Well I have gotten a lot of messages asking about Parker and why he was connected to all those wires.... here is what happend
I was 2 1/2 weeks early having him and when he came out he was not breathing.... it took them a good hour to get him to breath on his own. Then he was doing really well... the next day he started to look kind of yellow and they did a Billi Ruben (jaundice) test on him... his level was at 18 and they would like it under 10... it doesn't seem like a lot but for a new born it is not a good number to be at.... they put him under photo therapy lights for 24 hours and it went down to 12. The Dr. said we could go home with a billi blanket but we would have to come back the next day to get another Billi test done.... So on July 4th we traveled the 1/2 hour back to Greenbay and the news wasn't good. His level had gone up to 24!!! They immediatly admitted him to the NICU (Newborn intensive care unit) They did an emergency blood transfusion which brought his level down to 15! All this and only 3 days old!!! Parker then had to stay under the phototherapy lights for the next 9 days! they slowly took one away at a time until he was completly off them. However during those days he continued to stop breathing and they put him in an incubator to control his oxygen level. They also did MANY test on him to make sure everything else was ok.... he had an MRI done, a spinal tap and an echo on his heart too. They have found a hole in his heart that we have to watch because it is almost big enough to do surgery on. We ended up staying about 3 weeks in the NICU and when I got to take him home I was so excited but VERY scared.
Parker has to see a hematologist on a regular basis with weekly blood draws to check his red blood cells. He also will have to see a pediatric cardiologist in the begining of September just to make sure surgery isn't what needs to be done.
The doctors believe he has the same hereditory Sphero-cytosis blood disorder that I have... hopefully that is what it is and nothing else.... The plan right now is that there will be no daycare for a year and only family can hold him right now but that can change with every blood draw.
Thanks so much for so many of your concerns! Please just keep my little guy in your prayers!

Tags: jaundice, billi ruben, doctors, baby, sick, hospital, nicu, blood, cardiologist, hematologist

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