NICU

Savanna completed her routine bilirubin test the day we were to be discharged from the hospital. However, rather than getting the news that all is well and going home, we learned that her levels were critically high and that she would need to go straight to NICU. She had a positive Coombs test, which meant that her high levels were a result of a blood incompatibility between me and her.

There were a few options on the table to treat her, including doing a blood transfusion. They opted to treat her with as many phototherapy lights as possible and see what happened that night. If her levels didn't go down w/in 12 hours, they would probably do the transfusion. Luckily, her levels dropped out of the critical zone that first night. Her levels have been dropping more slowly now and she remains in NICU.

She has been a real trooper during this time. Apparently, most babies hate the phototherapy lights because they can't be held and have to stay in there 24/7 and they cry all day long. They also rarely eat because they are tired and feeling sick. Savanna, however, does none of these things. She eats a ton and then happily lays in her bed for the rest of the day. We have recently been allowed to take her out of the bed for a few minutes while we feed her, which has been so nice. I love being able to hold her and look at her eyes while she takes everything in. She is very alert and just cranks her head around to look at everything she can before putting her eye mask on and going back to the "bili bed."

We are hoping that we can get her home by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week!