We planned on leaving after about 24 hours. We were all set to go but were just waiting on Evan to get his blood drawn for metabolic disorder testing and bilirubin. They finally came to take the blood and the bilirubin results came back in an hour. His levels put him in the 95th percentile. Not really something you want to excel at. Not only was he not allowed to leave that day, but the pediatrician wanted to start him on phototherapy overnight.
My brain knew that this was no big deal. That jaundice happens. And is easily fixed. That it was good that we caught it now and were starting the phototherapy to get his levels back to normal.
My heart, however, did not understand these things. My tiny baby had to lay on what was essentially the bottom of a baby-sized tanning bed. Naked except for a diaper and a blanket loosely draped over him. He had to wear "sunglasses" which he was very unhappy about. I couldn't pick him up except to feed him-- once every three hours and only for 30 minutes at a time. I was devastated.
I sat for hours with my finger in his mouth as a pacifier. I sobbed while watching him scream and cry. I eagerly awaited each three hour mark so I could give him some comfort while feeding him. I slept just a couple hours that night when I agreed to let the nurses take him to the nursery for a while. I was so happy when 6am rolled around and they came to retest his blood. That phlebotomist has probably never had a patient so happy to see her at 6am. A little over an hour later, his results came back and they were good enough for him to be released that day.
We had to feed, feed, feed and get him as much sunlight as possible. Our first two trips with our new baby were to the pediatrician and lab on Saturday and then to the hospital to get blood drawn again on Sunday. Sunday's results came back good though and there are no more concerns.
It was an emotionally rough couple of days but I know that it was really no big deal. This motherhood gig is going to be heartbreaking.
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