Part III Hayleigh Arrival and Jaundice... my little glow worm

On Saturday morning, we went up to the hospital, and took Hayleigh back to OB. I had to strip her down, so they could get her weight and then scan her forehead with the billie rubeon test. She ended up going up to 17.3- and the pediatrician wanted to see her again on Sunday morning. he made us aware that breastfeeding would prolong the jaundice and it would not go down as easily. So, Saturday, Allen went and shot sporting clays with his grandpa, and I had my sister come over with her boyfriend from out of town to visit Hayleigh for the first time. I had Hayleigh out in the sun for about 40 minutes under the tree out in our back yard to try to help with the jaundice. Magen  and her boyfriend, Brad really enjoyed visiting and dressing up Hayleigh. My mom later brought by supper. She brought green beans with sausage, new potatoes,homemade angel food cake, and macaroni and cheese- I had whined that they were finally serving macaroni and cheese the day I left the hospital. I have to say that every time my mom came out, I just wanted her to stay. I have never felt soo clingy to my mother in all of my life. It really is funny how we cling to our moms when we are little, then try to get away from them as we are teenagers, and then have babies, and go back to being our mom's babies again. Magen had to leave, and I spent the rest of the evening trying to get Hayleigh to eat. She slept soo good that night too! 5 1/2 hrs.

Sunday.. 4th of July. We had to go to the hospital.. yet again. This time, they drew blood from Hayleigh's heel. The guy that did it, was nervous, especially with Allen standing over him, watching our little girl. We went back to OB, her jaundice went up to 18.7... and she lost a whole pound, now down to 6lbs 14 oz. The pediatrician wanted to admit Hayleigh to the hospital.. Mom asked how long the average stay was. The Ped didn't want to say, but, finally told us 2-3 days. I was in shock. Allen and my mom were there with me, while I was trying to make sense of it all. We asked if there was anything we could try for the day. After twisting his arm a bit, we got to go home and do light therapy for the day, and had to come back that evening to test her jaundice again. I couldn't leave my baby at the hospital now! So, Allen had to talk to the people that were bringing the light out to our house, while I sat and rocked Hayleigh, about to melt down into tears. Mom asked me if I knew what the Ped had been saying, that he wanted to admit Hayleigh. I told her I did, but, was waiting for him to give us another option. Allen got back from talking to the nurses at the desk and the people bringing the light out to us. The plan was to give Hayleigh nothing but formula, I would pump, and she would stay under the light unless she was being fed every 2 hrs or changed. The nurses were nice enough to send us some extra formula home with us, and we sent Allen's dad and step mom into Walmart to pick me up a breast pump and some more formula, so we could get home and start tending to Hayleigh.

The people showed up set up the light machine, and we got Hayleigh right on it. It strapped around her belly with her in her diaper and she just slept with it running.

 Hayleigh - my "little glow worm" all hooked up to the light therapy

My dad was one of the first visitors with my step  mom and step sister to visit. It was really bittersweet. No one could hold Hayleigh. We just sat there and stared at her all hooked up. I finally offered to have everyone look at the nursery- since no one had seen the finished product. Dad made a quick circle around and decided to leave the room. My step mom said he had ice cream, and had become lactose intolerant. I peeked around the corner to see if Dad had went to the bathroom.. he stood over Hayleigh smiling at her in the living room. Seeing this made me want to cry. I told them before they left Dad could feed Hayleigh since she was on formula then. He got all excited, until the time came. He said he would just watch... as you can see below, I made him feed her. He was very nervous, and kept asking if he would drown her. I told him he was fine, and, so was Hayleigh. 

 Hayleigh's light therapy machine

So, after everyone left, I finally got to pump. My milk had been coming in, my boobs felt like softballs that someone had been smacking with a ball bat. I ended up pumping 6 oz out. Just after I got done pumping, we took Hayleigh in to the hospital again, got her foot pricked again, and sent to the OB to wait for the results. After about an hour, the results were in... 15.3!!! We were instructed to come back in the morning again, and if the numbers were down again, we were in the clear. We ended up celebrating, since Allen had a bad feeling before we got the results. We took Hayleigh to Walmart, and got sparklers, since we wouldn't be able to go to the fireworks that night. We kept that poor girl on the lights all night. I felt soo relieved. We went back to the hospital Monday morning, and back to lab and OB, her jaundice was down again to 14.5. The Ped said to resume breastfeeding her, and discontinue the light therapy, but to come back in one more time on Tuesday morning just to check with the scan this time. Long story short, we had Hayleigh's 1 wk appt on Tuesday, jaundice went down to 13.2, she was perfectly fine, and to go back on Thursday for a follow up scan, that ended up being 12.8. It was a very tough week for both Allen and I, especially Hayleigh's poor feet! But, we made it through it all.