Jaundice

Our little girl is fighting the ever-popular jaundice. When we were discharged from the hospital, our pediatrician said to bring Ella in to see him on Thursday if she continued to look yellow/orange. I took her in and they drew blood to see what her bilirubin level was at. She was at an 18.2 (it should've been around a 10 or 11). Luckily it wasn't at the dangerous level (a 25--this level can cause brain damage, deafness, and cerebal palsy), but the level was high enough that he decided to start our little girl on phototherapy. For the past several days, Ella has been on "bed rest" in her bililight bed and can only be removed to eat and get a diaper change. It has been hard on mommy and daddy to watch our little girl lay there and not be able to hold her as much as we would like.

After one day on the lights, her levels had dropped to a 17.1 and after two days, the levels had dropped down to a 14. On day three, they dropped to an 11.5 and the doctor said to take her off of the lights, but they still wanted to test her levels the next day (today) to see what they would do. Today her levels had risen back to 14.5 so we are scheduling a doctor's appointment for Thursday. This is a very common problem in babies, and even more common in preemies. We just ask that you please say prayers for Ella that she becomes a healthy little girl very soon!