Cash is in the hospital for Jaundice

Sunday August 10th

When Cash was released from the hospital on Friday, he was jaundiced, but at that time it was fairly mild and the Dr. hoped it would resolve on it's on within a few days. On Saturday, we came back for a blood draw, and the Dr. called a few hours later because his level had doubled. This morning (Sunday) we came back for another blood draw. Within an hour I got a call that we needed to come back immediately for Cash to be readmitted and stay in the special care nursery because the level had gotten dangerously high. I've been able to pump, so he has been getting breastmilk all day, but being under the treatment lights, we have not gotten to hold him or breastfeed. They drew his blood again this evening and we will get those results shortly to find out if he has improved in the last 8 hours from eating, going to the bathroom and being under the lights. He will most likely be here atleast 2-3 days in the nursery. I am staying in the hospital tonight (in a room on a different floor), but Matt is going home. We cannot have our cellphones on in the nursery, but we will have them with us and will return calls when possible.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers, and I will update when I can.

Monday Morning August 11th
Last night his billirubin count dropped to 15, so that's a blessing and they treatment is definitely working. I didn't update last night because the first result they got was invalid, and they had to repeat the test and by the time they told me what it was, I was exhausted. I pumped at 8 last night, and then went to sleep around 10, slept til 1 and went up and pumped again, and then came back to my room and slept from 2 until now (7am), so I feel a little bit more rested today. When I went up there at 1 they told me he is eating great, and he had just had a really big poop, so he was doing what they wanted. They told me that as long as he was doing good this morning, today they could start letting me breastfeed twice a day. So, he will still be getting mostly bottles, but atleast it will be my milk, and I'll be able to hold him twice a day. It feels so strange that I haven't held him in almost a whole day. I'm afraid that today is going to be really depressing for me. Yesterday, things happened so fast, and I was kinda just in shock, but I had Matt with me all day. He spent the night with me, because my mom kept Taylor overnight, so that was nice. He'll be leaving this morning after we can go see Cash (after 730). So, today I'll be alone, I think my mom is going to come by sometime during the day, but not sure when. I'll try to take some pictures of Cash today and post them on here. It's time to go back up and see him now but I'll get back on when I can.

Monday morning 9:30am
We talked to his Dr. this morning, and he seems to be doing good, but they don't want to assume that he is better too early, so he will be here atleast until tomorrow (Tuesday) night. This morning his level was down to 11.6
Right now I am just waiting for the nurse to call me and tell me that he is hungry, so I can go up and breastfeed him. I will get to breastfeed twice today, and continue to pump the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning, they will turn off his treatment lights and watch his progress all day. Tomorrow night, they will re-check his level and determine whether or not he needs to continue the treatment lights, or just be watched in the nursery. If he does good with nursing today, they will also start to dial down his IV. He seems to be pretty content, and he is resting and only gets fussy when he is hungry. I found out this morning that I do get to stay in my room on the 5th floor, so hopefully I will get to stay in the hospital the whole time he is here.


Here is a recap on his billirubin (jaundice) levels
Friday August 8th- 8
Saturday August 9th- 15
Sunday August 10th @ 9am- 19.5
Sunday August 10th @ 8pm- 15
Monday August 11th @ 7am- 11.6
Tuesday August 12th @ 6am- 6

12:00pm Monday
I spent some time in the nursery with Cash, and I was able to hold him for the first time in 24 hours. I was hoping to breastfeed him, but he was still pretty sleepy/uninterested in taking the breast, so I just ended up pumping again and then when he was hungry, I bottle fed him some breastmilk from earlier. I'm in my room for a few minutes, and then my mom is coming up for awhile to spend some time with us in the nursery.

12:45
I'm back from the nursery to rest for awhile. The lactation nurse is working on getting me a breast pump to take home incase the problem with breastfeeding continues when we leave here. He is consistently having wet and dirty diapers, and thats a great sign, so the nurse was able to turn down the IV a little more, and hopefully he will be phased off of it sometime tomorrow.

2:45pm
He still isn't interested in breastfeeding, but atleast he is taking my milk. The breastpump lady already came and gave me my own pump that I can take home with me, so I have it in my room for now and I am going to start using that and then take the milk to the nursery so I can build up a supply there for him.

7:15pm
When I went to the nursery at 4, I was able to breastfeed for a little bit, he took it for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep but he still needed to eat more, so I fed him a bottle of some pumped milk.
Matt came up around 5:30 and we had dinner and then went to the nursery for a little bit before we had to leave. Cash was sound asleep so I just did some pumping, and we hung out until 6:45. We get to go back at 7:30 and hopefully he will be hungry so Matt can have a chance to hold him and give him a bottle.

9:45pm
We went back to the nursery right at 730 because Cash hadn't eaten since 4 so we wanted to make sure that Matt didn't miss the chance to feed him. He was sound asleep with his little butt in the air. It was almost 830 and he was still sleeping, so we woke him up and Matt held him and gave him bottles of both breastmilk and formula. We stayed until almost 930, and then came back to the room because we're both pretty exhausted. Hopefully tomorrow morning his billirubin level will be low enough that we can start talking about when we'll be able to take him home.

I almost forgot! When we went back at 730, they had turned off his IV completely :) It is still in his head, but they have it hep-locked for now, so he doesn't have the tubes coming out of his head, so it looks a little bit better.
Also, his weight tonight was 6lbs 12 oz. It might be a little off since he is so pumped full of fluid. Yesterday when we came in, he was down to 6lbs 9 oz.










Tuesday August 12th

I slept all night, but woke up around 5:30 and went to the nursery. Cash was just waking up hungry when I walked in, so I breastfed him for about 10 minutes, and then finished him off with a bottle of formula. I pumped for awhile and then went back to bed.

Matt and I both went back to the nursery around 9:30 and when we got there, the lights were off, the IV was totally out of his head, and he was wrapped up in a blanket and wearing a cute little hat. They informed us that his billirubin results for the morning were 6, so that was great news. He will be off the lights all day and then have another blood draw at 4pm. As long as his number doesn't go up, he should be coming home this evening!

7:20pm
And yes...we're HOME!!!!!! His level at 4pm was 6.7 after not being under the lights or having the IV all day, but the Dr. was confident that his levels will stay down so she cleared him for discharge. On Thursday, he will be seeing our regular pediatrician, and I'll explain to him what's been going on, so maybe he'll want to check his levels, but I'm not sure.
Thank you again to everyone for your well wishes! I am so glad just to be home and now I finally get to enjoy my baby. My agenda for tomorrow is to do absolutely nothing other than lay in bed and cuddle him!