Matty was discharged from NICU level 2 on Day 5 of life.
when we brought him home, my heart dropped.
there is no escape, again.
Two glaring patches of yellow cheeks tell me that my baby has to go back to the hospital.
lethargic, inactive, slept most of the time, not feeding well.
bad signs.
On day 6, we went back to the hospital's casualty department and they made me furious!
A staff nurse tried to poke him 3 times.
how did i know?
duh. i could see the puncture marks on the back of his hand.
she had to SOS a Sister nurse to assist.
i could feel bad omen when the SN chased me out of the room.
i hate! hate! hate! it each time they chased me out before drawing blood from my baby.
WHY oh WHY cant i stay and accompany?
if you were to draw my blood, i will be THERE and look at you drawing right?
so why cant i stay beside my baby when you are doing it?
although they cant speak and convey messages, they deserve to be treated with dignity.
sigh.
the pain in me is beyond words.
no, i am not those mothers who cannot withstand seeing my baby being poked and blood being drawn.
i cannot tolerate watching my baby being ill-treated.
:(
NNJ unit (neonatal jaundice) Level 1
readmitted for NNJ on Day 6 of life,
with SB (serum bilirubin) 255 mmol/L.
he is more cooperative than his brother in this situation
he slept in the cubicle throughout the night except for that 2 hours, 2-4am whereby he fussed and i was dead tired so i put him next to me in my camp bed and we both slept soundly.
well i did that because i looked around and saw my neighbours doing it hence i got the same idea.
do not do it too frequent.
if your baby has high SB and you put him next to u most of the time, the doctors will nag the morning when the SB result is out.
jaundice is far too common these days so they have pretty high traffic at times.
high turnover as well so they want to discharge u quickly.
day 7 of life, SB dropped to 209 mmol/L.
Due to inefficiency of certain staffs, our paeds MO friend came and drew blood soley for Matty.
We confided in him that we did not want to draw blood and test the SB on day 7, we rather, or they (mom and hubs) were keen to put him through a 3 days 2 nights course of phototherapy.
but what about me?
*bummed*
Anyhow we could foresee that the SB wont drop drastically and poof! disappear,
considering that he is a premature baby,
they are more prone to be affected.
Siblings with jaundice is also another risk factor.
his brother has a higher bilirubin and was near ET (exchange transfusion) stage.
big bro was under phototherapy for a longer period.
i moved from corridor, to camp bed to rooming in. 3 places.
thankfully they manage to secure a first class rooming-in room then.
okay,
i digressed!
in the end, the specialist Dr.Siti Aisyah came and discharge us.
yes, she says memang patient keluar masuk keluar masuk.
Dr.Dedrie was actually fine with us remaining.
we were thinking of avoiding the keluar masuk distress, hence a request of a direct 3 days stay.
besides, Vasan adviced that we should still take the SB daily even if we want to stay on,
so that we can see the pattern.
Jaundice could be fatal, if left undiagnosed.
the symptom itself is not (fatal).
jaundice is a symptom, not a disease.
very high level of bilirubin can cause brain damage.
my oh so comfy camp bed!
secured a good spot! in a corner!
despite being under the light,
not forgetting the crispy cold air,
Matty fed well.
he drinks every hour.
i requested going home the next morning even after we came to a decision to continue staying because i couldn't use the staffs' toilet at my convenience. unless when i really need to, then i'll request for the key.
the hubs and mom are supportive in this, me not going home so soon. how could they! evils!
they agreed to cook and bring food to me.
travelling from home to hospital takes about 30 minutes on non-peak hours and 50 minutes or more on peak hours.
thank you mom and hubs and KJ
