When Diego was 24 hours old, the nurses in the nursery began to think he looked a little jaundiced. They ran a blood test to see what his level of bilirubin was, and it came back a little high. Diego and I had a blood incompatibility, he is B+ and I am O-, which means that my blood attacked his and started breaking down the red blood cells in his body, causing the jaundice. The pediatrician came in to let me know what was going on and that Diego would need to be under the bililights (phototherapy) for at least 24 hours to help rid his body of the bilirubin and clear up the jaundice. I was immediately devastated. My baby could no longer be in my room and the only time I could hold him was when it was time to feed him. I cried and held him as long as I could, until they told me it was time for him to get under the lights. The other thing this meant was that he probably would not be discharged at the same time as I was, but there was no way I was leaving the hospital without my baby. Fortunately, Silverton Hospital allows Moms to stay in the hospital and "room in" while their babies still receive treatment. The only difference would be they would not be giving me pain medication any longer. I was able to stay in my roomy delivery room and everything. So, Diego was placed under the lights and every 3 hours I got to hold my precious baby and feed him, but then had to let them put him back under the lights. The poor little guy had to wear a mask to protect his eyes under the lights and he got so upset every time they put it on him, it just broke our hearts. I had to go to my room to sleep, which was really hard for me to leave him there. After 12 hours, they tested his bilirubin level and again and it had dropped, yay! 12 more hours and another check and it had dropped enough for him to come off the phototherapy lights! He got to come back to our room, but needed to stay in the hospital for at least another 24 hours so they could be sure the bilirubin level wouldn't spike back up. They checked the levels again in 12 hours, still great! Again in another 12 hours and still great!
The first night he was able to be back in our room with us, the nurses were concerned with his breathing...it was a little bit rapid. They checked it at each feeding and informed the on-call pediatrician, who checked him our last morning at the hospital. Other than the rapid breathing, they couldn't find anything else...he was getting enough oxygen and everything. The pediatrician called up to a neo-natal specialist at OHSU to consult and he suggested a chest x-ray just for good measure to make sure everything was ok. The chest x-ray showed some irregularity in Diego's lungs, but nothing they were concerned about. They gave us some tips on what to watch for in case his breathing became labored for him, and said we could take him home! I'll admit it, I was scared to go home. I was scared we wouldn't know how to take care of our baby. I cried the whole car ride home. Once we got home, all I could do was hold my precious new baby and just stare off into space. After about an hour, I finally relaxed and we settled in.
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