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Hello yaw,
Ok, I know, it’s been quite a while since my last post. It’s been a very busy summer, and I have NO excuses. Anyway, I don’t always cover subjects like this, but this is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. 50/50, you’re on one side of the fence or the other. I doubt there’s much of a split decision here. So, take this into account. I love you all. Whether I know you or not. Doesn’t matter. We may disagree, but I love you none the less. God bless you always.
Meredith – RNC
Ok, here we go,
I will most likely lean to the conservative side of this argument. Sorry, but I am VERY opinionated, regarding this topic.
I know this is going to be a very controversial topic. Most people are on one side of the fence or the other. Generally, you’re not in the middle. I can almost, not always, but almost be certain, if you’ve had a child, you’re against abortion. And if you haven’t, you MAY be for it. Not always, but usually. Obviously there’s a reason for this. Trust me, once you’ve had a child, you can’t imagine life without them. Granted, this is through my eyes. I was married when I concieved my first, and if you’ve read most of my post’s, you know, probably my ONLY child.
So despite the controversy here, let’s think rationally. I know most people have opinions that vary both ways. If you asked my aunt, who had an abortion when she was 22, she would tell you it was the worst experience of her life. Not just because she now cannot have children, but also because she feels she took a life that she helped create. There are obviously political and religious opinions on both sides of the fence. Also, some people are quite aloof to the word “abortion”, as for some reason it doesn’t register with them that the life that was taken was a child. A future president, teacher, astronaut, race car driver, engineer, fast food worker, what ever !!! It doesn’t matter. This is my opinion. You’re taking a life.
There are some people, such as my aunt, that this word haunts. For the life that was taken, and for what can never more be. Many of these women can no longer have children because of the procedures that were done. That may no longer be the case today but that doen’t mean you won’t feel guilt for the life you have taken.
Abortion is defined as: A pregnancy loss for any reason, either spontaneous, commonly called miscarriage, or induced and planned or performed by a medical professional of some sort.
Abortion can happen at any time after conception from the first days up until the end of the pregnancy. While induced abortion generally is not done beyond 22-24 weeks of gestation, as the fetus is bordering on “viability” at this time, and CAN survive outside of the womb, albeit with some help from the NICU.
There has always been controversy regarding the beginning of life. There are some that say the fetus is not “alive” until later in the pregnancy, some say not until the heart is beating and we can detect that with ultra sound at SIX WEEKS gestation. But, I BELIEVE LIFE BEGINS AT THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTON. It does, there is no argument here as far as I am concerned. I don’t care what you think. I love you none the less, but I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK !!! THIS IS A MEDICAL FACT !!!!
First things first, regarding “pro-choice”, your choice came when you decided to lay down with who ever it was that inpregnated you, at that point you made a decision, now as an adult and a human being, you have to live with your decision. Be a man, be a woman. BE RESPONSIBLE. YOU created LIFE, now accept that responsiblility and raise that child or give him or her up for adoption to someone who will gladly accept and love that child as one of their own.
It was your choice. YOU created life. Now accept it.
How can something, “not alive” grow and form? Sorry, not possible scientifically. I am an RNC – I don’t care what YOU THINK or what training you’ve had. You’re wrong. PERIOD.
The fetus doesn’t have thoughts and opinions yet, but is still alive and a human being. Most people can’t remember much before their fifth or sixth year of life, other than an instance here and there, can you? Does that mean that you were not alive? So then what do YOU consider Viable?
For those of you who are for abortion, “murder of an innocent human being”, and feel the mother’s rights override the child’s, that’s only your opinion, but you are entitled to that opinion in this country. Unfortunately, it’s still legal to take the life of a beautiful child, but in most places, not a convicted murderer. That’s right, you can murder someone who’s been around for twenty, thirty or fourty years, whatever, and be sentenced to life in prison, but murder a child, hey, that’s ok.
