Monday
Monday was an interesting day. We called the pediatrician in the morning because I thought Juliet's eyes were looking a little yellow. We had known that her levels were borderline high in the hospital, but at that time no one seemed concerned enough to do anything about it despite my attempts to bring it up to anyone and everyone (ugh). So, we got an appointment for 4pm where we found out that they were in fact quite high and she'd lost almost a pound since birth. These two factors combined caused the doctor to prescribe 24x7 photo therapy treatment along with a very frequent feeding schedule (including formula supplementation) until her level gets down to under 14. So, we set everything up in the front room. She's in her pack-n-play except during feedings ... our little glowing angel baby. We took turns sleeping out in the recliner with her while the other got an hour of shut eye between feedings/changing/etc.
Billirubin = 19.6
Weight = 6lbs 3.5oz
Tuesday
After a long night, we went back to the doctor at 4pm praying for a significant drop in her billirubin level. While the drop wasn't significant, her weight gain was! The doctor said that she was looking much better and that we had her sufficiently hydrated. We were optimistic that one more day of the lights would be sufficient.
Billirubin = 18.2
Weight = 6lbs 7.5oz
Wednesday
More of the same routine. We were now experts at the whole photo therapy thing, but ready - really ready - to be done. We went back to the doctor at 2:45. Her level was down, not significantly and not enough to turn the lights off quite yet, but they were down ... maybe just one more day?
Billirubin = 15.9
Weight = 6lbs 8.5 oz
Thursday
Same ol' same ol' ... back to the doctor at 2:45. Dropped SO CLOSE to 14, but not close enough ... by this point we'd seen 2 doctors, 1 nurse practitioner, and a handful of nurses. Everyone knew us and was asking how things were going, if we had to come back, etc. She had gained another 3 oz since Wednesday, so that was encouraging. We were making progress, just slower progress than we'd anticipated and hoped. Today, we stopped the formula supplementation. She was getting enough milk from mom without it and clearly wasn't having weight gain issues anymore!
Billirubin = 14.6
Weight = 6lbs 11.5oz
Friday
Our appointment was from 10:15 which made me a little nervous because it wasn't even 24 hours since our last appointment which wasn't much time for her level to drop. We didn't make it under 14, but thankfully the nurse practitioner thought we were in the clear and could just keep her in indirect sunlight as much as possible.
Billirubin = 14.1
Weight = 6lbs 12oz
So, after a week of "fun," we're light free and finally able to hold and really enjoy our little girl!
Pictures from the past week
 |
| week one |
No comments:
Post a Comment