Our Little Glow Bug

On Friday I took Caleb to the Ped for a weight check. It is a regular thing that you have to do for infants until they reach their birth weight again. Thursday Mom and I were noticing how Yellow looking Caleb was. Considering it was Day 5 of life for him I kind of hoped it would go away and was just part of the natural progression of life. Unfortunately Friday morning he was much worse. Caleb's weight was down an ounce since Tuesday and he most definitely was Jondice. The Ped was concerned about the weight but most likely it is a combo of the jondice levels and the timing of when my milk came in. So after the Ped appt. I went off to the hospital to get his levels checked. His level was 18.5/7 I know that at 20 they admit him so it is a pretty high number. We now have him hooked up to a billi light 24/7 and I am trying to feed him as much as I can. It is becoming rather old and starting to mess with my emotions. Caleb can really easily move about 5 feet in a room without unhooking his machine which leaves me pretty much stuck in a chair all day. I have been trying to feed him every hour and a half during the day to get his weight back up and his levels down but it is hard. Last night he slept all night. Now that may sound great and amazing and I would love to say that I have a good sleeper on my hands but he really needs to be eating. I did wake up around 2:30 (thanks to Ben's bad dream) and tried to wake Caleb up to feed him. He ate a bit but not nearly as much as I would have liked. Hopefully all the hard work on eveyone's part will pay off at tomorrow's hospital visit/Ped appt.

Below is a description of jondice just in case you are wondering what it is and what causes it.

While the baby is in the womb it is dependent on the mother for food and oxygen. Both these reach the baby through the umbilical cord that connects him to his mother. The baby's blood has additional red blood cells to help in the distribution of oxygen through out his body. After birth the baby begins to breathe through his lungs and hence does not need the additional red blood cells. His body will start disposing off the extra cells. These red blood cells are destroyed in spleen and a major by-product thus produced is bilirubin. The liver removes the bilirubin from the bloodstream and passes it on to the intestines. As the baby's liver is still developing, it is unable to manage, the sudden increase in bilirubin during the first few days. The large amounts of bilirubin in the blood will make the baby's skin appear yellow. Immediately after birth it is normal for babies to have a small amount of jaundice. But if the concentration of bilirubin in the blood is high it could damage the baby's brain. You should ask your doctor to monitor your baby constantly if he has jaundice. Things that you can do:

• Breast-feed your baby as often as he is willing to feed. This will aid is reducing the bilirubin in the blood.
• Breast milk is sufficient to remove the extra bilirubin you do not need to give him any other fluids.

If the amount of jaundice your baby has is high, your doctor will treat him using phototherapy. They will place the baby under a light, naked expect for an eye patch for a few hours, for a few days. This light will not harm your baby in any way. He can be treated in a mobile unit in your room.