My baby is yellow!

Majority of newborns developed jaundice few days after birth. It's just a matter of mild or severe and Hana is no exception.

On second day of life, Dr Yong, Hana's neonatologist told me that she has slight jaundice, 154mmol to be exact. I wasn't that worried as she doesn't have any risk factor to get severe jaundice. Both of us are blood group O+ and she is not G6PD deficient. I requested to go home and promised to monitor her bilirubin level the next day. Knowing that I'm a paediatric medical officer, Dr Yong allowed Hana to be discharged but I must make sure that Hana gets enough milk to avoid dehydration and me to avoid makanan yang panas2 like halia, kunyit, pepper etc as it may worsened the jaundice (I'm not sure if the fact is true, I've never advised my pt to avoid these food though).

Jaundiced since D2

We went to An-Nur Medical Centre in Bangi the next day and (not surprisingly) Hana's bilirubin level went up to 230mmol (level to be admitted to my ward for phototherapy at D3 is 221mmol). I refused to go to Putrajaya or Serdang hospital due to long queue. I wish the hospital where I'm working is just nearby unfortunately it is like 1 hour drive from Bangi. Kan senang kalau masuk hospital sendiri, boleh lalu fastlane! I can prick her myself and get the results faster. I can even take the photolights and shine Hana in the oncall room (provided that my colleague doesn't mind).

Mama, I don't wanna get myself pricked today...

As Hana was just having mild neonatal jaundice, Dr Siti, pediatrician at An-Nur suggested that we rent photolight and shine Hana at home. We agreed to it immediately though it was quite expensive (RM 450 for 3D2N). Hana had to be stripped of her clothes down to her nappy for maximum exposure to the light and had to wear 'sunglasses' to prevent from eye damage.

Home phototherapy --> yg tak digunakan pun

Akan tetapi, Hana kan sangatlah restless and hated being put under the photo. She'll cry non stop the minute I put her eye cover on. Dahla susah nak tidur tapi I letak jugak bawah lampu.. for few minutes :p (Dr makes the worst pt, I'm telling u!). Macam2 cuba tapi she'll cry with her high pitched voice until I picked her up. Pernah sekali tu I pun nangis sekali bila tgk dia nangis coz I feel sorry for her.

Last2 tak guna pun photo tu. Ada la few times that I hold Hana and sit next to the blue light so that she indirectly benefited from it. I just hope that her bilirubin level doesn't increase further. From my own observation, she was still yellow until the abdomen but never went down till the leg so maknanya jaundice dia tak teruk sgt.

Alhamdulillah, her bilirubin level dropped to 170mmol at D5OL. Yeahhooo.. tak payah dah dok bawah photo (as if we ever used it).. Rasa macam melayang je duit RM450 tu..... Takpelah, janji Hana Khadeeja sihat... kan Hana kan....