After coming home, Joshua developed jaundice. It's very common in newborns: the immature liver can't quite keep pace with the creation and breakdown of blood. Bilirubin, a product of blood breakdown, accumulates in the blood stream, giving the baby a yellowish color. Jaundice is even more common in preemies.
The treatment for jaundice is to put the baby under sun lamps (usually called ``Billy Lights''). Ultraviolet light from the sun lamps breaks bilirubin into water-soluble chemicals which the baby then eliminates normally. Joshua spent three days and two nights under sun lamps.
Jaundice is so common that nurses could only get us one lamp; all of the hospital's lamps were in use. Most were being used by the neonatal ICU. When they sent us home, they had to borrow a ``Billy Blanket'' from another hospital so we could continue his treatment for another day.
Joshua in his
incubator. The ``shades'' protect his eyes from exposure to UV
radiation. They stick to his head by two velcro dots glued to his
temples.
Sleeping in
his incubator. Newborns are amazingly flexible! This is just what
he would have looked like inside mom, except for the diaper, shades,
and the nasty IV on his right arm.
About to
go home. Notice the velcro tabs on his temples. We've gotten one
of them off, but it's slow going. We're slowly soaking off the glue,
since he's too young to answer the question ``Fast or slow?''
