This light is giving me a headache!
11:30 PM Edit This 3 Comments »
So this phototherapy thing sucks. This morning Duncan had to get his 3rd heel prick and test and he was still high on his Bilirubin levels so the doctor ordered some phototherapy. We had it set up around 12 today and he has been in it for most of the day. We are trying to keep him in there as much as possible so maybe tomorrow he will be finished. For anyone that doesn't know, it is Awful! For several reasons:
1) He is the same length if not longer than the damn booth. So when he arches his feet in protest he forces his head into a bind against the plexiglass on the other end, which only infuriates him further.
2) as the tech said "most moms find that they can put him in there straight after a feeding, and then turn the lights on after that". Absolutely not. If you wait to turn it on until he is inside, the booth doesn't get warm right away, and since he has to sleep in his diaper that doesn't go over well. Plus Duncan loves to be swaddled tight, so this free feeling isn't his favorite yet.
We are getting better at it and have had some successful 2 and 3 hour naps in there. That involves a whole lot of belly rubbing, butt patting and whole body rocking ( I lie on the playyard side and rock the whole system; playard, booth and baby)
The nurse is coming out tomorrow around 8:30 and hopefully his levels have gone done so he can be done. We are also gonna ask about a treatment blanket which we didn't learn about until Seth told us this afternoon. Since he loves to be wrapped up so much it would make sense to use this Fiber Optic blanket instead of the booth.
Mom and dad are holding up well. Getting a little sleep where we can. Katherine's mom is a great asset to have in town. She brought over a lasagna today and we cooked it, so now we'll have lots of meals to reheat. I woke up from a nap in the chair and she was gone, so I didn't get to say thank you one last time. THANK YOU! Anytime you start to think you "I can't do this" it helps to realize that there is always support both mental and physical around us. Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and thoughts and hopefully we will be able to start having people over to meet Duncan soon!
Katherine just reminded me that we have a meeting with the lactation consultant tomorrow to work on the obvious. Lactating. Mmmm. Nothing terrible is wrong, just working on getting his proper latch so it doesn't hurt Katherine so much.
1) He is the same length if not longer than the damn booth. So when he arches his feet in protest he forces his head into a bind against the plexiglass on the other end, which only infuriates him further.
2) as the tech said "most moms find that they can put him in there straight after a feeding, and then turn the lights on after that". Absolutely not. If you wait to turn it on until he is inside, the booth doesn't get warm right away, and since he has to sleep in his diaper that doesn't go over well. Plus Duncan loves to be swaddled tight, so this free feeling isn't his favorite yet.
We are getting better at it and have had some successful 2 and 3 hour naps in there. That involves a whole lot of belly rubbing, butt patting and whole body rocking ( I lie on the playyard side and rock the whole system; playard, booth and baby)
The nurse is coming out tomorrow around 8:30 and hopefully his levels have gone done so he can be done. We are also gonna ask about a treatment blanket which we didn't learn about until Seth told us this afternoon. Since he loves to be wrapped up so much it would make sense to use this Fiber Optic blanket instead of the booth.
Mom and dad are holding up well. Getting a little sleep where we can. Katherine's mom is a great asset to have in town. She brought over a lasagna today and we cooked it, so now we'll have lots of meals to reheat. I woke up from a nap in the chair and she was gone, so I didn't get to say thank you one last time. THANK YOU! Anytime you start to think you "I can't do this" it helps to realize that there is always support both mental and physical around us. Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and thoughts and hopefully we will be able to start having people over to meet Duncan soon!
Katherine just reminded me that we have a meeting with the lactation consultant tomorrow to work on the obvious. Lactating. Mmmm. Nothing terrible is wrong, just working on getting his proper latch so it doesn't hurt Katherine so much.
3 Observations or Opinions:
Yes, Jayne was a huge asset for us as well! Glad she's around to help you guys! We are going to make you a few meals while we are up there next week. I've been a cooking machine for my mommy friends down here the past few weeks and it's only fair we do the same for you guys! :) BTW...the blanket thing was my idea, Seth learned that from me;) Good luck with the numbers today...hopefully they have gone down!
haha. Well I'm sorry I gave credit to the wrong pesson. Thank you! We actually asked the nurse about it and she said it is an alternative but because you are only receiving light from one source the time using it is longer, sometimes doubled. So the booth gives the shortest total treatment time. But we just heard from the doctor and his levels have dropped 3 points, so we'll assess again tomorrow and maybe be finished.
Can't wait to see you guys!
Yay...so happy for you guys! We can't wait to meet him and give him lots of kisses(we'll wash our hands and don gowns if you want;)) Good luck with the lactation consultant!
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