Journey Through Motherhood and Life: Jaundice is a pain!

So...I forgot to update Friday. Let's just say I was beyond tired and thank god Blake was off because I finally got some sleep! It's not that little man keeps me up it's just the whole having to wake up to pump and feed him every 2 hours. We got to go home at like 8am on Friday. The doctor that clipped the skin thing under his tongue came in and told us that his Bilirubin level went from 9.8 up to 10.2. Which to me doesn't sound good but she said that normally it goes way up when they take babies off of the lights but his only went up a little. We had an appointment today with his pediatrician to check his levels again. Why is it that you have an appointment time yet you sit there for ever! Drives me insane! He called us when he got the results and it is now up to 13 something. What the heck! This whole jaundice thing is about to drive me up the wall! Levi has another appointment on Monday to check his weight. Which that's a whole different topic. But because of his levels going up they're going to weigh him and check the Bilirubin levels again. And then Wednesday he has his 2 week wellness check-up. He's gonna be 2 weeks already! Crazy how time flies!

About the whole weight thing. When he was born he weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces. When we left the hospital he weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces. Which I know it's normal for them to lose weight. But it is now almost a week later and he hasn't gained anything. I was told it could take up to 2 weeks for him to start gaining the weight back and that sometimes breast feed babies take longer. Well with this whole jaundice issue breast feeding doesn't help get rid of it. So the pediatrician and Blake and I decided that until Monday we're only giving him formula to see if that helps with putting weight on and with making the jaundice go away. I know the older they get and the more they weigh the higher the Bilirubin level is allowed to be. It's kinda like they grow into it in a way. And if he isn't growing then it isn't helping him any. I feel like this is never going to end! I asked the pediatrician what the heck they do if it stays and he said it doesn't. Some babies just take longer than others.

I was going to let my milk just dry up and forget about it and just feed him formula. But I feel bad. I feel like as long as I can produce milk that I should give it to him but at the same time it isn't helping him so what's the point. So I asked advice on the easiest way to make it dry up and of course I got pretty much the same answer. Just strap them tight and don't let anything warm touch them or try cabbage leaves. So I got out the ace bandage and put it tight around the boobs. To me...this isn't going to work. That lasted about an hour and I said forget it. My boobs are way to big to be doing all that. So I talked to another friend who has done this plenty of times and she said to still pump but just do it less and less each time and it will eventually dry up. Which that's what I was going to do in the beginning but I was just really confused and had no clue what I was suppose to do. So we'll see how that goes.

We haven't taken Levi anywhere yet because I'm paranoid about all this jaundice stuff and him getting sick from being around people. The joys of being a parent! Today my nephew came over. He is 7 1/2 months and is a hoss! I swear any day he's going to start talking and walking. He stares at Levi like he has no clue what he's looking at. They laid next to each other and he kept wanting to grab him. I think he might be jealous because Levi has more hair than him. Ha!