Believe it or not, believe in God or not, one day, YOU WILL BE JUDGED. Taking the life of another human being IS murder !! This is NOT debatable. You made your choice, now be responsible and live with it. I don’t care where you’re from, you made your choice, you had the chance to prevent the pregnacy, if you were irresponsible, be a man/woman and deal with it. Don’t be an animal. Give that child up for adoption, or take it as your own and accept the gift you were given by God, and God will forgive you.
Sincerely,
Meredith – RNC
Hello eveyone,
I recently posted a topic regarding my personal experience with chemo therapy and in that post included a couple of things that would help you cope with it. I thought that today I might add to that list. As always, I hope this helps you in some way. God bless you always.
Ok, here we go:
Top 10 hints for surviving chemo therapy:
1. Drink lots and lots of water the day before, and for the next 4-5 days after a treatment. Drink at least 64 oz., double that if you can. Yes, you’ll have to urinate about every ten minutes, but you’ll flush the toxins out of your system sooner, and thats the goal.
2. Take stool softeners, fiber, or whatever you choose from 1 day before until about 3-4 days after your treatment, as it is common to become constipated from the harsh chemicals in the chemo. Been there done that. NOT FUN.
3. Don’t Plan ANYTHING for the first few days after you receive chemo, as you need to sleep more than usual. You’ll become a “napper extraordinaire”, 2-3 per day on the worst days, plus a full night or more.
4. Take your meds., especially ones for nausea at even the slightest hint of nausea, as it can sneak up on you fast, and then it’s too late. If your meds aren’t working, tell your doctor asap, as they can try different ones. I myself NEVER threw up, though I had nausea, I took my meds. around the clock, even waking in the night to take them on schedule.
5. Eat plent of food, as balanced as possible. Your body will need TONS of regenerating energy, and food is your fuel. You may feel constant hunger, don’t deny it, nows not the time for that. Also, for some people, constant grazing can help keep nausea at bay, empty stomach = more chance for nausea. You probably will gain some weight, THATS NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW, when you are through this, you can get back into shape. I gained 25 lbs., and this year lost it all and a little more. I hope your significant other is understanding.
6. Keep warm, especially your head when your hair falls out. Other than hot flashes, I was feeling cold most of my chemo months. I slept with more blankets, wore more layers, and still felt chilled, weird !!
7. For your chemo treatment days, come prepared. Wear layers, bring a book, or something to do. I either knitted while listening to my ipod, or did puzzles, also while listening to my ipod. I’ve seen some people sleep, but I just didn’t feel that tired.
8. If your doctor tells you that your meds will cause hair loss, ( some don’t ), have yourself an event with friends and or family to have a head shaving party. I did it and it felt SO good to take charge of my hair loss and not let it take charge of me. Don’t worry, have fun with it. It’s just hair, it will grow back. I never even cried or felt sad, I laughed the whole time. Very empowering. And mind you, I had hair down to my butt before getting it cut prior to chemo.
9. If you are one who likes to write, then journal. Later you can look back to see how you did and felt during the darker days, and it helps to let things pour out onto paper. Pictures can be good too. I still look at both occasionally.
10. Remember that it doesn’t last forever, that it will come to an end, and then you’ll feel better, get your hair back, regain strength and everything else will fall into place.
Most of all, if you ever feel you have no one to talk to, no one who understands, you can contact me at anytime.
God bless all of you always,
Meredith – RNC
Hello everyone,
It has been a long and trying week. During which I’ve had to work some long hours and also lost a dear friend to breast cancer. I’ve decided to make today’s post about her. I’m sorry for taking so long to add to this blog, it’s just been one of those weeks. As always, I hope you find something in this entry that helps you or those you love. God bless always,
Meredith – RNC
In Memoriam:
This past thursday, early in the morning, this world lost a wonderful woman and heaven gained an angel. One family lost a wife, mother to three young boys, sister, daughter and aunt among others. One medical staff lost a GREAT Obstetrician, the other nurses and I lost a wonderful colleague, and I lost a dear friend.
