Our Jaundice Journey

     So before we could get discharged from the hospital, the doctor let us know that they needed to take a blood sample to check Eden's bilirubin levels.  If they weren't too elevated, we could go home and be monitored through outpatient.  If they were too high, they would need to keep her in the hospital for some intervention.

     We got word that we were cleared for discharge around 2:30 on Monday afternoon.  Dr. Smith said that we would need to go to outpatient the next day for another bilirubin check.  We went the next morning, and it was miserable.  They stuck Eden's poor little heel and then literally "milked" her for 2.5 ml of blood.  She was a champ...mommy and daddy were the wusses.  Her levels continued to rise over the next few days.  (Yes, we had to go back to outpatient daily!)  On Wednesday, Dr. Smith said that if they continued to rise, we would need to consider supplementing with formula.  Needless to say, I cried over that statement.  I was pumping a ton of milk, so I couldn't understand the need for that.  I mentioned phototherapy or a "bili-blanket" as alternatives, but Dr. Smith said that insurance probably wouldn't cover that.  We decided that we didn't care if insurance covered it or not, we were going to look into another route!

     After doing my research, I found that breastfed babies absorb more of the nutrients from the milk, so the bilirubin is harder to flush through their system resulting in jaundice.  We made it a priority to ensure that she was eating on a regular schedule, and we decided to strictly syringe feed, so we could physically see how much milk she was getting a day.  I decided to delay regularly breastfeeding to ensure she was getting enough milk to get that nasty bilirubin out of her body!

     We decided to call some of the medical supply places in Bowling Green to hunt one of the lighted blankets down.  The lovely people at MedEquip had a lighted blanket called a Wallaby!  On Thursday, we were anxiously awaiting Eden's bilirubin results to let us know if we needed to rent one of the blankets!  However, MedEquip closed at 5:00 and by 4:30, we still didn't have our results!  We made the executive decision to at least go rent one (for $80), and if her levels had decreased, we'd take it back, but if they had increased, we were gonna use it!  Dr. Smith finally called with Eden's results (after we had rented the blanket).  He stated that they had gone up again, and that he would recommend some samples of formula.  I explained that I had already rented the Wallaby blanket, and that I would like to try that for a night before switching to formula.  He was all for that (after he cautioned me that insurance probably wouldn't pay for that again!)

     So Thursday night, we hooked our little glow worm up!  Jeremy thought she looked like Iron (Wo)Man!  She was too cute, and it didn't seem to bother her one bit!  It did make diaper changes kinda interesting, but they were manageable! 

 She stayed in the Wallaby until we went to outpatient for another blood draw on Friday morning.  At the time of her draw, she had spent about 13 hours in the blanket.  When we finally tracked down the results on Friday evening, she had decreased almost 3 points!  The blanket worked wonders!  The doctor told us to use the blanket for about 24 more hours, and then we should be good!  By Monday, Dr. Smith was happy with her progress, and he did not recommend we go for another blood draw!

     We have never been so happy to not have to go back to outpatient again!!  So, if you were to ask me my opinion on the "bili-blanket" treatment for jaundice, I am for it!  I only wish that we would have started it sooner! :)