It's hard to give him back

As most of you already know, Lendon was admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit on Wednesday. On Monday when we left the hospital Lendon's biliruben score was 10.9. It was a little higher that we would have liked, but nothing that would keep us from coming home and nothing that was truly alarming because it is very common in babies to be a little jaundice. On Wednesday we went to the pediatrician for Lendon's first check up and they did blood work to determine his latest biliruben score. Our pediatrician, Julie Dennis (who I adore) said that by looking at him he looked like his biliruben had probably increased and that we would have to have home health come and install some lights at the house for Lendon to lie under for a day or two to bring down the score. She also explained that a score of 20 or higher is very alarming and could indicate liver problems or infection. We also found out later from Dr. Mena (neonatal physician) that when the score gets to around 30 there is a high possibility of permanent brain damage.

So, we went home and waited for Dr. Dennis to call back with his score and assumed that we would have to have lights installed at the house for Lendon's treatment. At around 5:30 pm, Joe and Mom were about to leave me alone with Lendon while they went out to run some errands. As they were about to head out, the home phone rang and Joe went downstairs to get it while mom and I were finishing up the grocery list. A few minutes later Joe ran upstairs and said that Dr. Dennis had been on the phone and Lendon's biliruben score was 23 and we had to drop everything and immediately take him to the neonatal intensive care unit at Brookwood. She let us know that she had already checked him in and a neonatalist was already waiting on him. So of course we packed Lendon up immediately and Mom, Joe, and I headed to the hospital. Of course I was a wreck and cried from the time I found out we had to go to the hospital to about 3 hours later.

When we got to the neonatal unit, the most wonderful team of nurses and doctors swept Lendon away and sent us to admitting so that we could take care of all of his paperwork. Needless to say that by the time we got back to the neonatal unit, I think the nurses were more worried about me than Lendon due to fact that not only was I still trying to recover from the birthing process (which was already not going well) but I was also having an emotional breakdown.

Before I could see him a nurse came out to prepare Joe and I that because babies have such small veins in their hands, they had to insert the IV in a vein in his head. She also prepared me that he would have multiple monitors and tubes running from his precious, little body. By the time I saw him he had been stuck so many times that when they continued to stick him he did not even cry.

To treat Lendon the doctors had to determine if it was "direct" biliruben or if the biliruben was being caused by an infection or other variables. Thank goodness it was direct biliruben and the treatment course was to be on photon therapy lights, an iv, and antibiotics until his score came down.

Lucky for us soon after his treatment started, Lendon's score began to slowly drop. However, for a new parents who had not had their baby home for 2 whole days we had to prepare ourselves for what the next couple of days would bring. It was heartbreaking to not be with him 24 hours a day and to rely on others to make sure that his was being taken care of when we were gone. Thankfully, when one of us were not there (which was hardly ever) we had a direct line to our nurse so that we could always get updates.

Lendon has been such a trooper throughout the whole process; he has continued to be so laid back and precious. He also has not been lonely. He has had mommy, daddy, both sets of grandparents, uncle Drew and Uncle John, Heath and Meghan Henig, his wonderful nurses and some of his future playmates- the Gay triplets. We have really enjoyed seeing Chad and Meredith and their adorable triplets every day.

Day by day Lendon has been improving and we found out tonight that he will be going home tomorrow (Saturday). Needless to say he was already going to be spoiled, but now it is going to be out of control! We just can't wait to get him home!

Below are some pictures from the last couple of days…