Brooklyn's Jaundice

As previously mentioned, we had some problems with Brooklyn being jaundice for about her first week. The nurses had to make her poop before we left the hospital. We also were having problems getting her to have a wet diaper and were afraid something was wrong. So that Friday after she was born, the 5th of December, we had to take Brooklyn to the doctor.

Dr. Beard was great with her. She was concerned however because she had lost some weight, down to 5 pounds 12 ounces, that she might not be getting enough the eat. However, my milk had just come in that night before so she wanted us to be on a strict feeding schedule with Brooklyn over the weekend to try to get her weight back up. She also wanted to make sure that she wasn't becoming jaundice so we had to have another heel prick test done. Brooklyn's daddy had to hold her for this test because I couldn't stand to hear her cry at that point and me not be able to fix what was wrong. After she had her heel pricked, Dr. Beard called us a couple of hours later with the results which came back high. She wanted to see us back in the office the following Monday, the 8th, the check her levels again.

So that following Monday we went in to have her heel pricked again and the check her weight. After no sleep over the weekend from having to wake her up every two hours to feed her, Brooklyn had gained back some weight and was at 6 pounds 1 ounce. Then we took her to have her heel pricked again. Dr. Beard called us back that night and said that it was about the same level, but a little lower. She wanted her to come back again the next day, the 9th to ave one more heel prick done to make sure that her levels were on their way down instead of rising.

The next day we went straight to the lab to have her test done. This time I had built up enough courage to hold Brooklyn myself while they did the test. It wasn't so bad because Brooklyn takes getting blood drawn much better than I do. She started to cry once and then was fine. Later that night Dr. Beard called us back and told us that her levels had lowered another point so it looked like she was on her way down and was going good. We just needed to continue to feed her about every three hours to make sure she was staying well hydrated and getting enough to eat. She didn't need to see us again until our two week appointment the following week.

I felt so bad that I had to subject my baby to those heel pricks. Four in a week was a lot and I was just happy that she was doing better so she wouldn't have to get anymore. She hasn't had any problems with being jaundice since then though and has been doing great.

Love,
Jennifer