Stella's First Week - The Hospital

Since I didn't get this blog started until Stella was just over two months old, I wanted to write a couple of big posts covering her first and second months of life, just so I don't forget more than I already have. :) This post was going to cover Stella's first month, but just writing about the first few days was so long, I decided it would just cover the first week!

We took Stella home from the hospital on Tuesday, December 14. Before we left the hospital, a pediatrician examined her and told us that she was jaundiced and that we needed to keep a close eye on her because her bilirubin levels were at a 9.3. Of course, we didn't know anything about bilirubin then, so that was just gibberish to us. The pediatrician recommended that we take her in to see Stella's regular pediatrician that afternoon when we got home.

Stella all swaddled up at the hospital

Dr. Fung (Stella's pediatrician) examined her and said that she was absolutely perfect -- except for her yellow/orange skin (a side effect of the jaundice). She asked us to go to the hospital the next morning to have Stella's blood drawn so that her bilirubin levels could be checked. When they got the results, the news wasn't good -- Stella's bilirubin levels had doubled to 18 in just 24 hours. The pediatrician recommended that we check her into Children's Medical Center in Dallas to have the jaundice treated. Definitely NOT what new parents want to hear. When we arrived at Children's that afternoon, the bilirubin levels were up to 20, so she definitely was in serious condition.

They immediately put her under the bili lights (blue lights that help break down the bilirubins so that she can excrete them) and also put her on IV fluids. Seeing them put my tiny baby on an IV was one of the saddest things ever. Unfortunately, when babies are jaundiced, they get really lethargic and not at all interested in eating. That's a catch-22, though, because the only way for them to get over the jaundice is to excrete the bilirubins in their pee and poop, so the IV fluids were necessary.

Sleeping under the bili lights.

Sweet baby feet sticking out of her hospital bed.

Poor sweet baby with an IV in her arm.

We stayed at Children's for 2 1/2 really long days. I stayed with her the whole time (because I had to feed her), but there was only one place in the room for a parent to sleep, so Ben reluctantly went home to sleep and care for the dog.

They tested Stella's bilirubin levels every eight hours while we were there, and while they went down initially, they were stuck between 16 and 18 for the majority of the time we were there. It was such a frustrating and scary experience -- we just wanted to take our girl home!! Luckily, Stella just loved being under the lights, and she was perfectly comfortable in her little bed, just snoozing away.

The doctors had told us we could go home when her levels got down to 14, and on that Friday evening around 7:00, we got her latest results -- 14.3 -- and they decided that was close enough! We still had to do some follow-up, and we had to make sure to put her in sunlight a lot at home, but our little family could finally be at home together!

Ready to go home!

The rest of Stella's first week was spent getting settled in at home and getting to know our girl. She was a great sleeper from the start, sleeping four and five hours at a time at night, and she was also a voracious eater -- we couldn't keep her full! She also loved sitting in the sunlight and doing her phototherapy. We could not have asked for a sweeter or more perfect little girl!

Sweet Stella sitting in the sun at home. She had to wear these goggles to protect her eyes from the light.