My Yellow Baby
You may recall that my wife and I painted our nursery yellow with some fairly radiant consequences. We eventually repainted the nursery a less-obscene shade of yellow, which is probably for the best: My baby is incredibly jaundiced.
Jaundice is fairly common, especially in babies born via induction or premature. My wife and I were both jaundiced as infants. I spent a few days under the heat lamps, right next to hamburgers and fries, before I was able to go home.
My baby's lucky, she gets to be home. After visiting the pediatrician and lactation consultant yesterday, we were given some strict marching orders: feed her, feed her regularly, and hope she poops. The life of a baby, right?
So now, instead of just enjoying the frustratingly delightful first few days of parenthood, letting our natural intuition and ignorance battle it out, my wife and I have a goal: keep baby home. Little Rebecca's flirting with going back to the hospital to be put under the florescent lights. Our pediatrician recommends a hospital stay (however brief) if a baby's bilirubin number hits 19. Rebecca was 12.5 when she left the hospital, 17.2 yesterday, and 17.7 today. We're hoping that by tomorrow, after a full 36 hours of bi-hourly feedings, her count will fall, her yellow tint will fade, and the jaundice subsides.
In the meantime, we have to feed her every other hour. The process takes about 30-45 minutes. Overnight, from about 11-7 am, we can stretch feedings to every three hours. I hardly know what to do with all that free time.
Rebecca is fairly oblivious to all this, changes in her poops aside. Jaundice has some cyclical effects that are counterproductive. Jaundiced babies can naturally lower their bilirubin count by eating regularly, gaining weight, and excreting regularly. Jaundiced babies are also notoriously lethargic and sleepy. Keeping her awake between feedings is tough, sometimes she's curious, other times she cries, but mostly she sleeps. We have to wake her up to feed her. We should all be so lucky to have such a schedule.
She's sleeping behind me, bathed in sunlight, as I write. She took a few active moments to open her eyes earlier, that doesn't happen too often (at least until around 4 am).
My wife and I closely monitor and track her intake and output. We try to keep her awake during feedings and we try to keep her excited and awake between feedings from time to time. All in an effort to keep Rebecca out of the hospital and in our home. Admitting an infant for jaundice is usually a 24-hour process. A baby enters the hospital, spends most of her time under special lights, parents can come visit, and everyone goes home happy the next day.
Were Rebecca's count to hit 19, that's what would would happen. She'd go into the hospital, mom and dad could only visit and have to spend the night at home, quietly, without a crying child. And we are both actively working to prevent this. We're working to keep our daughter home, where we can watch her, and feed her on the hour of each odd hour; where I can watch her start to squirm and cry as she discovers how to poop, and she can mostly lay silent, asleep in her chair, while her mother and I worry about her health, her personality, and what college she might want to attend.
Ask me last week whether I'd choose the one-night reprieve from baby duty over the 24-hour routine, and you'd get a different answer than now. Don't get me wrong, we want what is best for our daughter. We want her healthy, happy, and a normal hue. But we want to try it ourselves - try to feed her and change her and take care of her - before medical professionals kick in.
We're parents.
Oh, and since I don't really have the time or inclination to write/update as much as I'd like, enjoy this baby photo from earlier today.
Jaundice is fairly common, especially in babies born via induction or premature. My wife and I were both jaundiced as infants. I spent a few days under the heat lamps, right next to hamburgers and fries, before I was able to go home.
My baby's lucky, she gets to be home. After visiting the pediatrician and lactation consultant yesterday, we were given some strict marching orders: feed her, feed her regularly, and hope she poops. The life of a baby, right?
So now, instead of just enjoying the frustratingly delightful first few days of parenthood, letting our natural intuition and ignorance battle it out, my wife and I have a goal: keep baby home. Little Rebecca's flirting with going back to the hospital to be put under the florescent lights. Our pediatrician recommends a hospital stay (however brief) if a baby's bilirubin number hits 19. Rebecca was 12.5 when she left the hospital, 17.2 yesterday, and 17.7 today. We're hoping that by tomorrow, after a full 36 hours of bi-hourly feedings, her count will fall, her yellow tint will fade, and the jaundice subsides.
In the meantime, we have to feed her every other hour. The process takes about 30-45 minutes. Overnight, from about 11-7 am, we can stretch feedings to every three hours. I hardly know what to do with all that free time.
Rebecca is fairly oblivious to all this, changes in her poops aside. Jaundice has some cyclical effects that are counterproductive. Jaundiced babies can naturally lower their bilirubin count by eating regularly, gaining weight, and excreting regularly. Jaundiced babies are also notoriously lethargic and sleepy. Keeping her awake between feedings is tough, sometimes she's curious, other times she cries, but mostly she sleeps. We have to wake her up to feed her. We should all be so lucky to have such a schedule.
She's sleeping behind me, bathed in sunlight, as I write. She took a few active moments to open her eyes earlier, that doesn't happen too often (at least until around 4 am).
My wife and I closely monitor and track her intake and output. We try to keep her awake during feedings and we try to keep her excited and awake between feedings from time to time. All in an effort to keep Rebecca out of the hospital and in our home. Admitting an infant for jaundice is usually a 24-hour process. A baby enters the hospital, spends most of her time under special lights, parents can come visit, and everyone goes home happy the next day.
Were Rebecca's count to hit 19, that's what would would happen. She'd go into the hospital, mom and dad could only visit and have to spend the night at home, quietly, without a crying child. And we are both actively working to prevent this. We're working to keep our daughter home, where we can watch her, and feed her on the hour of each odd hour; where I can watch her start to squirm and cry as she discovers how to poop, and she can mostly lay silent, asleep in her chair, while her mother and I worry about her health, her personality, and what college she might want to attend.
Ask me last week whether I'd choose the one-night reprieve from baby duty over the 24-hour routine, and you'd get a different answer than now. Don't get me wrong, we want what is best for our daughter. We want her healthy, happy, and a normal hue. But we want to try it ourselves - try to feed her and change her and take care of her - before medical professionals kick in.
We're parents.
Oh, and since I don't really have the time or inclination to write/update as much as I'd like, enjoy this baby photo from earlier today.
Labels: Health, parental responsibility
Delivered by SteveJeltzFan. Born on 8/24/2007 02:01:00 PM PERMALINK
5 Comments:
Adorable. As a new dad myself, I hope all goes well in the next few days.
I had the same problem with my son. I was hysterical about the idea of having to leave him in the hospital. Fortunately, it didn't happen, but I had to supplement with bottle feedings, which led to the end of nursing after only 4 days. But we all lived to tell the tale.
BTW, you never reply to my posts, so I was wondering if I'm being annoying or maybe, possibly, helpful.
Not at all, Mamacita - in fact, I've really enjoyed your insight. It's nice to know that others out there have been through similar experiences, neuroses, etc. And, you clearly have great taste in baby names, too!
BTW - we "beat" jaundice as of this morning. She's still got it, but much less than before. An impromptu hospital visit for a late-night bilirubin test confirmed the good news. Less sleep for mommy and daddy, but such a load off our minds!
Yay!
It gets easier, I promise.
Take that, jaundice!
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