Our little glow worm

Long story short...Nate was slightly jaundiced at the hospital on Tuesday but not enough to need treatment. He had blood drawn Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to check his bilirubin count. It was terrible to see him pricked and stuck again and again. Both he and I shed many tears! Early Friday evening we got a call from his pediatrician that the latest results showed he was in the "risk zone" (his count went from a little over 10 to 21.5 on Friday) and that he needed to be admitted to the hospital--not the news I wanted to hear. We were admitted to Yale New Haven Hospital around 7pm and Nathaniel started light therapy. They stuck him under a blue light (similar to a tanning bed) that somehow destroyed the bilirubins. The nurses assured us that most babies love being under the warm lights and sleep quite well. Not Nate! He loves to be swaddled when sleeping so being only his diaper was not working. His nurse and I were up until 2:30 am trying to console him. We finally came up with a solution--tie his arms down around his diaper. Sounds cruel but it worked. He was totally calm and we were able to continue with the treatment. After a sleepless night for me, several blood tests for Nate, and hours of waiting for results, we were finally discharged around 5pm on Saturday. Praise the Lord! There was a chance we were going to have to stay another night and that would not have been a good thing. I was incredibly overtired and an emotional mess. Thankfully we are home now and I am enjoying my first mother's day with him. Here are some pictures from our hospital stay...

Nate had to wear these snazzy goggles to protect his eyes. Unfortunately he preferred ripping them off.

Trying to keep him calm

A few hours before we were discharged. So ready to go home!

Nate with his arms tied down. His nurse said she has treated kids with jaundice for nine years and has never had such an issue.

Some other cute pictures from before the hospital visit...