Jaundice

February 9, 200
Baby has jaundice, so even though we were discharged we had to go back to the hospital the next morning to get her levels checked. Jaundice is caused by excess levels of bilirubin in the baby's system. Bilirubin is from old red blood cells in her body, that normally her liver would take care of, but her liver isn't functioning yet. Thus, the excess bilirubin makes her skin and white of her eyes turn yellow. My liver was doing all the work when she was inside of me.

The doctor said that to help her jaundice I needed to feed, feed, feed her. Literally, they said "feed" three times. That way she poops out the excess from her system. Every time she opens her mouth, I see if she will eat.

To check her bilirubin levels, the nurse picks her little heel to get a few drops of blood. Poor baby screams when they do that.

We have to keep going in every day to test her levels until they are sure they are going down.