We took Jeffrey in for his first checkup on March 1st to find that he had lost a significant amount of weight, he was down to 7 lbs and 15 oz! The doctor also thought that he looked a bit jaundiced. So as were were headed down to Cook's to get Jeffrey's bilirubin levels checked I was thinking, here we go again.
Jeffrey decided to copy his brother and wanted to stay at Cook's too. We were fortunate that while his level was high, it was not as high as Jason's was when he was born. Jeffrey and I stayed at Cook's overnight and then were released home the next afternoon. We also had to continue with home photo therapy, which is not the most fun thing, but is is certainly more comfortable to do at home than at the hospital.
I did feel like it was a little easier to handle since we had been thru this once before. In the grand scheme of things, jaundice is not a very serious illness. Yes, it needs to be treated because too high levels for an extended period of time can lead to complications. However, the phototherapy treatment is very effective in getting the bilirubin levels down to an acceptable level, and the end result is a happy healthy baby.
Going through this twice just made me thankful for all the wonderful doctors out there who help take care of our children and my heart goes out to all the other mothers that have to deal with this and/or more severe illnesses.
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