|
Day 5: We had our first appointment scheduled today with our new Pediatrician. It was supposed to be a routine wellness check. You know, fill out all the paperwork for the first-time patient and meet the doc and then go home and eat lunch. Well, seven hours, five needle sticks and one IV later...  I'll back up. Two days ago Lola started to worry us because she was sleeping so much and not crying. Everyone we talked to acted like we were absolutely crazy to question such a wonderfully tempered baby. "Don't worry, she'll wake up when she gets hungry..." was the response from Doctors, Nurses, Friends, Family...everyone. So who were we to question the overwhelming amount of professional advice. Well, the next day she started crying more...and more...and more. So now we've tipped the other side of the scale all together. Anyway, this went on for two days. We had our first appointment with the pedi already scheduled for Monday so we figured everything would be all right. But when we saw the Doc this morning she was more concerned than we expected. She wanted us to go straight to the ER for blood work. Including blood sugar and some "Billy Bad Ass" test, later to be clarified as a Bilirubin test. Bilirubin, according to Wikipedia is "is a yellow breakdown product of normal heme catabolism. Its levels are elevated in certain diseases and it is responsible for the yellow color of bruises and the brown color of feces." High bilirubin counts in the blood is a sign of Jaundice. So, we went to the ER. I know now that no trip to the ER is a short trip. I have a suspicion that I am about to learn more in the next few years than I have ever needed to know in my life. I also learned that no matter what I previously considered the worst thing imaginable, it is in fact watching someone stab your 5-day-old daughter with a way-too-big needle over and over because the veins in a newborn, much less those of a dehydrated newborn, are not at all easy to find and even less easy to hit when you do find them. Thank God that Lola will not be cursed with the memories of what happened today. In fact, tonight she is doing much better. Dare I say, Normal? We are supplementing her breast feeding with formula and feeding every two hours. So far, so good. In fact, she’s crying now. That cry is the most wonderful sound. I hope I never forget that. Gotta go.
|
