Bilirubin

When we left the hospital (Thursday) and we went over Tyce's final lab tests, we were told his bilirubin was 10 and the nurse said she really didn't think it would go up so not to worry about Tyce being jaundice.  Well, the next two days, Tyce we turning pretty yellow.  By Saturday, I was worried he was too yellow and he wasn't waking up at all to eat.  Even when we woke him up, he wouldn't eat.  Luckily Dr. Grandpa Gene was in Logan and stopped by on his way back up to Preston.  Grandpa Gene thought he was looking pretty yellow too!  He called in an order to Logan Regional to get a Bili test done.  His bet was his Bilirubin was going to be 18.

Luckily, Kenny and Jamie had come over to see the baby.  They were here when Grandpa Gene came over to check Tyce over.  They were kind enough to stay and watch the kids for us.

We had already put Tenley in bed, I put Kaylee Cole in bed, packed a diaper bag, and we were off to the hospital.

We got the Bili test done and waited for the results.  We were pretty sure all we were going to need to do was get the test done and then get lights to take home.  Well, the Bili test came back at 17.  Grandpa Gene wanted us to check into the ER just to run some more tests just to make sure everything else checked out since he had only been home from the NICU for 2 days.  The ER was packed and crazy.  They even had a lady come in who tried to commit suicide in Smiths!  So, we weren't at the top of their list to get out of there.  We were in the ER FOREVER waiting for all the test results.  They took blood and cathed him and then put an IV in his head to push some fluids through.  I know sticking an IV in his head doesn't hurt anymore than sticking it in his hand but I couldn't really handle it.  I cried.  I felt so bad.

Everything came back clean but the ER Dr said his Bilirubin was 18.5.  We thought it was pretty weird that in just a couple of hours his numbers went from 17 to 18.5 but we didn't question it.  The ER Dr. called the Budge Clinics on call Dr and Grandpa Gene.  Grandpa Gene was concerned because he was so sleepy and not eating and the Budge Clinic Dr was concerned that his numbers jumped in a few hours.  So, between them all, we were admitted into the hospital to push fluids and put Tyce under lights.  We couldn't go back into the NICU because the readmit rooms were already full and because Tyce had been home for longer than 24 hours, he couldn't go back in.  We weren't very happy about this but we didn't really have a say or choice.  Tyce was put on the Pediatric floor.

It was around 4 in the morning when we finally got into our room.  Poor Kenny and Jamie were still at our house so Dave got us settled in and he headed home to relieve Kenny and Jamie.

The next 4 hours were really rough!  I was so tired and poor Tyce wouldn't sleep.  He was so cold.  He just kept shivering.  He would fall asleep for maybe 5-10 minutes and then wake up because he wasn't swaddled and warm.  I finally put his little arms in the sleeves but one of the nurses came in and told me I had to take him out.  He also hated the little goggles!  The ones he had on were too small (well, to me) so I put some bigger ones on and he seemed to like them a little better.

They kept taking his temp and telling me he was fine.  I finally told them that when I am cold, it doesn't mean that my body temp is low.  I was getting mad.  I picked him up a few times just to hug him and keep him warm and I let him stay out of the lights longer than he was suppose to during feedings.  He had lights below him and above him so when I had him, I used the overhead lamp on him.  It made me feel not so guilty for picking him up.

**Pictures aren't so great, I only had my phone for most of the pictures**

Dave came after he dropped the kids off at Kathy's and my Dad also came to visit us.  It meant a lot to me that my Dad came just for a few minutes to check on us.

Dr. Rogers came in to see us.  He was our Dr in the NICU.  He told us he wasn't sure what happened the night before with the numbers.....or why he was even called because Dr. Brown was Tyce's Peditrician, but anyway, he was there and trying to make sense of what happened the night before.  He flat out told us that he thought the ER Dr messed up....or someone in the ER.  He said that only number he had for Tyce was 17. He doesn't know where the 18.5 came from and that he would not have admitted us....so, he discharged us.  Tyce's Bilirubin was down to 15 when we left the hospital.