Iman Jaundice

Jaundice

Iman was warded at NICU, Serdang Hospital for jaundice (face to tummy) after day 5 she was born.  On day 4 a visiting nurse came to visit and she advised us to bring Iman to the hospital for further check up since she was seen yellow from face to tummy.  So, we went to Putrajaya Hospital (where she was delivered) but was told that they couldn't accept  more little patients since all the beds were taken (they just rejected us !) and we were asked go to other hospitals nearby.  That was why we went to Serdang Hospital.   They did the blood test, she was jaundiced  alright, but asked us to come back the next day to repeat the test.  Then, next day Iman was warded at NICU.  A nurse did asked how old Iman was and she was surprised when told Iman was 5 days old because she thought Iman was 5 months old...she said Iman was a big baby (hhhmm...not that big to me).  I had to be there with her since I was supposed to BF her (they have BF Policy at the hospital).  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to BF her since the milk was not coming out !  I was so stress, without milk to BF, I was alone, I had to walk quite a distance from where I was given a bed 'to rest' to visit Iman. and  I was in pain ( from the wound after the delivery and the vacuuming so to speak).  She was put under the UV light, of course.  My heart sank every time she cried  (she cried a lot and her voice was loud compared to most of the little babies there).  Since I wasn't able to BF, I had to gave her the milk provided by the hospital using a syringe.  At the same time, I was busy massaging and praying for my milk to come out.  Then the colostrum came out slowly, I collected it then fed Iman using the syringe.  There, I could see how the nurses worked.  Some were very nice, polite and dedicated  but some were pretending to be nice and hardworking in front of the doctors !  That was why I tried my best to be with Iman to do the feeding and changing her by myself.  One night I asked  the nurse  on duty to wake me up when it was time to feed her at 5 am (every 2 hours) because I was so tired  and sleepy.   The nurse didn't wake me up for 5 am feeding because she said she was sorry to wake me since I looked so tired.  She was right was, I was out cold during that few hours of the early morning until she woke me up at 7 am in the morning.  She did what needed to be done while I was 'knocked out' .  Well, it was her job anyway, right?  What an experience.  During that time we were in the hospital,  my hubby tried his best to be with us.  He came to visit and brought some food for me at the same time (he did the cooking himself !)  Well, in our culture we believed in staying away from certain food (which was provided by the hospital) during the confinement period.  Thank God Iman's jaundice had improved and after 3 days 2 nights we were released  ( I bet the hospital just couldn't wait to get rid of us, there were so many patients) but  still need to do blood test at the nearby clinic.  At home, we tried other method to reduced her jaundice.  We tried bathing her with some herbs bought from the senseh but discontinued to do so since the herbs which made yellow solution once they were mixed with water would make Iman's skin more yellow and that was not good because it would make it harder to see how yellow Iman actually was.  Then, another visiting nurse told me that her aunt once told her to give her baby (was jaundice too) the pulp of grape and her baby's jaundice improved quickly.  We did as the nice nurse had suggested to us.  We gave Iman her first taste of red globe... and her jaundice had improved tremendously after that.  Thank God.  My mother, who was to help me during my confinement period, did help by bringing Iman out, walking in the morning sun.  Some said we could give a jaundice baby to drink water with glucose and some believe that taking sugar cane juice might help. Once an old Chinese man came  to our house asking for our sugar cane which we planted outside the fence by the road side.  When asked he told us the sugar cane was for treating a baby (must be jaundice baby).  However, when it happened to Iman, we totally forgotten about what the old man had told us.  We didn't try the sugar cane remedy.

Under UV light

One nurse advised me to put her down like that to reduce her crying and it worked, most of the time

I was so sad to see my baby this way and her skin started to crack too.  But that was the only 'treatment' for her condition, I just prayed for her to get better quickly.

Iman bundled up and ready to go to the clinic for routine blood test to check her jaundice. 

 

 

 

    Iman and I, ready for the clinic visit.  She looked like a doll...so adorable

To be continued....