Spencer came to us early the morning of April 26th. He is a teenie little thing, weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 2 ozs! He is 19" long so you can imagine that he is mostly a long, thin, stick baby.
He went to his first Dr.'s appointment yesterday where his Dr. insisted a bilirubin be drawn. And the verdict. It's really high. Yes our little guy had a critical bili of 19.5. The Dr. was incredibly concerned and wanted to IMMEDIATELY admit him to the hospital, where he would be placed under lights and "observed". I was SO proud of Jess when she tearfully told him that she didn't see HOW going to the hospital and being away from his mom who loves him and FEEDS him would be of the greatest benefit to him. She wanted to have the lights at HOME and take care of him herself (bili lights at home are very common for babies with jaundice). It wasn't until the Dr. threatened to DROP him as a patient that she started to second guess herself.
After some bartering with the Doc as to what hospital the baby would be admitted to and what Unit he would be on, (she wanted him in a private room where she could stay with him all the time and be his primary care giver) she took him to the hospital where he was admitted and placed under the lights. (YES THE SAME LIGHTS HE WOULD HAVE BEEN PLACED UNDER AT HOME.) The first bili check they did came back higher. 20.8. But the next one drawn only 8 hours later was down to 17.5!!!
So hopefully Spencer will be coming home tonight. :o)
Karilynn's opinion: The following is how I, Karilynn, the aunt who thinks Dr.'s are full of crap, actually feels about the above situation.
Bottom line here. MOM WAS RIGHT! Spencer needed the light therapy which could have been given at home and no other interventions. The doctor, who happens to be a pretty nice guy, got way too excited and may have been biased by the glasses he had on when the baby came in. (The glasses I am referring to are the "oh no, this baby was born at home, I must find something wrong" glasses!) I am THRILLED that the next time Jess goes to the Dr. she will be able to let him know that she was RIGHT and he was wrong to which I'm sure he will reply something along the lines of... "well yes, but WHAT IF?" Heaven forbid we live every moment of our life always worrying about what might be.
IT IS WHAT IT IS. And what it is, is a very common illness that is treatable at home.
He went to his first Dr.'s appointment yesterday where his Dr. insisted a bilirubin be drawn. And the verdict. It's really high. Yes our little guy had a critical bili of 19.5. The Dr. was incredibly concerned and wanted to IMMEDIATELY admit him to the hospital, where he would be placed under lights and "observed". I was SO proud of Jess when she tearfully told him that she didn't see HOW going to the hospital and being away from his mom who loves him and FEEDS him would be of the greatest benefit to him. She wanted to have the lights at HOME and take care of him herself (bili lights at home are very common for babies with jaundice). It wasn't until the Dr. threatened to DROP him as a patient that she started to second guess herself.
After some bartering with the Doc as to what hospital the baby would be admitted to and what Unit he would be on, (she wanted him in a private room where she could stay with him all the time and be his primary care giver) she took him to the hospital where he was admitted and placed under the lights. (YES THE SAME LIGHTS HE WOULD HAVE BEEN PLACED UNDER AT HOME.) The first bili check they did came back higher. 20.8. But the next one drawn only 8 hours later was down to 17.5!!!
So hopefully Spencer will be coming home tonight. :o)
Karilynn's opinion: The following is how I, Karilynn, the aunt who thinks Dr.'s are full of crap, actually feels about the above situation.
Bottom line here. MOM WAS RIGHT! Spencer needed the light therapy which could have been given at home and no other interventions. The doctor, who happens to be a pretty nice guy, got way too excited and may have been biased by the glasses he had on when the baby came in. (The glasses I am referring to are the "oh no, this baby was born at home, I must find something wrong" glasses!) I am THRILLED that the next time Jess goes to the Dr. she will be able to let him know that she was RIGHT and he was wrong to which I'm sure he will reply something along the lines of... "well yes, but WHAT IF?" Heaven forbid we live every moment of our life always worrying about what might be.
IT IS WHAT IT IS. And what it is, is a very common illness that is treatable at home.
