Texas Children's Hospital

On Wednesday I took Claire on her first real outing - to the pediatrician's office. Little did I know what kind of major outing we would end up having as a result of that! The pediatrician was concerned by Claire's yellow-orange look, so she had a blood test run STAT to determine her bilirubin levels. Around 1:15pm, I received a phone call from the nurse at the doctor's office. It went like this:

Nurse: Hi, Mrs. Cooper?
Me: Yes,
Nurse: This is the nurse from the doctor's office. Claire's bilirubin levels came back very high, so you need to take her to the emergency room at Texas Children's Hospital. I'm going to call them to let them know you're coming. (Her bilirubin level was 21).


Now, I know that high bilirubin levels, (which lead to jaundice), are pretty normal in some babies, and I know that the babies just need to sit under some lights, and they'll be fine. But I was a bit shocked to hear that I needed to take my daughter to the ER at Texas Children's. Thankfully, my mom was with me, and she helped me. She suggested that I take more things (clothes, etc.) for Claire than I thought I needed. I'm glad she said that because I did use many of the extra clothes, burp cloths, and other items that I ended up grabbing.

Here she is the day before.

You can really tell that she's yellow-orange in this picture because of the contrast between her skin and my aunt's skin!

And here she is the day we went to the doctor.

So she was a yellow-orange baby! And we were on our way to the ER. Also thankfully, Jordan had gone into work early that day, so he got off around 1:30, (instead of 5 or 6). He was able to meet us there. He was, of course, very calm, and I appreciated that very much!

At the ER, they took her blood again and ran another bilirubin level. This time it was 24.3. She was admitted very quickly. The doctor wanted to send her to the level 2 NICU, but any baby with a bilirubin level greater than 20 has to go to the level 3 NICU. (Level 3 is for the most severe cases).

We ended up spending Wednesday night and Thursday night in the hospital. Claire relaxed under the bilirubin lights, and she really didn't seem to mind it a bit! - She's such a good little girl! - I guess she wanted a suntan. She got to wear these cool shades. (I took this picture tonight, which is why she's a more normal color here). The shades make me think of the Red Baron, but I was more inclined to call her the Orange Baroness!!


Thursday morning her level was 16.9, so the doctors decided to stop the phototherapy and see how she did on her own. Thursday night, 9 hours after turning off the lights, her level was 14.9. She was on the mend! And she was eating better, too!

On both Wednesday and Thursday night, we were able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House, which is actually on the same floor as the level 3 NICU. The Ronald McDonald House was really great. We had a simple room and access to the kitchen - with food - all for free. Thursday I also signed up for a room to be able to take a nap between 1-5pm. It was very nice and very convenient. Because we were able to stay there, I was able to feed Claire at night. Jordan put it well when he said that he'll look at the Ronald McDonald House donation boxes differently now.

Friday we were able to go home!!! We were all so glad! My mom, who stayed about 5 minutes away at my grandmom's house Wednesday and Thursday night, and who came to the hospital all day every day to be with Claire and me, and Jordan when he was not working, took us home again. Once again, it was so nice to have her there. I know she was watching out for me while I was only thinking about Claire. - Thanks, Mom! Here they are Friday night - at home!!!!


This morning, (yes, a Saturday), we took Claire back to the pediatrician's office. They did another level check, and today it's 10. She is continuing to get better and better. They want to see her again on Monday for (hopefully) one last check.

One last side note: Claire's neonatologist at Texas Children's was Dr. Jen Arnold, one of the stars of the TLC TV show, The Little Couple. She was very nice and very personable. I have never seen the show, but I will probably look it up and watch an episode of it now, since I watched her examine Claire!