Code Orange

We were hoping our jaundice scare would be over after the weekend on the billi-blanket, but instead it all got a lot worse. Maddie's levels went up again Monday morning. Our pediatrician sent us to the Pediatric ER at Johns Hopins, but she called ahead and made sure they had a bed for us and would get us in quickly and away from all of the sick kids.

Once there, they tried to attach an IV and couldn't get it to work in her little veins. I felt like they were piercing my heart with each shriek of my baby. They told us the IV line was just a precaution and that she probably wouldn't need it, so it wasn't a big deal that they couldn't get it in. Basically, they told us she'd be under lights, and if that didn't work they'd add IV fluids, and if that wasn't working she might need a blood transfusion, but they made it pretty clear that those other options were pretty far down the line. 

They rechecked her levels and they'd risen from that morning. Suddenly that unneccesary IV line was being put in by an IV specialist, and my baby was again screaming her little lungs out.

The doctors began talking more seriously about admitting us to the pediatric ICU and starting a blood transfusion. D and I were so frightened for our little girl, and I couldn't stop crying. They rechecked her levels again to see if there was a lab error that made them look high, but again, they came back about the same. They decided to give her a little more time under the lights and check her one more time before deciding if we would be admitted to the pediatrics floor or to the pediatric ICU. Time never seemed to go so slowly.

Finally, we got rechecked and the levels had started to go down. We were so relieved! We were admitted to the pediatrics floor at about 10pm (we'd been there since 2:30). 

We were in a shared room and there was a chair that sort of unfolded into a tiny bed for one parent to stay the night. Dakota went home and I stayed with her so I could feed her. I'd been pumping all day because they wouldn't let me take her out from under the lights to eat. I had this strong desire to pump constantly, only because I felt like it was the only thing I could do to help her. It was a long night.

They rechecked her levels at 4am, and when they came back there was a lot of improvement. We moved her off the lights at 9:30 in the morning and after the levels remained low in the afternoon, we were released to go home about 4pm. 

We're now home, tired, and glad that we no longer have an orange kid.