Jaundice

Monday the 21st I took Dylan for his checkup with his regular doctor (Dr Nelson).  We had left the hospital on Friday, and for the most part, things were going really well.  Dylan is such a chill baby and a great sleeper (unlike his older brother).  

Dylan was looking good when we were at the doctors, but Dr Nelson noted his jaundice and said just to be safe, we should get his blood levels tested.  Since the office is right next to the hospital, they had us go to the lab at the hospital to do the blood draw.  Before we left, Dr Nelson was talking to me about the numbers for the level of jaundice and if it's over 20 there's major cause for concern, 15 to 20 is very worrisome, and under 15 is most likely fine, but needs to be watched.

Honestly, I was very unconcerned.  I knew he had a little jaundice, but I knew it would resolve on its own.

Later that afternoon my family arrived at our house after driving out from California, and Casey and Mitch came to see Dylan too because they hadn't had a chance to see him yet.  They were here for about 5 minutes when I got a call from the drs office.  I saw the caller ID and figured they were calling to tell me everything came back mostly normal and to keep an eye on the jaundice levels.

Wrong.

I did not expect them to tell me that Dylan needed to be admitted to the hospital because his jaundice level (19.7) was way too high.  I found Connor, who was giving a tour of our house, told him quickly what was going on, and then told the lady on the phone that we'd go back to the hospital ASAP.

Connor and I rushed up to our bedroom with Dylan and Connor gave him a blessing before we left.  My mind was somewhere else when we said goodbye to everyone that had just gotten to our house.  I didn't even notice Casey and Mitch when they left.  Conveniently, my mom was there to look after Matthew while Connor and I went back to the hospital.  Matthew didn't really remember my mom, but he did really well.  Luckily, he got over his separation anxiety when I went back to work earlier this year.

When we checked in at the hospital they had been notified that we were coming and had things mostly set up for us.  The girl that was checking us in kept telling us how sorry she was that we had to go through this. 

I was concerned they were going to tell me that I couldn't stay there with him that night, but the nurse, who was in his room when we got there, encouraged me to stay with him all night.  They had another baby coming in that same day who was also jaundiced, so she said it would make her job easier if I stayed.  I really liked that nurse.  

Dr Nelson came in and talked to us about Dylan's jaundice level and their plan of treatment.  Lights, lights, and more lights.  He didn't need an IV, and best case scenario we would only be there overnight.  Something I wasn't thrilled about is that Dr Nelson wanted me to pump and feed Dylan so they could know exactly how much he was eating.  I asked if we could just weigh Dylan before and after each feed, but Dr Nelson didn't feel that would be accurate enough.

Not much later, I heard Dr Nelson and our nurse talking in the hall and she was fighting for me to be able to breastfeed Dylan instead of pumping and bottle feeding him.  She told Dr Nelson I could just write down the start time of each feed, and how long he fed for and that would be enough.  He eventually agreed, and I was so grateful that she fought for that.  

Dylan has been a champion breast-feeder from the start, but I was really concern that introducing a bottle to him when he was only 4 days old, would put a strain on his ability to nurse.  There's nothing wrong with bottle-feeding, but I really enjoy being able to breast-feed my kids and it is something that's really important to me for a lot of reasons.  I was so relieved when the nurse told me I didn't have to pump.  I thanked her and told her she was my hero for the day.  

I had to nurse Dylan each hour for 10 to 15 minutes.  If I waited to nurse him every 2 hours then I was supposed to nurse 25 to 30 minutes.  So, there wasn't much sleep in store for me that night.

When they finally got Dylan under the lights, which took hours for some reason, he did great under them.  He was so sleepy (probably from the jaundice), and he laid there easily. 

They retested his levels around 10 pm that night and the numbers came back at about 17.5, so we knew it was working, thank goodness. 

I didn't sleep more than 30 minutes all night long.  Connor had gone home and gotten me my pillow and some other things that I needed, and then came back and ate dinner with me.  Luckily, Davis Hospital actually has pretty good food.  And amazing chocolate chip cookies.  

Connor left about 8:30 to get home to put Matthew to bed.  He actually came back again later to bring me some more things that he had forgotten, and then he was gone for good and I was so bored.  I tried to read a book, but I couldn't focus so I watched American Ninja Warrior and other mindless television.

They told me they were going to come back at 4 am to retest, so I was ready to go.  I had him fed and everything so they'd be able to do it quickly.  Unfortunately, they didn't show up until 5.  Rude.  The test came back at about 15.5, so we were still making progress.

After that, I wasn't as concerned about his jaundice level, and Dylan was pretty much done with lying in the incubator.  He much preferred to be nursing, or at least cuddling me or Connor, and I couldn't blame him.  Connor showed up around 8am and after that I was finally able to get some rest.  I slept for a couple hours and tried to stay conscious while feeding Dylan but that was hard.

When we had him out of the incubator, we still tried to keep him in the lights, but it obviously wasn't the same, so when they retested his levels they were down to about 14.

I did my best to keep him under the lights, but I wasn't going to just let him cry and stay under there.  If it had been life threatening, then I would have had to.  But at this point I felt that he was okay.

Dr Nelson had checked in with us periodically and told us we would be out of there before 6.  We hoped it would be well before, but they were slow.  At 3:30 he said he would sign the discharge papers, and at 4:30 we were finally out of there.  

Before we left, Dr Nelson asked if we thought we needed to get a bili blanket so that Dylan could do more phototherapy at home.  I said I didn't really feel that it was necessary, but I also didn't think Dylan's bili levels were that high in the first place, so maybe I wasn't the best judge.  Dr Nelson was nice and said he trusted my instinct, and Connor agreed that we didn't need the blanket at home.  We just needed to keep Dylan in the sun periodically.  

I had to take Dylan back to the dr on Friday, and since Dr Nelson had gone on vacation the day after we left the hospital, we saw a different dr in the practice.  He said that Dylan's jaundice was looking better and to just keep watching it.  

At Dylan's 2 week appointment, Dr Nelson wasn't at all concerned about the jaundice (which was minimal), so Connor and I finally stopped worrying about it.

I was so stressed at the time, but now looking back it's easy to see how blessed we were that Dylan's jaundice resolved so quickly, and that the treatment was pretty easy (all things considered).  Some babies have to get blood transfusions because their levels of jaundice are just way too high.  I'm grateful that it never came to that with Dylan and that our sweet little baby is continuing to thrive.