She had been battling breast cancer for over 4 years, but it DID NOT WIN, It DID NOT WIN. It WILL NEVER WIN.
She was diagnosed 4 years ago while she was pregnant with her 3rd son, at about 32 weeks or so, and was induced a little early so that she could start treatment against this aggressive beast as soon as possible.
All through treatment she worked, that’s probably where my inspiration came from, and she rarely missed a beat. After her treatment she got back to normal as soon as possible.
On her birthday, roughly a year later, two years ago now, she had some pain and felt a lump on her collarbone. A bone scan showed many areas of metastasis, or cancer spread, throughout her ribs, hips and spine.
She underwent a more aggressive chemo regimens, and radiation, and was going through chemo about the same time as I was, maybe a little after. For the next two years she had her ups and downs, but they were normal, tumors shrinking then growing. She even underwent an experimental therapy involving bone marrow in some way, although I didn’t understand all of it.
This past spring, she suffered a stroke and had to be wheelchair bound. Things were slowly going downhill all summer, then we received the news of her passing while we were at work just recently. Before she got to the point where she was wheelchair bound, she spent a lot of time traveling with her 3 sons, taking pictures and enjoying moments with them. I think that is important and courageous on her part, maybe knowing where this was going to end and wanting to make sure she made as many memories for her young sons as she could.
She leaves behind a wonderful family, a loving husband, 3 darling boys and many other family, colleagues and friends. She will never be forgotton. She personified strength and courage and perseverance and although a cliche, everyone who knew her was a better person for doing so.
Her family misses her, and are dealing with her loss through therapy, but they are assured they will be re-united with her some day.
She is no longer having to endure the pain and suffering that she so graciously accepted, she is healthy and whole, she is in better hands, the loving arms of our lord.
I had to share this, god bless you and yours always,
Meredith – RNC
Hello everyone,
I’m going to continue where I left off on my last post regarding my battle with breast cancer and the start of my chemotherapy. I hope that maybe you find this interesting and also that maybe will be able to find something within to help you with a personal battle of your own or maybe someone you know. As always, feel free to comment or offer your experiences and advice, and God bless you and yours !!
Friday, day 5 of my first round with chemo. I couldn’t go to the bathroom, and hadn’t since five or six days earlier. I’d been taking fiber and doing metamucel heavily, all with NO results !! I finally gave in and gave myself an enema, and had some results, ( which I noted in my last post, and was a HUGE mistake by the way ) but I had abdominal discomfort for the rest of that day. Next day, saturday, as I was feeling less nauseated, I still had abdominal discomfort. I paged the doctor on call and he told me to watch for fevers, anything greater than 100.6 needed immediate attention. The next morning I woke up feeling near death. I had absolutely NO energy. I took my temp and it was over 101, I woke up my husband and had him take me to ER, paged my Oncologist and she said she’d meet me there.
Long story short, I was there for 5 LONG DAYS, in isolation for 4 of those. My son couldn’t even visit me for the first 3 DAYS !! That sucks. I had NO white blood cells in my body, and I had to have Neulasta and Neupogen to stimulate my bone marrow to make more WBC. VERY boring to sit in a bed for 5 damn days !! I’d been “ok” mentally til then, but I had this weird, “Walls closing in on me” feeling and asked my oncologist if I could start an anti-depressant. She said “I’m surprised you haven’t asked before now !”
On about day 13, I started to feel my scalp tingle and could pull hair out easily. I didn’t want to get upset by it, so I called in the reinforcements, some friends and family to bring over food and we’d have a head shaving party. It was the best thing I could have done !! I took control of it before it could take control of me. Remember that. We shaved my head and had fun, took pictures, which I will share and even my husband shaved his !!! Trust me, thats not a big step !!!
