Because my water broke when I wasn't in labor, the doctors were concerned for possible infection (chorioamionitis) affecting both me and Logan.
Therefore, just after I delivered, I was given a single dose of ampicillin, and every hour for the next few hours, my temperature was monitored. My white blood cell count (the infection fighting cells) apparently did spike, but without any clinical signs of infection, I didn't need further treatment.
During delivery, the OB noted the Logan was having transient episodes of tachycardia (fast heart beat.) Nothing serious or cause to freak out, but enough that the OB didn't want labor to take too long (hence, the vacuum assist.) On being born, Logan had a temperature of 101, but over the next 15 minutes, that fell to normal. They checked his white cells, and they were VERY high.
Blood cultures were drawn, but it takes 48 hours for those to come back, so he was transferred to the NICU and started on antibiotics prophylactically while waiting for the cultures.
It had taken about six hours for the cell count to come back, because something was wrong in the hospital lab, so for six hours, Logan was in my room, sleeping on me or in his bassinet. Regardless of where he was sleeping, I was spending the time staring at him, trying to convince myself that the past 24 hours had really happened and that here was our son, Logan.
When the nurse came to tell us about the count and the need to move him to the NICU, I wasn't scared or worried because his vitals were all good, but I was tremendously disappointed that he wouldn't be in the room with us. That being said, Logan slept for most of those six hours, so he wasn't missing much. It was just his mommy and daddy who were missing him.
For the next two days, every 3 hours, Mike and I would make the trek from the room to the NICU, at first, Mike pushing me in a wheelchair with two pillows on my lap (to help position Logan for breastfeeding) and one under my butt. (I did mention that I'd just given birth, right?) I would feed Logan for 30 minutes, and then we'd make the trek back. We'd sleep for two hours and start the process all over again.
Tuesday morning, the cultures came back negative. However, the nurses had noticed that Logan was jaundiced within the first few hours of him going to the NICU. With his blood cultures, they checked a bilirubin (the cause of jaundice) and while it was high, it wasn't crazy high. They decided to check it again Tuesday morning before discharge. Everybody, including nurses, neonatologist and pediatricians, all thought Logan's cultures would be negative, so he would be cleared to go home for that. But they were all worried that he'd have to stay longer to have the jaundice treated.
So, we were very anxious for the return of his bilirubin level. It was 11. High enough that it needed to be treated, but not high enough that he needed to stay. We were elated. Palomar Hospital is about 20-25 minutes from the house, and we weren't sure how the hell we were going to manage a 3-hour breastfeeding schedule, unless I remained in the hospital or started pumping. I was determined to avoid formula. We were talking about getting a hotel room nearby.
But because he looked great otherwise, we got to take him home with a follow-up appointment the next day. At that appointment, his bilirubin had gone up to 17, so we need to start him on the "bili blanket" which is a fiber optic plastic sheet that goes on the baby's back, under his clothes. The ultraviolet breaks the bili down (sunlight would do it, too, but you can't put a baby in the sun.) If the bilirubin is very high, they put the babies under real lights, sort of a tanning bed for infants, all naked except for a diaper and those tanning goggles dumb people who go to tanning salons use. If Logan's bilirubin had been much higher on Tuesday, that's the treatment he would have needed.
Instead, we had appointments Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday for repeated testing. The whole time, Logan was wearing the bili blanket which was attached to a small motor by a long hose. It made moving him around VERY difficult. Because I wasn't quite up to normal movements, and getting up and down from a seated position was a process, Mike had to assist with all facets of his care. I could not have done it alone.
Monday, Logan had his circumcision (after a debate between ourselves, discussion with our providers, a poll of our friends and a search of the internet) and a bili was drawn. His pediatrician called us to say that the bili had come down, so we could stop the bili blanket, and we didn't need any more blood draws.
Looking at photos from his first few weeks, it's pretty clear that he's very yellow. The jaundice likely came because because Logan's blood type is A- and Mike and I are A+. His body broke down any cells that came from me because now I'm foreign, but both frequent breastfeeding and the bili blanket helped clear it all out of his system. However, the yellow remained for several weeks, slowly fading, lastly from his eyes.
Poor Logan had his circumcision on the Monday a week after he was born, and we took him back on Friday for an adhesion, and then again on the following Monday because we were worried about swelling. I had left the decision about the circumcision up to Mike, seeing as how he clearly knows more about that whole area, and I supported this decision. But, with those multiple appointments, we both wondered if we had made the right choice, and even now, when he's healed up, we won't know Logan's opinion on it for years.
Since that last check on the circumcision, the only other appointments he's had was his two-month well-baby check up and a lactation consultant appointment (which was really more for me than him.) As of 21 May, he's 10 lbs 11.3 ounces and 23.5 inches long. (He's sprouted two inches and 2 lbs 10 ounces since birth.) He got his vaccines, which made him cry (of course, breaking his poor mommy's heart) but now he's doing well. Healthy, thus far, and growing like a weed.
It's what every parent wants to hear.
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