Sam's 1st battle

We went home from the hospital last Saturday afternoon, bringing home Sam from the first time. Sophie, who was already home greeted us with her welcome shout "MOMMY!!! DADDY!!!". Finally, we're home.

But for a brief moment during the day, I thought that we had to extend our time at Madocs for another day... again.

You see, we were supposed to go home last Friday morning. We were already packed and ready to go when our Pediatrician told us that she wants to do some tests on Sam before she can clear us to go home. Sam was kinda yellowish, more yellowish than when Sophie was born. We waited for the test results and I was actually bracing myself for some bad news.

The results came out and Sam was diagnosed with jaundice. We were told that he had to undergo phototherapy, wherein he will be placed under a special light for 24-hours. We had two options: we leave Sam at the nursery or in our room. We opted to have Sam in our room. We wanted to take care of him ourselves.

After a few minutes, the machine with the special light was brought in and was placed beside Sam's crib. Sam was undressed by the nurse, leaving only his diaper because his whole body must be exposed to the light. His eyes were covered with an elastic band to keep them safe from the prolonged light exposure.

And so began Sam's 1st battle.

It was hard for us seeing Sam inside his crib under the blue light. He kept removing the elastic band in his eyes maybe because he feels uncomfortable with it on. We place it back on as soon as he removes it. I was actually glad every time he removes the cover on his eyes because for me, that's a good sign that my son is strong and that gave me hope that he'll come out of this battle as the winner.

Since Sam had to have his whole body lighted, we had to turn him and even laid him on his back from time to time. We had to watch over him all the time because he removes the cover on his eyes whenever he's awake. We had to watch over him the whole time that he's exposed to phototherapy. That means we had to watch him for 24-hours straight.

In the afternoon, I took my mother-in-law and Sophie to our home because they can't spend the night in the hospital. We were supposed to go home together but because Sam had to stay, i had to take them home and go back to the hospital for Jan and Sam.

When I got back, the room was a bit warm because we can't lower the temperature of the air conditioner because Sam might get cold. At one point, Jan was in tears because she felt that Sam was having a hard time. I told her that our son was strong and he'll be fine.

I was awake 'til 5 am. Jan slept at around 2am. I woke her up when I felt I couldn't stay awake anymore. I didn't want to doze off at the risk of Sam taking off his elastic band from his eyes again. Anyway, Jan said that I should wake her up at 5am because the nurses will take another blood sample of Sam's for another test.

I woke up around 7am and Jan already had her breakfast. I bought my breakfast and went back to the room. As we were waiting for the test results, we noticed that Sam's yellowness subsided a notch and we felt that everything was going to be ok. Our doctor noticed it too which gave us more reason to feel good.

Feeling anxious about the result, I went to the nurse's station to ask if there was a test result already. She said there was and informed us that with the results, she thinks that Sam should stay for one more day.

My heart almost fell. I told Jan and she didn't know how to react at first. I told her that we should wait for the official results. I texted our doctor and asked her if there's news already. Then I looked up and just thought " Lord naman . . . kawawa naman anak ko . . ." then I prayed shortly.

After 20 minutes, I got a call form our OB-GYN and she gave me some instructions for our Philhealth discount. I asked her if she has news about Sam , she said our pedia just texted her the Sam can go home. I asked her what time she texted and told her that I talked to the nurse about the results 20 minutes ago, and she told me the she just received the text message. A few minutes after that call, our pedia called and informed us that Sam can go home already.

I told Jan the news and we were both relieved. Sam won the battle and now we can going home.

Having a sick child is very difficult for parents emotionally. Seeing Sam on phototherapy was even harder. I thank God that Sam's ok. I pray that everything will go well.

I'm so happy that we're all finally home.

:-)