(143) Avatar Baby...

Like most newborns, we had to endure Baby L's jaundice. But her jaundice was a little too much for this new mommy. Her first bilirubin level was 17. This wasn't as high as it could have been but it was considered high for a 2 day old. I knew a little about jaundice and I knew that light therapy was something that was commonplace. However, when the pediatrician on call came to visit me, he proceeded to tell me something that truly terrified me (not sure how he didn't notice it in my face). You see babies get jaundice because their immature livers cannot eliminate bilirubin from their system. Day by day, as they get older, their livers gradually work the bilirubin form their system. With Baby L, their was an extra piece to the puzzle. Our blood types were incompatible. I have O+ and she has A+. In a nutshell, this meant that the antibodies she was getting from me were being attacked by her body as a foreign object. She was getting some of these antibodies but not like she would have had we had compatible blood types.

Let me just say that the only thing I could think about was that I was harming my daughter. Here I was trying to nourish my daughter and then I am told that the antibodies I am giving her through my breast milk are actually causing her system to attack. It was very difficult not to blame myself for her jaundice. Luckily, the nursery nurse and the neonatologist both reassured me that they were going to do everything they could to get her levels down so we could take her home with us. She was put through some rigorous phototherapy for 3 days. It was heart-wrenching to see her in the lights. I knew they were making her better. But she was in a box with no human touch or anyone talking to her. Of course, the nurse who tended to her took care of her like she was her own and that helped my heart. They brought Baby L to me every 3 hours to eat for just 30 minutes. I looked forward to those times, even if it meant I had to get up at 2am. The last day they decided to let her stay in my room with just the bili blanket. What a wonder gift that was for us.

Can you guess why we called her our avatar baby??


The tube with the fiber optics reminded us of the blue tails that the people had in Avatar.

To make a long story short, after we brought Baby L home, we had to take her in every day for a week to get her levels checked. This required her heel to be poked and 15 drops of blood be taken. It doesn't sound like much for an adult but from a small heel it is alot. It was painful for us to watch her have to go through it. We didn't have to take her back to the hospital, only had to keep feeding her. After 2 weeks, her levels were down to normal and her parents were very relieved.