jaundice

I think then Jesse went with Teddy to our postpartum room while I stayed and wonderful Carol cleaned me up. I couldn't really walk so she wheeled me to our room which was a tiny overflow room. Jesse went to the nursery to watch Teddy's first bath and I dozed off. When they got back, the nurse - Andrea - helped me to the bathroom and I had another shaking/lightheaded/nauseous episode. Those are frightening. I guess it's from the hormonal surges but I'm sure the anxiety caused by the shaking contributes. It had to be almost morning by then.

As soon as it was light, people started coming in. Taking my blood, taking Teddy's blood, asking questions. My doctor, the pediatrician, the hearing tester, and what seemed like dozens of nurses. At some point - afternoon? - Jesse's cousin brought lunch and we got moved to a larger room thank goodness. We kept Teddy with us all the time and changed or fed him when he cried.

That night - or was it the next morning? - a blood test showed Teddy had jaundice because he's a different blood type than I. Jaundice onset that early on was concerning because he was so little. One treatment is a tanning bed-like thingy so he was immediately put on that which was hard because we couldn't hold him. Another treatment is eating so we started supplementing my nursing with formula.

I got discharged on Thursday but Teddy had to stay so we stayed in our big room - Teddy was in the nursery between feedings overnight - until about 5am when they banished us back to a tiny overflow room. The seemingly scatterbrained pediatrician said she would discharge him if our pediatrician would watch his jaundice and if we'd agree to using the light bed at home, which we did.