Leaving the hospital, Gabe had slightly elevated bilirubin level which means that he has Neonatal jaundice – apparently very common. The treatment is called Phototherapy where we have to keep him in a suit with a mesh back on top of a light bed pretty much constantly. It was really difficult for us to welcome Gabriel home but not hold him at all! Here’s some pictures of the equipment/setup:
A nurse comes daily to poke Gabe in the foot and take blood for testing as that’s a more accurate measure for bilirubin than the skin test. This morning when the nurse came, he didn’t even cry – it seems that getting stuck in the foot with something sharp isn’t something that a 6 day old should get used to! Here’s a picture from the hospital
Great news is that we got the bilirubin level back today at 11.3, which was back to normal range! We’re super happy to be done with the lights so we can actually hold Gabriel again. He’s doing great now, sleeping, eating – doing all the right stuff! He’s also still sleeping WAY more than Jaxton did, even when Jax was a year old.
