Today Ben took him in for another bilirubin count and it is coming down but still too high. So he'll stay under the lights for another two days until Wednesday when we test his levels again.
I realize this is minor compared to many other situations he could be in, but it is just frustrating to have him be under the lights constantly. Even when he's nursing or being cuddled, he has to be strapped into blanket lights. And even at night time, I sleep on the bed next to this big suitcase with tanning bed lights blaring while Ben is denied a place in bed and sleeps on the couch (not that he's a slacker dad, but because he gets headaches from any kind of light left on during the night). Not ideal, but whatever it takes to get his bili levels down.
***Update - as of today bilirubin levels were lower, but we'll continue the lamps off and on until Friday when he'll most likely be done. Yea!***
Our yellow pumpkin sporting the aviator goggles
Catching some rays in the "tanning bed"
Meanwhile, I must say that I actually really loved my stay in the hospital and even miss it a bit. Here are my top 10 reasons I loved the hospital:
1. It was like a 2-day get away date...kind of. Ok, so maybe not quite the romatic get away I would dream of, but it was nice to have peace and quiet without a 3 year old for two whole days!
2. Hospital food. Yes, I'm weird and actually like the hospital food. But even better is that UVRMC has a new room-service for Mother/Baby where we get to order every meal from a huge menu, and the best thing is we can order as much as we can eat! Dreamy, I know.
3. Endless painkillers, brought every 4 hours. Beautiful!
4. Endless pads, granny undies, mattress covers and ice packs.
5. A moving bed. :-)
6. Nurses ready to bring you whatever you need at the push of a button.
7. People to watch your baby at night (with exception of feeding sessions) so you can actually sleep!
8. Being able to lay all day in bed and feel no guilt about it.
9. Being able to wear a large, comfortable, extremely unflattering blue-gray moo-moo all day and feel no guilt about it.
10. And last but not least, being able to have as much kangaroo care time (skin-to-skin time) as I wanted with Lincoln. Because we all know that at the end of those 72 hours all privacy and discreteness has gone out the window.
Me and my boys right after getting home from the hospital
Daddy-Logan time well spent watching you-tube clips of the Wizard of Oz (the new obsession)
Yellowie cuteness
Logan couldn't wait to hold him. He loves holding his hand and inundating him with kisses.
Nana gave Logan a Big Brother Kit that included a big brother shirt, a few things he could use to help take care of "baby brubber" and of course a Toy Story coloring book.
Logan has even been caught sharing his most prized possessions with Lincoln. Now that's love.
