camwyn | (no subject)

Nicholas is, alas, too jaundiced to come home from the hospital today. This is not unusual, from what I recall of ANTH 508 (Maternal and Reproductive Health, aka "Sixteen Women, Two Men, and Photos To Put You Off Your Lunch Forever"). It has, however, distressed my sister greatly. She'll be staying at the hospital until they make her go home tonight, 'cos, well, her baby, you know? And Nicholas will be put under the usual sunlamps. There'll be another test in a few hours to see if he's good to go yet, but my mother doubts he'll be cleared for takeoff, so... probably he won't be home until tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to be cleaning up around the house, shopping, and getting a few extra supplies for my sister from the drugstore whilst my folks visit her and the baby and her husband in hospital.

Man, I feel sorry for rabbit-hole me. If the me I postulated as being down the rabbit hole were in this same situation he'd be pacing the floor wondering if he'd get to hold his niece before he got shipped to Korea. I'm just hoping Nick gets better quickly for my sister's sake.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, the jaundice thing is apparently supercommon. My friend Mike's first kid had it.

I thought jaundice was just a cosmetic thing...? I've never heard of a kid being kept in the hospital for it.

Too much bilirubin in the blood isn't good for you. If the kid's body hasn't purged it yet and gone on to producing normal levels of normal chemicals it's not a good sign for his liver or other development, so the doctors like to keep an eye on him in case it's a sign of actual liver malfunction.

Supposedly, when I was born, I had the exact same problem. So my mother, no doubt, would sympathize. Same here, really.

Dragomorph
"Ah, those little complications in life."

Maybe I should post the photo of my orange baby. Not yellow, orange. It's really common - especially if one parent is Type A and one parent is Type O, and the baby and the mother have different blood types. Sun lamps, and the skin making Vitamin D, and in Finland holding the baby naked in the sunlight for 30 seconds a side six times a day in the open door even when it's 30 below. This baby is now in university, so - no worries. All it takes is time. *hugs*

One of my coworkers just had her second baby, and the little girl was also jaundiced. About a week with of light therapy cleared it right up -- and she also had the blood type difference that

kelathefinn mentions. The glowy blanket they used did have the rather interesting side effect of making the little girl look like a glow-worm when she was wrapped in it.

The babies all look remarkably cute under sunlamps - at the neonatal ward where my sister was staying a couple days before she got to come home with us they had little bairns under the UV lamps with little baby sized goggles on.

Hope the little one gets to come home soonish.

- Mel