Jaundice and newborns.

Hello,

This post is going to be about Jaundice and what you should know about it regarding your newborn.  As always, I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read this post and as always appreciate your input and experiences. 

Jaundice and your newborn:

Jaundice is a yellowish or light orange appearance of the skin and whites of the eyes.  It is a common condition in newborns and is usually not dangerous.

Jaundice usually appears on the 2nd or 3rd day of life in full term healthy infants, often disappearing in 1 week.  About 50% of full term infants get jaundice, but it is more likely in premature babies, more like 80%, and can last longer also.

Infants with bruising from birth, a sibling with jaundice or those who were delivered with help of a vacuum are at higher risk.

In most cases, jaundice is mild and is not problematic, but if it is more severe, present at birth or appears prior to 24 hours of life, treatment may be necessary. 

The causes of juandice :  Babys liver and other organs aren’t fully mature.  One function of the liver is to rid the blood of excess Bilirubin, which is formed from the normal breakdown of old red blood cells.  This occurs all through life, but is more pronounced in the newborn period.  Until the babys liver begins to function fully, bilirubin tends to build up in the babys bloodstream, causing the skin and the whites of the eyes to become yellow in appearance.

The color change progresses from head to toe, so an infant with mild jaundice may only be yellow in the face, while one with severe jaundice will be yellow over more of his or her body, possibly all of it.

After being changed by the liver, most bilirubin is removed from the body through the babys bowel movements.  Increasing the feedings will increase bowel movements and help get rid of more bilirubin.

Occasionally jaundice can be caused by other problems.  If a baby and mother have different blood types, the mother may produce antibodies that destroy the newborns red blood cells.  This is called ABO incompatibility ( from the blood groups ), and can cause a sudden serious increase in bilirubin.

Another type of jaundice is called breast feeding jaundice, often because in the first few days baby doesn’t get enough breastmilk, his bowels are not moving frequently and the bilirubin cannot be removed as easily.  The best way to treat this is by nursing more frequently.  Giving water feedings WILL NOT help.

The level at which jaundice may be dangerous depends on a few factors:

The babys age, whether the baby was full term or premature, or if the baby has any other medical conditions.  If your pediatrician is concerned they will do a skin or blood test as I discussed in my previous post.  When treatment is needed phototherapy is used.  Ultraviolet lights to help the body remove the bilirubin.  This is done in the nursery, baby is undressed except for his or her diaper and eye covers are used to protect his or her eyes.  The pediatrician will order checks to be sure the level is decreasing as it should.  The nurses will also check babys temps frequently, as the baby will be undressed and we don’t want cold-stress to occur.

Report any yellow-orange discoloration to your pediatrician promptly, because if the level becomes extremely high, nervous system damage may occur, though this is very rare.

In my next post I will discuss Circumcisions.  Guys might not want to read that ! :  )

 

As always, thanks for reading and contributing your experiences. 

God bless you and yours,

Meredith – RNC

How a typical recovery goes for a vaginal delivery.

Hello,

In my last entry I covered a typical C – Section and what you should expect. This time around I am going to cover how a typical recovery for a vaginal delivery goes. As always, if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them and if you would like to add anything to it, feel free, as always, we all appreciate your input.

After the baby and placenta have been delivered and any repairs of episiotomy or lacerations have been completed by the doctor, then recovery starts. For the first hour or so your nurse will be checking your vital signs, your bleeding, your perineum and checking your uterus every 15 minutes. She does the uterine check by rubbing your lower abdomen to massage the uterus. This keeps your uterus contracted, which decreases your bleeding.

You’ll keep your IV until you get up to walk to the bathroom for the first time. If you had an epidural we have to wait for the numbness to wear off before walking. Also, the nurse will be sure you can urinate without a problem before removing your IV. Your nurse will also show you how to cleanse your perineum properly to avoid infection, and a topical spray Med is usually available for perineal discomfort.

You’ll be able to eat solid foods again after recovery, if no nausea. For the first day vaginal bleeding is usually a little heavy, but begins to decrease 8-12 hours after delivery.

We are experiencing some serious storms right now, so I’m going to close off this post and finish with recovery for a C – Section in just a bit. As always, I hope this helps.

God bless,

Meredith – RNC

Today in Labor and Delivery.

Hello,

Let me tell you now, this isn’t going to be real exciting. It was actually a pretty quiet day. Although we did have a woman who went from 3cm dilation to 10cm in about an hour, which is odd and rather insane. She was on her fifth child though, and believe it or not, that makes a huge difference. That was about it for the day though, nothing crazy, nothing complicated. I’m tired, talk to you soon.

God bless,

Meredith – RNC