how hard I tried to be realistic, I wanted her out! That night, we worked out a better system. We left the light box in the living room, and turned the bedroom into a cool, dark haven. Then we took turns being with Harper. During nursing times, I would go to the living room and Kevin would get some sleep in our bedroom. During "sleep" (fussing) times, Kevin would stay with Harper. It worked out that we each got an hour and 15 minutes to sleep during each 'shift'. This schedule worked a lot better.

Sunday, we trooped back to the doctor's office again. This time, neither of us had our hopes up. Her eyes and face were still yellow and she hadn't pooped near as much as we'd have liked. Her bilirubin level was 15.6, so we were assigned another 24 hours under the light. We were told we could take her out of the light on Monday at 5:00pm and give her a break before her appointment Tuesday morning.

5 o'clock Tuesday couldn't come fast enough!

When we did get her out of the box that evening, we held her like there was no tomorrow!

So today, with hopeful hearts, we headed back to the doctor, for the fourth time. After a long wait today, they called with her results. Her levels were low enough to take her off the light. Praise the Lord! We'll spend a few more days, breastfeeding and formula feeding to keep her pooping as much as possible. But we are in the clear and we can finally say good riddance to that awful box!

Hopefully, without the box, we can begin working on a schedule. Right now, she thinks that 11:00pm to 3:00am is party time. She also needs to learn to fall asleep without being held. We can finally work on these things instead of staring at her helplessly.

We know that there are a lot of worse things that could happen to a little one like her; we are thankful it wasn't worse. And now we are also thankful to have our baby in our arms!