This is my all time favorite picture of Jessica so far.She is an angel.
Day 2 brought many changes and updates with it. Jessica continues to improve in so many ways. Another chest x-ray today showed that her lungs look great. She is still breathing a little shallow but her monitor shows that her respiratory rate falls where it should. Her heart beat is steadier and her oxygen levels continue to stay in the safe zone. She is getting healthier and stronger every minute.
In the morning during feeding, I commented to the nurse that her face looked more yellow. I wondered if she had jaundice. They drew her blood and, sure enough, she was high risk for jaundice. When we met with the pediatrician who was on-call, Dr. Connor said she wanted to start a procedure where Jessica is placed under special lights that help with getting rid of jaundice.
*Cough Cough*
*Ahem*
Attention Class:
I can now tell you that jaundice means there is a high level of bilirubin in her red blood cells. The lights break it down into another form of "rubin" which she can pass easily through her urine. Bilirubin apparently has something to do with pigmentation of the skin (hence the yellow color) and can make her not want to eat as much, sleep more, and become dehydrated. Apparently, there are different levels of jaundice, but most newborns get what is called physiological jaundice and is pretty normal to get. Thankfully, that is what Jessica has. Class dismissed.
Her treatment is called phototherapy and works pretty rapidly. Especially because she is a preemie and working on staying stable in other critical areas, we began her phototherapy very quickly. She lays on special pads that produce a blue light underneath her and then there are 2 different lights above her. Because the lights are so bright, she has to wear what is called a "shade" to protect her eyes. You can see in the pictures at the bottom that it makes her look almost like a burn victim. I had a really hard time watching them put her shade over her eyes (she cries every time they take it on or off) and I had to step out of the Level II Nursery for awhile. At midnight, after several hours of being under the lights, she is beginning to look better. The hospital is going to draw her blood this morning and should have the results by the time we "wake up" (although - look at the time...can you tell I'm a slightly nervous 1st mother? :) we should know whether the phototherapy is working or not. She sure is special.
The other update is that the nurses had to change the position of Jess's IV. The one in her right hand had been there for so long that it was leaking fluid into her hand tissues. So, they put an IV into her head. Jer and I decided (before we knew about the IV change) to ask my brother, Derrall, to come up and help Jer give her a blessing. I went to the bathroom while we were waiting, and when I came out, Jer wasn't in our room. I wasn't sure where he went but I didn't stress about it. I called his cell phone. He didn't pick up but called back quickly. When I picked up the phone he didn't talk right away but I could hear the background noises and knew he was in the nursery. I started panicking thinking that something was wrong and he wasn't able to talk for some reason because of it. After about 2 seconds (yea - 1st time mom) he answered and told me he was feeding Jessica. He told me about the IV change and I freaked. He assured me that it looked worse than it was. Apparently, when he showed up at the nursery to feed her, there were 3 nurses huddled around her bed finishing the IV change. He got panicked because it looked like something bad was going on. Thankfully, we had a fantastic day nurse (Carolee) who explained the situation to him.
Derrall showed up and we went down to the nursery. I walked through the door and Carolee said, "Stop! Before you come any further I want you to know that there is an IV in her head. It looks worse than it really is." I smiled and told her that Jer had already prepped me. I walked over and was so grateful that I knew because, it really was a shock at first. Had I written this blog right after I saw it, I would be over-dramatizing it because it took me a couple of hours not to be freaked out and to stop crying.
Derrall and Jer gave Jess a blessing. She really is going to be fine. I'm so grateful for the power of the priesthood.
Summary of all this typing: we are very hopeful that she will get to go home with us tomorrow (which is technically later on today...) We meet with the pediatrician either this morning or afternoon and I am praying that she will be stable and healthy enough to make it home. If not, that will be ok because it just means she will have one more day of getting healthy while in the hospital. We shall see.
Here are a couple of pictures from today...
*Cough Cough*
*Ahem*
Attention Class:
I can now tell you that jaundice means there is a high level of bilirubin in her red blood cells. The lights break it down into another form of "rubin" which she can pass easily through her urine. Bilirubin apparently has something to do with pigmentation of the skin (hence the yellow color) and can make her not want to eat as much, sleep more, and become dehydrated. Apparently, there are different levels of jaundice, but most newborns get what is called physiological jaundice and is pretty normal to get. Thankfully, that is what Jessica has. Class dismissed.
