Two Weeks Old

Weeks two and three were a little rough with Miss Evelyn.  After losing so much weight and fighting jaundice, it was clear that our "tongue tied" baby needed to have her tongue/frenulum clipped.  Evelyn's latch wasn't great which had made feeding her very difficult.  Even using a bottle wasn't the answer.

Since the procedure isn't very invasive, we decided to do it.  All seemed to go well, she cried very little, until three or five days after the clipping.  Our somewhat content baby was very difficult.  During this time her mouth was often open because she was screaming.  We were given ample opportunity to see her frenulum and it was looking less and less normal by the day.  In fact, we took her to the pediatrician and he called in another doctor because he had never seen anything like it.  This forced us to trek the hour long journey back to Lankenau to see the Dr. Clip It.  He was surprised at how bad Evelyn's tongue looked.  She was badly burned from the cauterizing agent.  The doctor mentioned that she was most likely in a lot of pain.  He even called me on a Friday night to see how she was doing and clearly felt bad.

Long story short, the tongue healed and Evelyn became less fussy.  She still isn't the best latch but feeding has become easier.

Here is a picture of her waiting for Dr. Clip It

Here are some very cute two week old baby pictures. . .

 Her two favorite things.  A swaddle blanket and swing. 

Jaundice

On Easter, we started to notice Evelyn's orange hue.  Lila mentioned she was starting to look like Ernie.  That should have been the first clue that something wasn't right.  All babies are jaundice, it seems. Everyone has a story about their orange kids and how they had to sit them in the sun etc.  This was different.  We just didn't know it. 

We were having a hard time choosing a pediatrician which happened to make the first visit land on day eight of Evelyn's life.  While some might think that is irresponsible, I think it was blind luck.  Evelyn looked great on days four and five, the typical day for the first doctor appointment.  It wasn't until days seven and eight, that it was clear something was wrong.  Her skin was orange and eyes yellow.  We didn't fret since we were headed to the doctor.

The doctor sent us away for labs with the prediction of a high bilirubin but not so high that Evelyn would be hospitalized.  The prediction was wrong.  Our doctor was going to admit her only if her levels were close to 18 or 19.  Miss Evelyn Rose came in at 22.7.  Dangerously high. Toxins can be deposited on the brain at 25 which causes a multitude of developmental delays and cognitive deficits.  We couldn't believe we were flirting with going down this road AGAIN!

We drove straight to hospital, still unaware of the above.  After Evelyn was put under the lights and on the blanket, the doctors explained the situation.  Evelyn took longer than most kids to come down on her numbers.  She was under lights the entire night.  I struggled to get her to sleep in that tiny bed since all she knew up until that point was sleeping in our bed and on our chest.  It was a long night.  It was a tough night for the big girls too.  I had just come home from the hospital and now was headed back with Evelyn.  Just a lot of juggling for them.

The next morning, Evelyn's numbers dropped and we were discharged later that afternoon.  She stayed a nice orange color for a couple of weeks and her eyes yellow.  Hopefully, that is the first and last of her hospital stays for many years.