Jaundice : My Story
Jaundice My story:Emma's birth was a challenge.
I know most moms say this but in comparison to #2, Emmas birth was hell. My doctor stripped my bag of waters because he felt the baby was getting large and it was time to deliver. I was 37 weeks and ready. So at 2am my water broke on November 17, 2000. It was undeniable, not a trickle, a huge gush,I was afraid to move, it kept going and going. I got up, woke my husband, and got dressed. Luckily I had some menstrual pads and putone on. I placed a large towel in the seat of the truck while my husband ran around gathering our bags. They were already packed, tothis day I dont know what took him so long. As I waited for him I walked into her room and said, " you will get to see your room soon"I got to the hospital and was having mild contractions, a few hours later they decided to start Pitocin, which I will call "The DEVIL" it was horrible. VERY strong contractions one on top of another for 5 hours, I would not wish it on my worst enemy. Finally an epidural was allowed and 3 hours later it was time to push. Lucky for me, she was face up instead of face down so it was near impossible to push her out. I was offered a c-section or a vaccuum. I chose the vaccuum and 3 pushes later she entered the world.Her poor head was hugely distorted from the vaccuum. Better known as a cephalahematoma or head bruise. It went down within 24 hoursand no one made mention of it again for days. All was well in the hospital, breastfeeding was going great which I was suprised about. We went home and by the time she was 5 days oldI thought she was the best baby in the world, she was eating every 4 hours during the day and the last 2 nights she slept all night.Then when I took her outside to swing, I noticed she looked very yellow. I called her pediatrician (whom I worked for at the time) and he recommended I bring her in for a visit. When I took her to the office she looked even more yellow in the office light. My pedi immediately sent us for a bilirubin level. We went home and 2 hours later he called us with the news. Her bilirubin was 27.8, thehighest he had ever seen. He used the word breastfeeding jaundice and he wanted us to go to Childrens Hospital. His words after that went blah and I began to cry, I handed the phone to my husband and wept with our precious daughter in my arms. I wanted to die.We made it to Childrens and the staff there was amazing. They explained the head bruise had made it harder for her body to bounceback. Below is a photo of my Yellow baby girl the day we brought her home from the hospital. This was actually LESS yellow than she was. YIKES!
At Childrens Hospital they said breastfeeding had nothing to do with it. I was so relieved, I had spent the last hour thinking I was harmingmy child by breastfeeding. (needless to say I did find a new pediatrician even though he was a friend) They placed an IV in her, which I gladly excused myself for, to give her fluids to help her urinate more. They encouraged me to breastfeed since my milk was in abundantly. She was placed under a bilirubin lamp or light. They talked of doing an auto-tranfusion, but we declined and asked to wait 12 hours to do another bilirubin. The next one was lower, I do not remember the exact number but slightlylower. We spent the next 4 days in the hospital waiting for her bilirubin to keep showing signs of no rebound. Finally friday the dayafter thanksgiving, we were released to go home. Her level was 18 when went home and 3 days later it was 12.It was a terrifying experience. I did not sleep for days. I just stared at her sleeping under those lights and did a lot of praying.Hang in there, this too shall pass.The next time I thought about jaundice was when my second daughter was born. But she came out without any bruising at all, my milkcame in at 36 hours and her levels were never above normal limits. Want to read more stories about breastfeeding:
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