Friday, August 12, 2011

First Baby Adventure: Blue Light Special

Life is never dull once you have children, and it wasn't long after we brought the baby home that we had our first bit of excitement with him.  At his first well baby check the following Tuesday our pediatrician suspected he was jaundice and ran some labs.  That night she called and let us know that he did indeed have too much bilirubin in his blood and was jaundice. 

Babies of Asian decent have a higher liklihood of being jaundice, but the doctors at the hospital had been so happy with his color that I'd kind of thought that it wouldn't be an issue this time.  ER had been a little jaundice but hadn't needed any treatment.  I didn't realize that levels peak between 3-5 days old.  While he'd been a nice pinky shade at the hospital by his first doctor appointment, he was most definitely yellowish.  I totally saw it once, the doctor was on the phone telling me,  She told Brad the next day that he was aglow when we brought him in, so she wasn't surprised by the results. 

The intervention most of you are familiar with or have heard of; I'm sure there are some of you who have been through the same thing.  He needed phototherapy treatment for a few days.  Later that night we had a biliblanket delivered to our door and the second visit of the day from a home care nurse, the first was for me earlier that morning to remove staples.  The biliblanket is kinda neat and I'm certainly glad they have portable versions of the lights so we didn't have to take him back to the hospital.  It does look kinda crazy to see your baby all glowing bright blue.

I'm happy to report that the treatment worked and he didn't seem to mind it at all.  We think he liked being so warm and toasty.  It was just a bit of a hassle dealing with the cord when trying to feed and the machine was noisy for mom & dad.  The worst part was that his poor feet had to keep getting poked as he needed to be tested four days in a row.  They warm the foot and then have to fill a small vial, he cried whenever poked but then calmed right down.  I think that part was hardest on Mommy thinking about it back at home.  Brad got to take him in each day, as the complications from my incision made it hard for me to move about and get to the doctor.

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11 comments:

  1. Oh my. I was very blessed that none of my kids had any real problems with jaundice. I'm glad to hear he's doing better.

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  2. What a sweet baby! Look at that adorable face!

    I'm glad his levels are better now and you didn't have to take him to the hospital for it.

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  3. We have had to deal with this several times. Not fun but I was a bit annoyed to learn that jaundice is simply a color unless there are blood incaptibilies.

    He's is so cute, gives me baby fever again.

    Yellow id a Color by Dr. Jenn
    http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=140369879354676

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  4. Hang in there, Katie!!!! He is a beauty!

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  5. He is beautiful! That light blanket is really neat. I'm glad his bilirubin levels settled down.

    I hope you are healing up fine now?

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  6. I remember those needle pricks like they were yesterday for my 3 1/2 year old. But, of course, he doesn't! ;) I was afraid I'd have to do it all over again with my daughter, but she stayed nice and pink. Hope you and he both heal quickly. :)

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  7. Katie- Congratulations! He is absolutely beautiful. Glad he is doing well. Big hug to you. Wish you the best!!

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  8. Zoe was jaundice, really bad. She had the bili blanket for 1 week. It worked for her. We were in every other day getting her pricked. And boy was I surprised when I received a huge bill in the mail from insurance saying this wasn't medically necessary. Of course I pitched a fit, and the entire bill was paid. Glad his levels are better.

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  9. My son had to do the light too - he fooled me thinking he'd have my coloring. Nope he's so white =D

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  10. Your little one is so so cute! Congratulations!
    I was thinking about you all and so wanted to stop by to say hello!

    Blessings & Aloha!

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