Alyssa's first check-up

Alyssa had her first check-up with Dr. Quan yesterday. She's dropped two ounces since birth, which is normal and nothing to worry about. She also got her first shot and didn't seem to enjoy it at all! The bad news is that she has jaundice.

Yes, I know jaundice is really common, easy to treat and all that... definitely not the end of the world. But the doctor mentioned that if her bilirubin level didn't improve, Alyssa could end up in the hospital for a few days in one of those flourescent light incubator thingies. I'm sure that's the worst case scenario, but it was enough to scare me. Just the thought of her ending up back in the hospital freaked me out!

We had to go directly from the doctor's office to the hospital yesterday to get Alyssa a blood test and then we had to take her back for another blood test this morning. The hope was that her bilirubin level would drop or at least not jump up too much between tests.

We need to expose her to sunlight and feed her as often as possible because the more she eats, the more she poops and pooping is a very good thing when it comes to jaundice! We need to clear the toxins out of her system. It's actually a bit hard to get her to eat because she sleeps so much! I thought I was just really lucky that she's already sleeping 5 or 6 hours at a time but it might just be a symptom of the jaundice. My mother-in-law and I practically had to torture the poor little thing just to keep her awake to eat yesterday. The nurse suggested stripping her clothes off, tickling her feet and using a cool wet washcloth on her face if necessary. We did all of that and it was still hard to keep her awake for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

It was a long night! (Notice the picture of Scott, who conked out on the exam table at the doctor's office this morning while we waited for the doctor.) Luckily by this morning, Alyssa's bilirubin level was down a bit (it dropped from 13.8 to 13) and her weight had maintained so the doctor thinks she'll be just fine. We just need to check her weight again on Monday. As long as she maintains or gains we can probably relax. The jaundice will go away as long as she's getting enough milk to keep her pooping!