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I am sorry I didn’t post after the midwife’s visit on Wednesday. I wanted to wait and see how our visit went at the hospital today, so here is the latest. The visit on Wednesday was a little disheartening because Michael had lost weight again. This was most likely because of his cold; he was off his feeds slightly, obviously enough to make a difference to his weight. I think he just felt miserable with the blocked nose and the infected eye. I have had babies with sticky eyes before, but this one was completely different, swollen and an angry red colour. It looked nasty. Victoria (our midwife) knew the doctor would want us to come in straight away and have Michael assessed. We decided to wait until Friday and see how he went after more feeds to help him put the weight back on. If his feeds were down that would also explain the jaundice staying around. I have had jaundiced babies before but never for this long. I have tried all the usual remedies and it still persists. Initially, I was sure he would improve over those extra couple of days, but after a while fears played on my mind and I wondered if perhaps there was something wrong. A test for liver problems was mentioned as a possibility, so after an anxious day on Thursday, I was looking forward to our visit the next day. We were scheduled to see the neonatal doctor after weighing the baby and performing the heel blood test. I wasn’t looking forward to this test. The day Michael was born the hospital staff tried to get blood from his heel for a blood glucose level and he just wouldn’t bleed. He screamed so much I told them to stop the test. Fortunately, this time was different. He bled really well and filled the vial quite quickly with minimal distress. A real answer to prayer if you had seen the first attempt the day he was born. We waited around for the results for a couple of hours and then saw the neonatal doctor to discuss what we needed to do. On Wednesday, I was told to bring in a suitcase just in case we needed to stay for phototherapy. The bilirubin levels were high and in the range they would normally like to give the treatment. However, that would mean Michael being admitted and the doctor said she was in no great rush to do that. What a relief. She said he didn't look like a sick baby even though this is quite late to have jaundice. She thinks it is hanging around because he was premature and because breastfeeding causes higher levels of bilirubin, (she said that is no reason not to breastfeed though). The doctor was happy for me to continue expressing milk and using that to supplement him over the weekend, then on Monday we will go back in for another bilirubin level test. The only problem with the expressed milk is that she wants me to increase the amount. This means expressing 24 hours, not just during the day. It is just so hard to keep up with expressing and get the right amount. The other morning I expressed more than I ever have and then I dropped it. They say there is no use crying over spilt milk, well, I did. From there, I was behind all day. Please pray I will be able to express enough. If he doesn't improve over the weekend, we will have to supplement his feeds with formula as well as the amount I am able to express. This is a compromise we are willing to make; he will be getting mostly breast milk and only a small amount of the formula. Of course, if I can express enough myself, we will not need to give him any formula at all. Our main problem with the formula is the real risk of it causing allergies, especially as we already have allergies in our family. If the bilirubin levels have risen or stayed the same after the next test, they will want to check for problems with the liver. His blood results showed that his liver has only just begun to kick in, so we are hoping it will continue to do what it is supposed to do over the weekend and beyond with the extra fluids he receives. The baby is mostly over his cold and his eye infection has cleared up nicely. Because I tested positive for group B strep they want to watch for any type of eye infection or any infection at all, up to about 6 months of age. We have swapped from the syringes to bottles for feeding the expressed milk. He was just gulping in too much air with the syringe and I hope it will improve now after using the bottle. Baby will be happy not to have all that pain in his tummy. I did try a supply line for his feeds, but it is quite fiddly and takes a long time for him to get all the milk. A supply line is a thin, flexible tube taped to the breast. It goes into the baby’s mouth with the nipple. The other end of the tube goes into a bottle with the expressed milk, and baby sucks at the breast causing a let-down reflex, milk production and the added bonus of getting the expressed milk at the same time. Sounds great in theory, but as I said, very fiddly and time consuming. Overall, it has been a positive day and I now feel reassured and more confident in Michael continuing to progress. I will let you know how the hospital visit goes on Monday. Thanks for your prayers. Love Amanda
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