JJ’s First Weeks: Dealing With Jaundice

Since my little man just turned 6 months old, I’ve been thinking about how much he’s grown in such a short period of time. I’ve thought about my delivery and hospital stay. Then I started thinking about the first week we brought little man home. It honestly feels like a lifetime ago, but it’s only been 6 months since we brought our little 6 pounder home.

I gave birth on Friday, April 19, 2019 at 8:34pm. He was 6 pounds and 3 ounces. The days in the hospital were honestly like a vacation other than my body hurting literally everywhere. I got 3 meals a day that I always shared with Javier. We would always look at the menu and choose what we wanted before they called. It was so awesome. I was discharged from the hospital Saturday evening, but JJ wasn’t. They let us keep staying in our room since I was breastfeeding and seeing a Lactation Consultant anyways.

JJ had a high bilirubin also known as jaundice which is super common for newborns. They put him in a bassinet in the sunlight during the day, and he had to have a Biliblanket most of the time. We called him our little glow worm, but it honestly made me sad to see him hooked up to something. They finally let us go home Monday afternoon with his bilirubin at a 14.5. They had told me he would need to be transferred to a children’s hospital if it reached a 20. Anyways after 3 days at the hospital, I was so ready to be home!

They sent out someone to hook up a Biliblanket at our house. The man that set it up told me that I needed to take him off of it when he slept at night so we did. We were so nervous to go to bed that night that we camped out in the living room. We let JJ sleep in his swing because that kept him the most calm. I laugh now thinking about that, but parenting a very small human is intimidating at first!

The next morning, we had our first pediatrician appointment. They pricked JJ’s heal, and drew blood. Then we had to take it to the lab at the hospital. His bilirubin had spiked all the way to a 19 because the man told me wrong information about the Biliblanket! JJ was actually supposed to be on it 24/7 unless we were feeding or changing him. I was outraged! I’m never violent, but in my postpartum state I told by boyfriend, “I could kill him!” Of course I would never. I did call the hospital AND the rental company, and I reported the situation so no one else would be misinformed. My boyfriend still picks on me saying, “I’m glad that delivery man made it out alive!”

The rest of that day we kept the Biliblanket on him. We had to go to the lab at the hospital every day that week to keep checking his bilirubin. He had so many little prick marks on his heels. After 2 more days of the Biliblanket, they told us to see if his bilirubin levels would go down without it, and it did. Gradually my little man was just fine. By the end of that week, I was sleep deprived, emotionally drained, and still in pain from the postpartum, but I was glad that my little guy was going to be okay.

Now I have such a healthy boy! He’s growing so fast, and his personality is so great! Since that first week, I’ve changed so much too. I’ve gotten so much more confident as a mother, and I don’t let things stress me out like I used to. I’m proud of how far we’ve come!