Days 2-6 of Nadezhda's life: Jaundice - The Bilibug
I held her while we both slept for 3 hours that first night and I sweat all over her. We woke up cold and damp. We got dried off and fed and went back to sleep for another 4 hours. The nurses brought her in and said it was time to feed her although she wasn't acting to hungry. I wondered if she was just going to be a deep sleeper or if it was concerning that she just wanted to sleep.
I remember my Dad being concerned the next morning that she just wanted to sleep and didn't cry or eat much. Later that day, my mother-in-law and I both looked at her and said she had jaundice. Sure enough the nurse's test showed that she did. This explained the sleeping and not eating. We stayed in the hospital for another day while they kept an eye on her. After we were discharged from the hospital we had instructions to feed her every 2.5 to 3 hours, even through the night. Also we were instructed to have her spend some time in only her diaper by the window to get some light onto her. This helps get the bilirubin levels down.
For the next four mornings we also had to take her back to the hospital to get a heel prick to check bilirubin levels. By her second heel prick (on about the 4th day of her lil life) she was at a high bilirubin level and was put on bili-lights. She looked like a little glow worm After about 3 days of the bili-lights she was back to a healthy skin color and had no more lights attached to her.
A new mom + breast feeding + thinking your baby HAS to burp after every feeding + thinking diapers had to be put on perfectly straight + required feedings every 3 hours = NO SLEEP EVER!!! Wowsers that was tiring. But it only lasted a bit, thankfully.
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hooked up to the bili-light pad |
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laying on the bili-light pad |
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lights off, watching the little worm glow |
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See the resemblance |
Sleep and lack of sleep
