Not much time to post anything on the blog during the rest of Tuesday as it was off to the hospital again in the afternoon (mornings are taken up by feeds, Jessica having a wash and me having a shower and getting dressed – yes, it does take that long…!). We were due our last midwife appointment in the morning, but instead the lady who was scheduled to come around phoned. She asked if Jessica was still jaundiced; in that case she wanted to refer her to East Surrey Hospital (ESH) astraight away for more tests. Ian and I had thought that Jessica’s skin tone was looking healthier, but she was still a bit yellow and the white of her eyes had a definite yellow tinge to them, so the midwife phoned the hospital and made the arrangements for us. Ian’s parents were coming around to spend some time with me and Jessica in the flat, and to watch Jessica while I was having a nap, but now I had to ask them to give me and Jessica a lift to the Child Assessment Unit (CAU) again instead.
Like last time, we were seen pretty much straight away and asked a long list of questions regarding the pregnancy, birth, any medical conditions in the family and Jessica’s general feeding and sleeping habits. Jessica had gained a bit further weight, which meant that she was feeding as she should, and as she also seemed alert and her physical check-over was absolutely fine, the paediatrician said it was probably just a case of normal jaundice taking a few more days to clear, but they wanted to do a blood and a urine test just to make sure it was nothing more serious. Jessica was very co-operative throughout all the checks and even the blood being taken – the paediatrician had to squeeze her hand quite hard in order to get the drops he needed – although she did suck my little finger quite intensely during the latter. So little Jessica has now been back to hospital twice after the post-birth discharge and she’s already worn two plasters (and she’s nowhere near the ‘running around bumping her head and scraping her knee’ age…).
Before we left, I was told that no news was good news, as they didn’t have time to phone everyone up when there was no need for follow-up or treatment, but that I was very welcome to give them a call should I want to make sure. When I phoned back in the evening the blood test results were ready and I was told that although levels were slightly raised, as Jessica obviously still was a bit jaundiced, they were well within below any levels for concern. The urine test would be ready in 48 hours but I was adviced that as the blood test was fine this would not show anything different.
After the last referral and lot of jaundice tests, I guess Ian and I were a bit more cool headed about the whole thing and this time we were more inclined to think that it was a case of the midwife wanting to make sure rather than any real cause for concern. But it was still nice to have the confirmation.
Gabriella