Report from the NICU

Well, it is now official... both my boys have had to be admiited to Southwest Medical Center NICU. Good thing they are great there! Since our release from the hospital yesterday, Griffin became more and more lethargic. He started to not wake or rouse for feedings and started looking more jaundice. We were following our lactation orders to supplement, but things just weren't seeming to go well with the feedings. We gave him his first bath at home and he seemed extremely lethargic, wouldn't even wake to the cold water and wasn't opening his eyes or wking up and crying when hungry. We took his temp and it was down. I decided it was time to call the pediatrician since it was Friday afternoon and I didn't want to spend a weekend home worried so hoped they could get him in to check him over for peace of mind. When I called and gave the report of his low temp, lethargy, lack of eating, etc., they told us to drive him to the nearest emergency room since we could make it quicker there with him than sending an ambulance. I had no idea we were in that much danger! After a frantic and fast drive to Southwest, we checked into Kids ER and they checked him over and decided that he wasn't in any emergency danger but wanted to admit him to the NICU for assessment by a pediatric doctor and recommendation for treatment. After trying unsuccessfully to get blood testing from him, they determined he was dehydrated. Finally they inserted an IV to draw the blood from and tested his jaundice levels. They determined that the lactation orders I had been given were only providing him about half the amount he was needing and his jaundice and lethargy were building. They decided to keep him overnight under the Billirubin lights and work on upping his intake of food each feeding. They also determined that he has a "tounge-tied" issue (extra flap of skin binding his tounge) making successful breastfeeding a problem (and future speech issues too). Tomorrow morning they will determine whether or not a procedure by an ear, nose, throat doctor is needed to correct it. For now, we are camped out overnight to keep watch of him under the lights and feed every 3 hours...
We are hopeful this is a minor setback and that he will start to turn around and thrive! Sad that both boys had feeding issues and jaundice issues at the beginning- didn't make for an easy transition or start either time! :-( But things turned around for Cohen and he became a successful eater and I hope the same for Griffin!