Our Little Glow Worm

Two days after Garytt was born, Jennifer was discharged from the hospital. However, the doctors wanted Garytt to stay at least another day to observe him since he was considered premature and was not yet 48 hours old. After checking his bilirubin levels (jaundice) on Sunday (March 28th), Garytt was released from the hospital with lab orders to check the bilirubin levels again the next morning. So, we loaded up, strapped him in the car seat, and headed home.



After the first long night, we headed back up to the hospital lab to get Garytt's bilirubin checked again. As soon as we got home, we received a phone call from the doctor that his bilirubin had dramatically increased overnight and she wanted him admitted to the NICU for phototherapy treatment. At first, the doctors were telling us he would need to be treated for 3-4 days. That's not really something new parents want to hear, but we wanted him to get better. Luckily, the hospital allowed us to board in the maternity ward, so we didn't have to be too far from our new baby. After learning that this treatment was fairly common for premature babies, we were able to find a little lighthearted humor in Garytt's new cool shades.



Garytt responded very well to the treatment and was actually discharged for the second time after only being in for a day. The orders upon discharge were for him to remain on phototherapy on a smaller home "bilibed." This proved to be a bit of a challenge as Garytt did not like to sleep much on the bilibed. However, we did get a few shots of our little glow worm.


After re-checking his bilirubin levels the next day, we were happy to learn the home treatment was no longer necessary.