Jaundice

Our poor little Luke got diagnosed with a slight case of jaundice.  On the day that we were to be released (10-7-14), the nursery nurse informed me that Luke's jaundice level was at 95% and he most likely would NOT be going home.  I was super bummed to hear this because we were so ready to bust out of the hospital.  They told me that if that was the case, I would be staying in my room as a guest and not a patient until his release.  Dr. Fullmer, our pediatrician, stopped in a little later and told me that Luke was looking well and that he would release him to go home but we would need to take bili-lights with us and use them overnight.  While waiting to be released Luke spent a good couple of hours on the lights at the hospital.  We were told that the bili-light would be delivered to our house but as we were leaving the hospital the company providing them called and said the didn't deliver to our town so we would need to go to Lindon to pick them up.  Talk about a pain in the neck.  We were ready to go home, to get Tyke and be home under our roof as a family of four!  The last thing we wanted to do was drive thirty minutes north to pick up lights before heading home.

We got the lights, which were in the shape of a "blanket" and headed home.  Instead of being able to hold baby Luke we had to strip him down to his diaper and wrap him up in lights.  This "blanket" was about as wide and long as Luke so it didn't really cover much area.   We were able to wrap it around his belly and that's all that got covered.

On Wednesday (10/8/14) after having Luke on lights for 24 hours, we took him to his pediatrician for a visit and a foot poke to check his bili-rubin.  Luke had gained a few ounces of his birth weight back and checked out great.  We were sent home and called a couple of hours later with bad news that his levels had gone up.  And so Luke had to spend another 24 hours on the lights and had to have another doctors visit with another foot poke.  His poor little feet were bruised purple from being so picked on.

Thursday's visit (10/9/14) Dr. Fullmer wasn't in, so we got to meet with Dr. Miller.  He was confused as to why we were only given a light blanket and not the the suitcase lights.  After checking Luke's levels again, and seeing that his numbers had gone up again(!) (which was normal for Luke where he was born nearly three weeks early), he ordered us the suit case and sent us on our way.  We hung around in Payson waiting for the final word from the doctors office of whether the lights would really be delivered or not so we stripped Luke down to his diaper and layed him in the sunlight.  That night around 8 p.m. the lights were delivered and we immediately stuck Luke on them, covering his belly with the blanket so that he would be getting as covered as possible.

Friday (10/10/14) we met with Dr. Fullmer and he apologized for not getting us the suitcase lights to begin with.  He pointed out that Luke's coloring looked really good and that he seemed active which was a good sign.  Luke had his poor foot poked yet again and we were sent on our way.  We anxiously awaited Dr. Fullmer's phone call and really hoped and prayed it would be good news.  The day before, Luke's levels had been over a 17.  Anything close to a 20 meant a possible hospital stay and we were nervous that that was where we were headed.  Dr. Fullmer called around 6 p.m. that night and gave us the good news!  Luke's levels had dropped to a 14.7!  Because he had dropped nearly three points the doctor told us we wouldn't need to come back in for another foot poke, yay!  He told us to keep Luke on the lights until Sunday night and then we could be done with them!

By Sunday night Luke was looking great and he was loving being snuggled by anyone that would hold him!  We're so glad to be done with the lights!!  Yay for no more jaundice!!