More Day 3

A very common condition among premature babies, and even full term babies, is jaundice.  As was pretty much expected, Kylee has developed this condition.  Luckily, since they were basically waiting for this to develop, it was caught at an early stage.  If left untreated, jaundice can be a pretty serious thing; however, it is easily treatable if detected early.

Kylee is receiving photo therapy to treat her jaundice and is being "lit up" by three different light sources.  There is once light source under her and two above her.  Natalie says that she looks like a little glow worm and I must agree.

There is a blood test that is done to measure a substance called bilirubin.  Bilirubin is normally broken down by the liver; however, in the case of infants this does not always occur.  When the bilirubin is not broken down, it causes the yellowish color...or jaundice.

Kylee's bilirubin numbers started out at 12 and went up to 14.  Some of you may be asking what unit of measure is used here and I have no clue.  We were told that there is no real cause for alarm until the bilirubin levels get near 25 and since this was detected early, this is not expected.  As of Sunday morning, we were told that Kylee's bilirubin levels have dropped to 12.5....yay!!!

Here are a few pictures of Kylee, her little sunglasses, and the setup she has in NICU.  In the first picture below, my wedding ring is on Kylee's stomach as a crude scale to show her size.....