Every 3 weeks on a Monday I recieved my damn chemo-cocktail. Oh yum !! It’s not a margarita, trust me. I drank water by the gallon, ate all the time and became a napper extraordinaire. I’d sleep 9-10 hours at night, plus a few naps when I had days off. I worked all through my chemo, really wasn’t too bad because as a nurse I generally only work 12 hour shifts 3 days a week. My boss just rearranged them to suit my chemo, I loved her for that !! ( She’s no longer with our hospital )
Halloween fell during my chemo, and in the middle of a cycle, and I thought, I’m bald, let’s have fun with this. I went as Howie Mandell from “Deal or No Deal” and 2 friends were my “briefcase girls”, the quirk was that one of them was a dude in drag !! Trust me, my husband, would NEVER have a part in that, god bless him. We ended up winning 2nd place at a costume contest !!
The fatigue and nausea got progressively worse with each round, and I needed more meds. By the 5th and 6th rounds I dreaded going, even though I knew it was necessary.
I was SO glad to be done, the last one was December 11th, a very, very good day. By christmas I felt good enough to enjoy the day, just a little tired.
I’ll go more into this later and will soon be adding pics here for you to see my steroid bloated face and bald head !! What a treat for you !! As always, feel free to include your input.
God bless you and yours always,
Meredith – RNC
Hello again,
Well today, I’m going to continue on with sharing my story about my recent battle with breast cancer. Hopefully, somewhere in my ramblings you will find something you can relate to or maybe draw some hope from. As always, your comments are appreciated and welcomed. God bless.
The day of my surgery was 08-04-2006, so it’s been just about two years !! Time flys when you’re having fun ! Anyway, I woke up nice and early, had to be at the hospital very early in the morning. My parents came with me and my husband showed up a bit before I went in for the surgery itself. I was scheduled for a needle localization with wire insertion by ultrasound guidance prior to the surgery. They mark the tumor with the surgical wire, to let the surgeon find it easily. Just like the biopsy, it didn’t hurt.
Also, since they had to check my lymph nodes, I had to have my lymph nodes “marked” to help find those as they aren’t easy to see. They used a radioactive med. and injected it in 6 sites around the nipple, the med. would then flow through the nodes and up the chain of nodes, marking them for the surgeon to see. The only bad part was that this hurt some because they couldn’t use Lidocaine.
Then it was off to pre-op, some friends came in to see me off. Along came the anesthesiologist with a syringe of stuff…..and I didn’t remember anything until I woke up in the recovery room. They moved me to my room after that.
Since I had 7 nodes removed, the first was infected with cancer cells, the rest were not, I had a drain into my axilla, (armpit area) to drain fluid that the absent nodes could not.
I stayed overnight and went home the next day. Very mild pain in my book, but others I’ve talked to said it can be higher. At a follow up appointment 4 days later, they removed the drain, which felt soooooo good, as I’d started to heal around it and it was irritating !!
The week after, I had my 1st appointment with my Oncologist. I’d researched the hell out of my pathology results, so I went prepared to say the least. I knew I’d need chemo, because of the node involvement. The appointment went fine, all my questions were answered. She wanted to start the chemo about a week later so I decided to get an infusa-port for ease of getting my doses. The procedure was relatively easy, just outpatient, in and out in a few hours time. I figured I’d rather have the device used than get frequent pokes into my arm for IVs and Lab draws. It ended up on the left side of my chest, just above my left breast.
My first chemo treatment was on 8-28-2006, it wasn’t too bad, I fully expected to feel horribly sick and terrible. I really didn’t. I was surprised. It took about 4-5 hours and then I went home. I still wasn’t sick yet, and still didn’t really feel bad at all, until the next day that is ! That next day I felt like I had been ran over by a Mac truck a few times !
