A Doctor's Visit Leads to a Hospital Stay

On Friday, December 13th Will had his newborn appointment with Dr. Gary Ray. Dr. Ray said that Will's skin looked really yellow and he had jaundice. Dr. Ray wanted to check his bilirubin level and see how high it was. The lab technician came in and pricked his foot to draw blood. Will didn't seem to mind the prick, but he did NOT like his foot being held down!

When we got the results back, Will's bilirubin level was 19.2. A normal level is around 11 or lower (Will's level was 10.5 when we left the hospital on Wednesday). Dr. Ray said this level was way too high and Will would need to be admitted to the hospital for treatment. At this point, this poor hormonal momma had to cry! I knew that jaundice was nothing to be too concerned about as long as it is treated, and I've known tons of people who have had jaundice (myself included). Nonetheless, I was upset that I just got my sweet baby home and now I've got to take him back to the hospital. :(

All I have to say is, thank God for wonderful nurses! We were so blessed to be surrounded by sweet ladies who took exceptional care of Will (and me, too)! Will had to have an IV and 3 nurses came in to help. One was rubbing his head to calm him and the other 2 were working together to get his IV.

Here's Will with his nurses

 

After they got him all squared away with his IV, it was time to go under the light. He could only wear a diaper and a mask over his eyes. He had to stay under the light at all times, with the exception to eat and change his diaper.

 

My poor baby under the UV light

 

Since Will was basically naked, we had to keep the room very warm so his body temperature could stay up (it had dropped down to 95 at one point)... and Joseph and I stayed sweaty the whole time, but I would gladly be a sweaty hot mess for the sake of my baby! 



Dr. Caballero was the doctor on call for the weekend, so he's who we got to see Saturday morning. He told us that Will's bilirubin had gone down to 12, but that he would rather us stay one more day since it was cloudy outside and we wouldn't be able to give Will much sun exposure to bring his level down just a smidge more. He left the decision up to us and, of course, we wanted to stay and make sure our boy was one hundred percent before we took him back home.

On Sunday afternoon Dr. Caballero came to let us know that Will's bilirubin was down to 9 and we could go home!!