Blood Tests and Lights

The day that Lexi and I were discharged from the hospital, her bilirubin level was too high.  So she was put on lights at the hospital until we left, then we were sent home with a bilibed for light therapy that she was to be on all the time.  At the hospital they made it sound so easy for her to sleep on the bed, but we quickly discovered that she hated it.  She screamed and wouldn't sleep at all.  We went back to the hospital the next day to get her tested again, and her level had dropped enough that the doctor said not to really worry about keeping her on the lights.  The next day when she got tested again, the level went way up.  So back on the lights, but this time we got a biliblanket too to help during the times when she just couldn't stand the bed. 

We finally figured out a way for her to be happy while on the bed, we would put the bed on our laps and just wrap our arms around her the best we could.  Almost every day for about two weeks we took her to the hospital in the morning to get blood drawn, and during that time her levels would go down while on light therapy, but as soon as we took away the lights, they would jump back up.  Finally at her two week check, we came to the conclusion that she wasn't getting enough food from me nursing her.  She wasn't gaining weight, and the jaundice wasn't going away.  So, we decided that nursing just wasn't working and started her on formula.  Since then her levels have dropped and hopefully she is gaining weight.