Chemo helps but here’s a few pointers that may help: 1. Drink lots of water, at least 64 oz. each day, more will flush the poisons/toxins out sooner. 2. take stool softeners everyday if needed, my first round of chemo stopped my intestines like I swallowed concrete !! Trust me, that sucks. 3. Take nausea meds. EVEN if you don’t feel nauseated, it can hit quick and then it’s too late. 4. Frequent snacks/grazing can help nausea a lot. 5. Never….ever….ever…ever……EVER !!!! give yourself an enema during chemo. I was sooooo constipated and hadn’t gone for over 5 days, none of my info. from the Oncologist said not to, but it’s a HUGE No-No !!! It caused an even bigger drop in my White Blood Cell count and led to a 5 day hospitalization in isolation so my WBC’s could recover.
Thats it for today, I will cover more in the coming days. As always, I hope this helps. Thanks for reading and sharing.
God bless you and yours,
Meredith – RNC ( I’m running for President, in case you hadn’t read that post : ))
Hello,
Today, I wanted to start an entry to my story of dealing with breast cancer. I hope that you can find something in this entry to help you if you’re dealing with this disease yourself or have a loved one going through it. As always, feel free to comment anytime, others will certainly appreciate it.
I was 35, had a four year old boy and a wonderful husband. For a number of months I had a tender spot in my breast that came with my periods. The little bugger really ached at times. I thought it was a cyst, as my mother and grandmother had many breast cysts. I didn’t have much cancer in my family, so that definitely couldn’t be the problem, right ? I had a great grandmother who got it when she was 85, recieved treatment and still lived until she was 93 and eventually died of natural causes. I also had a second cousin who had early diagnosis at age 35, and is now 6+ years cancer free.
I had my yearly OBGYN appointment the next month, so I waited until then and brought it up with my midwife. Now I couldn’t really feel a lump but she could. She said she couldn’t tell what it was, but that a mammogram would. She had the secretary call and get me an appointment set up for a few days later. I left out of there not too worried. I’d even had my midwife give me a prescription for prenatals, as my husband and I had just decided to try for another child.
Come the day of my Mammogram, I still wasn’t all that worried. The pictures definitely showed a mass, not a fluid cyst, as I had hoped. Right after my mammogram they had me slide to another room for an ultrasound of the bugger, which was when I saw it for the first time. It was a little roundish thing that measured 1.6 cm. The tech said it was definitely solid. Now we started to wonder. I was scheduled for a biopsy three days later. I went home to report to my hubby what they saw. We both had kept saying it was just a cyst, it’s not going to be anything worse. So much for that.
I had my biopsy three days later, the procedure itself was pretty easy. The radiologist numbs the area very well, then injects a large bore needle with ultra sound guidance into the core of the mass and then take samples which didn’t hurt much at all. Wanna talk about a great day, on my way home from the biopsy the fuel pump on my car went out, to the tune of $300.00 !! Oh boy, what a great day !
I had to work the next day, and was a little achy, but do-able. I got sent home mid-day because of low census. I was lying on the couch resting and at about 3pm or so the phone rang……………. it was my midwife. She said she couldn’t find me at work and asked me if I had the chance to check my biopsy results on the computer at work. I told her no, and the next words that came out of her mouth changed a lot of things in my life. She read my biopsy results with all the medical jargon, then let me have a few minutes to digest everything. At that point it was about 3:30 pm on a friday and she had a receptionist on another line getting me in to see a surgeon asap. My appointment was set for five days later. Pretty much impossible, but was extended as a professional courtesy I suppose. I was really in a fog. My husband was working nights at the time and hadn’t got up yet. After our conversation my midwife told me I should go wake him up and let him know what was going on. She also gave me her cell phone, home and work phone so I could call her if I had any questions.
After I hung up the phone with my midwife I called my mother and told her the news. She was a little shocked but was very calm and supportive. The rest of that day was a little foggy as well. I called a number of people and then started researching my type of cancer online. I was now officially a cancer patient. It was really kind of surreal, I felt normal, but was in shock and numb from the news. I new my life was going to change drastically in the next few weeks. I didn’t sleep much that night, tossed and turned, brain going a million miles a minute trying to wrap trying to get a grip on all this new information.
