That first night Rondalynn was born we noticed she was starting to get a little jaundice and by the next day she looked like a cute little yellow highlighter!
Her whites of her little eyes were even yellow!
We had kinda expected this because shortly after she was born we were told that we were diagnosed with DAT/Coombs +
This means that my blood type of O+ and her blood type of A+ weren't completely compatible and had mixed a little in the womb causing her to get jaundice.
So because of this and how high her bili levels got she had to be put on the bili lights to help break down the bili in her blood that she would pass in her stool.
It was a little scary for me because if her levels were too high she would have to go into the NICU for triple photo therapy but if her levels were low enough she could do single or double photo therapy in the room with me. One of the biggest pluses for me having her at Scottsdale Shea was because she never left my room. They have no regular nursery so everything from first bath, hearing test, and everything else is done in the room right there with mom and dad.
Working in the medical field I knew just from how yellow she was that her levels were high and I can't tell you how much I prayed while we waited what felt like an eternity long hour and a half for her results and yes I did shed a tear or two telling Ron about it and I would be lying if I said as I'm writing this post I didn't get misty just remembering those emotions of my baby maybe having to go to NICU.
When I heard the nurse come in I held my breath knowing she was coming in with results and then I heard the aid as well and what sounded like they were carrying things I started to get excited that her levels weren't triple photo therapy high and when they came around the curtain all smiling with a double photo therapy blanket! I honestly wanted to jump up and kiss them both!
My baby would be able to stay in the room with me but because we didn't want her to be on the lights for a long time we knew that she would have to be on them as much as she could to lower her levels. Which meant we only got her out when it was time to feed her. So I only got to hold her during that time. Even when we changed her we did it as she laid on her tanning bed blanket (as we jokingly called it) while she laid in her bassinet.
She wasn't a big fan of it because of her "sunglasses" and the bulky blanket made it really hard to swaddle her and she hated not being able to be swaddled.
When I fed her the blanket had to be on her as well which made feeding her a bit difficult but it was nice to get some snuggle time with her before she had to go back to her bassinet, which she also didn't like with the light because she had to lay on her back and wasn't able to move as much.
For a day and a half she tanned on her little glow blanket and got loves from visitors who sadly couldn't hold her but understood because it was much better for her to be on the lights, but on Sunday morning her levels were back to a normal level and she was able to ditch the photo therapy equipment!
The doctors were thrilled and shocked how fast her very high levels went down and the staff said that we were some of the most compliant parents of a bili baby and kept her on the lights as much as we could, even when she nursed and we even supplemented with a little bit of formula to help her pass the excess bili stuff. It was at this time I learned that she was very, very, very close to having to go to NICU for triple therapy but my amazing nurse Susan and the doctor said that they would give the double a try first!
Of course I had to take pictures of my tanning beauty so here you all go to enjoy my little glow worm!
Even all glowing and with her shades she is still the prettiest glow worm ever!
But because of this we have a very, very good chance that all of our babies will have some time on the bili lights but because we will know ahead of time we can put them on the lights earlier before the levels get too high!
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