Dylan All Lit Up

Dylan (like Andrew, but unlike Noah) was a little jaundiced just after birth. Jaundice is a condition caused by excessive bilirubin levels in the blood that are not able to be processed normally by the liver. Our pediatrician, Dr. Rubenstein, kept us in the hospital for a day longer than we had hoped (we hoped to go home after one night) to give Dylan a chance to get his bilirubin levels down.

To treat jaundice, they give the baby phototherapy. At the hospital, they put Dylan under these large lights so that the light will cause the bilirubin to break down and then processed by the body.

Here are two pictures of Dylan under the lights at the hospital.

After a little intense phototherapy at the hospital, Dr. Rubenstein let us go home with Dylan on a bili-blanket. He was on the bili-blanket for about a week. The blanket is really a flat pad with a jacket that goes around the baby. It is attached by a long grey hose to a special machine that makes the flat pad light up on the baby's back.

Dylan on his bili-blanket - see what I mean...

Andrew and Noah kept asking us why Dylan had a tail (the grey hose constantly attached to him). Fortunately we got rid of the tail after a week!