5 days later I sat down with the surgeon along with my mom, husband and mother inlaw. He said that with my pathology and type and size of cancer, that it had probably been there for about five years, slowly growing so there was no rush to get it out today. We discussed mastectomy versus lumpectomy, all the pro’s and con’s of each. He said I’d need an oncologist depending on results of the node removal during my surgery to see if the lymph nodes were affected and how many. I left out of there with lots of questions answered and scheduled my surgery for approx. one month later, in order to save sick time for the surgery.
I continue on some more on this in the coming days.
God bless,
Meredith – RNC
Hello everyone,
It’s been a few days since my last “real” entry, I had to take a couple of days off and take my son to the beach. You’ve got to enjoy them while they are young ! Anyway, today’s entry will cover some myths about breast cancer and my personal experience with it. As always, I would like to encourage your participation, whether it be from personal experience, professional experience or if you have any questions and concerns. Thanks for reading, I hope you find this useful.
There are some myths regarding breast cancer that people believe, that may affect their choice to do exams or get medical care. These myths are dangerous and they are untrue !
The first is that you can only get breast cancer if it’s in your family history, that it’s hereditary. Yes, there are specific cancers that are caused by a gene mutation and can be passed down in family lines, but the majority are non-genetic, caused by any number of reasons, environmental, exposure to carcinogens or other harmful substances. Some have no specific reason at all.
Another myth is that breast cancer only happens to “older” women. Usually considered post-menopausal in nature. Not true. I was diagnosed at age 35, and I know many women, ranging from age 26-40 at diagnosis who will agree that this rotten disease is not just for “mature” women.
Yet another myth is that breast cancer doesn’t hurt. This is also untrue, as certain breast cancers, specifically ones that are hormone receptor positive can make tumors swell with the hormone fluctuations of a womans mentrual cycles.
Personally, my diagnosis of breast cancer at age 35 was with no direct family history, having discovered my tumor as a sore spot that throbbed with my periods. This trashes those myths, and there are many younger women with similar stories.
So the bottom line is, DO YOUR SELF EXAMS MONTHLY, get your yearly exam with a physician to check your breasts, no matter how young you are, and if you feel ANYTHING that even RESEMBLES a lump, be agressive with your doctors until they listen to you and get a mammogram ordered immediately.
Thank goodness I didn’t have to argue with my doctors, but some believe these myths and say “lets just watch it” or ” it’s nothing”, remember it’s your health and your life, take charge of it.
In a future post I will discuss my personal “ordeal” and experiences with this rat bastard disease. : )
Heres more great information for you if you’d like check them out, there are a bunch of great stories and examples for you to research.
As always, I hope this helps. God bless,
Meredith – RNC
Hello yaw,
I need to start working on my southern draw, although I’m not so sure they have it in Texas. Anyway, today I will be writing about cirumcisions and why you may want your child to get one, and why you may not. As always, I hope you find this information useful and would like to encourage your participation.
CIRCUMCISION –
There are many differing schools of thought on this subject, we will look at them all as we go over the facts. You’ll need to weigh the risks versus the benefits and other factors such as culture, religion and personal preference will affect your decision.
First and foremost, what is circumcision ? It is a procedure in which a pediatrician removes the prepuce of the foreskin, or the skin that covers the tip of the penis. This is usually done 18-24 hours after birth.
During circumcision the infants arms and legs are restrained. A local anesthetic is generally used, and the pediatrician does the procedure in about 5-10 minutes. The foreskin is loosened from the glans of the penis, and a Gomco clamp is used to protect the glans of the penis from any injury. Sometimes the Dr. can use other methods such as a Mogen clamp, or a plastibell procedure. Ask your pediatrician which one they use and they can answer any questions you may have.
After the procedure, if a Gomco clamp ( the most common method ) was used, you will need to use vaseline and gauze for 2-3 days after, with each diaper change. This protects the sensitive skin of the glans from the pressure of diapers and the ammonia in urine.
