1st & 2nd Dr.'s Appointment

When we were discharged from the hospital, the on-call pediatrician strongly recomended we see our pediatrician within 24-48 hours, so when we got home I immediately set an appointment. Wednesday, May 30, was our appointment and boy was I nervous. I knew they were going to have to draw some blood, and I was not mentally ready to handle it.

Outfit for the Doctor's

After we were taken back to the patient room, they had me take her all her clothes off (except her diaper) so they could weigh and measure her. Already I was having to upset her. :( She weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz, so she had gained 2 oz since we were discharged. They measured her at 19 1/2 inches which was weird since she was 21 in at birth. At first I was worried thinking my poor baby girl had shrunk, but apparently the hospital measuring system is not so reliable. Whew!!

Then we went back to our little room to meet with the Doctor. She said everything looked great, but we would definately need to test her jaundice levels. Yikes! This meant they would have to prick her heel for 600 mL of my baby's blood. I was terrified. Everytime they had drawn her blood in the hospital the nurses had taken her to the nursery, so I couldnt watch. This time I would be in the room to watch her cry.

It was horrifying. The lady stuck her heel, and it took almost 10 minutes to get enough blood. In the mean time, my poor angel is crying like crazy. It took everything I had to not cry with her. I was so relieved when the nurse finally finsihed.

Mom and I had to take the blood over to the lab, and we were supposed to get her results within 4 hours. If they were too high we would have to get a bili light to help her out. Too bad the lab screwed up. They did not see the STAT order, so the results were not done in time. The doctor called and said we would need to go ahead and get the light because if the results came back to the on-call doctor and were too high, we would have to take Cote to the hospital.

We went ahead and got the lights as a precaution. It was not fun! I did not like seeing my poor baby laying on this glowing blue light even though it was only there to help. For some reason or another, that light had me very upset. I only kept it on her for a coupld hours. It got so hot that my poor baby's back felt like it was on fire. No fun!!

Sleeping with the Bili Bee Light

On thursday, we went back to the doctor where Cote was supposed to be retested. I was not looking forward to it, but it was all good news when we got there. Apparently her levels were not high enough to have needed the light. Thank God!! Now we could return the light and not have to prick her foot again! I couldnt have been happier.

We also got to meet with the lactation specialist. She was a mirable worker. She helped us with our latching to ease the pain that I was feeling. It was a monumental improvement!! Oh, Happy day!!

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