Schulze Life: Special Care Nursery

I'm still the process of documenting Libby's hospital stay so here is the last little bit...

On the morning of Monday the 28th we were told that Libby had a slight case of jaundice and that her pediatrician wanted to recheck her bilirubin level later in the day. The pediatrician informed us that her levels were no where near dangerous and they were just being very cautious. Late that evening they rechecked her bilirubin level and it had not come down enough so they had to take her to the nursery to put her under the light. She ended up having to stay under the light all day Tuesday which made for one very sad new momma. The only time I got to see her was every 3 hours when they brought her in to eat. I was a total wreck and cried off and on the whole day :( It's amazing how quickly your "motherly instinct" kicks in after you have a baby...I was not expecting to have that type of reaction. All of my family and friends were so sweet and consoled and entertained me all day. And as I prayed that day the Lord reminded me to be grateful for how blessed we were and that it was nothing more serious. Also, I had an amazing lactation consultant who helped me start pumping so that Libby would be getting enough to eat since jaundice makes babies lethargic. She was a huge blessing and helped us get off to a great start with breastfeeding.

Tuesday night I was discharged from the hospital but Libby's bilirubin was still not as low as they wanted so they sent us over to the Special Care Nursery in the Jackson building. The great thing about this was John Paul and I got to be in the same room as Libby! She still had to stay in the special bed under the light but I got to take her out to change her, feed her, or console her if she was upset. Plus we could just sit there and look at her :) The SPC is brand new and felt like our own little hotel suite. The nurses we had were so wonderful and overall it was a really great experience. We spent Tuesday night and most of Wednesday there before they rechecked her bilirubin and it was low enough for us to go home! Hooray! Here are some pictures to document our stay...