Her treatment is called phototherapy and works pretty rapidly. Especially because she is a preemie and working on staying stable in other critical areas, we began her phototherapy very quickly. She lays on special pads that produce a blue light underneath her and then there are 2 different lights above her. Because the lights are so bright, she has to wear what is called a "shade" to protect her eyes. You can see in the pictures at the bottom that it makes her look almost like a burn victim. I had a really hard time watching them put her shade over her eyes (she cries every time they take it on or off) and I had to step out of the Level II Nursery for awhile. At midnight, after several hours of being under the lights, she is beginning to look better. The hospital is going to draw her blood this morning and should have the results by the time we "wake up" (although - look at the time...can you tell I'm a slightly nervous 1st mother? :) we should know whether the phototherapy is working or not. She sure is special.
The other update is that the nurses had to change the position of Jess's IV. The one in her right hand had been there for so long that it was leaking fluid into her hand tissues. So, they put an IV into her head. Jer and I decided (before we knew about the IV change) to ask my brother, Derrall, to come up and help Jer give her a blessing. I went to the bathroom while we were waiting, and when I came out, Jer wasn't in our room. I wasn't sure where he went but I didn't stress about it. I called his cell phone. He didn't pick up but called back quickly. When I picked up the phone he didn't talk right away but I could hear the background noises and knew he was in the nursery. I started panicking thinking that something was wrong and he wasn't able to talk for some reason because of it. After about 2 seconds (yea - 1st time mom) he answered and told me he was feeding Jessica. He told me about the IV change and I freaked. He assured me that it looked worse than it was. Apparently, when he showed up at the nursery to feed her, there were 3 nurses huddled around her bed finishing the IV change. He got panicked because it looked like something bad was going on. Thankfully, we had a fantastic day nurse (Carolee) who explained the situation to him.
Derrall showed up and we went down to the nursery. I walked through the door and Carolee said, "Stop! Before you come any further I want you to know that there is an IV in her head. It looks worse than it really is." I smiled and told her that Jer had already prepped me. I walked over and was so grateful that I knew because, it really was a shock at first. Had I written this blog right after I saw it, I would be over-dramatizing it because it took me a couple of hours not to be freaked out and to stop crying.
Derrall and Jer gave Jess a blessing. She really is going to be fine. I'm so grateful for the power of the priesthood.
Summary of all this typing: we are very hopeful that she will get to go home with us tomorrow (which is technically later on today...) We meet with the pediatrician either this morning or afternoon and I am praying that she will be stable and healthy enough to make it home. If not, that will be ok because it just means she will have one more day of getting healthy while in the hospital. We shall see.
Here are a couple of pictures from today...
I believe that I have an adorable, cuddly, darling, wonderful, amazing, fantastic, beautiful...ok we'll be here forever...cuddly angel. She loves to snuggle with me and I love to snuggle back.Jer is one of the most supportive husbands ever. (Compared to all of my other husbands? That statement sounded silly...let me try again...)
Jer has been amazing through this whole thing. Pregnancy, labor, delivery, post-delivery. He is my best friend and there is no one else that I could do this with. I am eternally grateful that he is my husband and the father of our child (as well as any subsequent children...am I really thinking that I'll do this again?!? :) Anyways, here are some of my favorite pictures of him holding and bonding with our little girl...
Jer feeding Jessica...
Jer feeding Jessica...
She's a daddy's girl!I think that Jer is already willing to buy her the world!
Don't let her know...
Isn't he the greatest?
Such a proud daddy!
This is Jer just hanging out in our room on his "bed"
I waited for quite awhile to get that cute tongue sticking out!I'm sure in a little while, when she does it for behavioral reasons, it won't be so cute! Until then though...
My angel
I know that she doesn't really know that those things attached to her are her arms, hands, and fingers...but it is SO DANG CUTE to watch her act like she knows what she is doing with them!
You can see the IV at the top of the "shade" she is wearing.The pictures are easier for me to look at but still make me cry.
What a brave little trooper!
I have to keep reminding myself that it is worse than it looks and will help her get better. Again, without Jer I don't think I could handle this. It's just extremely hard to see your child in this position (the medical IV-sticking-out-of-her-head-underneath-the-shade position, not the laying-on-her-back-with-her-head-turned-to-the-side position. Just thought I'd lighten the mood of the blog... :) Jessica is such an amazing kid already. I'm glad she will be going home as a healthy baby when this is all over. Onward and upward to day 3...I love being a mom. I love my daughter.
I love being a wife. I love my husband.
I love being a wife. I love my husband.
4 comments:
She's adorable! I'm glad that things are looking well for her to come home soon. Is there still a baby shower this weekend? Either way, I need to get you some things before she outgrows them :)
She's pretty cute!
Congrads! She is adorable!
Her cheeks are so cute!! I love how chubby they are. She's a beautiful baby, congratulations! She probably won't be open for too many visitors since it's still winter/sickness season but I will have to sneak on a home teaching visit sometime.
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