Pro’s and Con’s –
Several potential benefits of circumcision appear to be supported by most studies. Boys who have been circumcised are less likely to have urinary tract infections, ( UTI’s ). Also, it appears to reduce the risk of STD’s in men , protects against penile cancer later in life and may reduce the risk of cervical cancer in female sex partners.
There are some disadvatages also. The infant may experience pain, have increased bleeding or infection at the site and scarring/malformation of the penis is rare but also possible. Also, parents may feel some guilt.
If you choose not to have your son circumcised, there are some things you’ll need to know. Keeping the area clean with soap and water helps reduce the risk of problems and infections. In older boys and men, the foreskin slides back and forth over the penis allowing for cleansing, but from birth through age 3-4 it DOESN’T RETRACT. Don’t force it to retract or you could cause damage and problems to the penis. Once he is older he can be shown how to detract the foreskin and cleanse his penis properly.
I know that deciding is not easy, but with this information I hope it helps make it a little bit easier. As always, feel free to input your comments and experiences.
God bless always,
Meredith – RNC
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
Hello everyone,
I haven’t had a chance to add an entry in the last few days, July is a very, very busy month in my family. My husbands birthday was on the 9th, my sons birthday is today and we have a few others. Not to mention the holiday weekend and work, so I slowed down a little bit, but despite today being my sons 6th bday, Im going to add a quick entry here. As always, I hope you all find it useful and informative and if you have anything to add, please feel free.
INFANT PROCEDURES FROM BIRTH TO DISCHARGE :
When babies are born, they have many things done to them. Once born and dried off, they usually get weighed and measured – length, head and chest circumfrence and indentification bands are placed on mom, dad and baby that all match with moms personal information.
In lots of hospitals, footprinting is also done. In my hospital the prints go on a “keepsake” certificate, which also contains the date/time, and name typed in, but is not any type of legal document.
The pediatrician will usually do an initial physical exam sometime in the first few hours with the nurse assessing vital signs hourly for the first 4 hours.
Sometimes in the first few hours of life, the infant gets a sponge bath and shampoo under a radiant warmer to prevent heat loss. This is usually done in the mothers room so the family can observe. The only exception is when mom has a c – section, which means the baby has its bath and shampoo in the nursery.
After the bath, the infant may receive 2 injections. Vitamin K is first, it helps boost the babys clotting factors, as babies are born with a deficiency. Important for boys and girls, but even more so for boys as they may get circumcised and we don’t want much bleeding to occur. The second is hepatitis B – our hospital offers to give the first of the 3 at birth which is one less shot in the next months of Dr. visits. Hepatitis B injections ( set of 3 ) are now required for children attending public schools, so it just helps get them done faster.
Some other procedures that may differ at other hospitals are as follows. We offer a free hearing screening test to all infants. The test is very simple. While the infant is sleeping, small sticky electrodes are placed on the forehead and the nape of the neck, ear cups are placed on the ears and are connected to a computer. The computer gives small sounds, and the electrodes pick up when the brain responds. This type of test is called AABR, or Automated Auditory Brainstem Response.
We also have a screening program for Jaundice, or yellow discoloration of the skin. At 24 hours, all babies get tested using a non-invasive light sensor test on the skin of the breastbone to detect levels of Jaundice. If below a certain level, baby is deemed ok, and no further treatment is needed. If babies are above that certain level, a blood test is drawn ( from a heel stick ) to correlate the blood level with the skin level. If elevated the pediatrician may order phototherapy, or treatment of Jaundice with low dose ultraviolet lights. I’ll cover more on Jaundice in another post.
Babies at our hospital usually get a 24 hour health screening blood test, once again from a heel stick. This is a screening test which tests for rare but serious disorders, such as Phenylketonuria, Maple Syrup Urine disease, Sickle Cell Anemia and Hypothyroidism. If these disorders are detected they can be treated with a special diet or medication.
Thats it for todays post, I hope this offered you some information you may have been looking for and would like to encourage your participation. Have a great day !
God bless always,
Meredith – RNC
For You From Me 
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