Bilibed

Jaundice....I hate it! EJ (which is what I'll refer to baby boy as from now on) had a slightly high level of bilirubin on the day we left the hospital on Friday. It was at 10 point something, and the doctor just told us to go into the office the next morning to have his levels checked again.
We didn't think much about it, as I was certain that his level would be good the next day.

Well....it had jumped to 13.9 by then I believe. When the doctor called us that Saturday afternoon to inform us of the jump in his level, she said that the treatment would be for home health to come out and bring what's called a bilibed. He would have to be in the bed for a few days until his levels came down.

So that evening, the nurse came out to our apartment and brought the bed. Mr. EJ had to be in the bed unless he was being fed or having his diaper changed. Ugh, this sucked because we had just gotten home with our baby, and yet we weren't able to hold him and love on him. But then again, all I could think about were all the parents who aren't even able to come home with their baby or the ones who have to go to NICU or deal with something so much worse.

Here's our little man in his bed. The material on top Velcroed onto the light, and he had to be zipped up on the little body suit. He didn't like it too much. There were many HOURS spent leaning over his crib shushing and consoling him while he cried and fussed. But we endured.

I kept quoting the verse "this too shall pass" and "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" over those 2 days and 3 nights.

Sunday morning the nurse came out again, and to call that afternoon informed us that his level had only dropped to 13.2 or something like that. I was totally bummed, because it was only 5 days until Thanksgiving and I thought that at this rate, he'd be on the bed for a week or so.

Monday- the level had dropped to 10 something again, and the nurse sounded certain that the doctor would  give us the okay for him to come off of the bed. Well, that night, we got a call from the nurse saying that the doctor had not returned her pages and for us to keep him on the bed one more night and wait to hear back from the doctor in the morning.

Tuesday morning came and I just took it upon myself to keep him out of the bed and love on him some. Thehubs had to go back to work that day, and my mom was coming to spend the day with me, so I didn't want him to have to miss out on all the fun with his grandma. Another nurse came by that morning, and drew blood again and pretty much told me that his coloring looked great and that with his weight gain (which he was up to 9lbs by that point), and levels from the previous day, that he was certain to come off the bed today.
She unofficially told me that it was okay to keep him off the bed throughout the day unless he was sleeping. My thoughts were "yeah right, that baby isn't touching that awful thing again unless he absolutely has to!"

Mom and I loved on that baby all day long! We ventured out of the house, as I was going stir crazy! We went to Walmart..."we" as in mom went in and got some stuff  I needed while EJ and I sat in the car. And then we grabbed some lunch. By the time we got back home I was absolutely exhausted and ready for a nap!

We got a call during lunch that his levels were down even more, and that the doctor said he could come off the bed. Praise the Lord!! That was the best phone call ever, because Thehubs and I were so ready to get rid of that thing! I gladly boxed it up and gave it back to the nurse when she came back out later that afternoon, and vowed to let go of my bitterness towards to bed. :)