Birth Story - Bossy, Part 3

By the time we got to Utah Valley Hospital, it was late…approaching midnight. We checked our little Bossy into the border nursery and they told us to leave and find somewhere to rest. They had everything under control and since we were young and stupid (and tired) Grandma drove us over to my sister’s apartment. She and her hubby had been married about a year longer than us and her little guy was about three months old. It was so hard watching her hold him and nurse him! I was so sad and I was bulging with milk. Grandma suggested that I pump, but that just made me cry more. We finally settled down to sleep on their sofa sleeper. It was uncomfortable and we were restless, worried, and exhausted all at the same time.

The morning sun finally peeked through the window and we were up and dressed, anxious to see if the doctors had fixed all of Bossy’s problems. When we arrived at the hospital, they couldn’t seem to find our baby. I began to panic and after several agonizing minutes, our doctor showed up. Bossy’s condition had steadily dropped until her jaundice count registered 27. At that point they put her in the NICU. Since we had forgotten to leave my sister’s phone number, the doctors had to make decisions without us. Rather than risk brain damage or possible death, they changed out all of Bossy’s blood for new blood. That meant they had to open up her belly button (the cord had only fallen off the day before) and slowly pump the new blood through her veins while drawing off the tainted blood at the same time. The process took hours, but was finally completed just before dawn.

Thankfully, her numbers were dropping and she was actually getting better. We were so relieved! A part of me was so glad that I didn’t know about the horrible scary part, but I would have never been able to forgive myself if she hadn’t pulled through. I can’t remember how long she was in the hospital. I don’t remember staying more than the one night at my sister’s apartment, so I think she must have been released later that day. Her numbers stabilized and never went back up. The doctors think the high jaundice counts might have been because we have RH and the A/O incompatibility. It might have also been genetic. My youngest sister had to have the exact same procedure during her first week of life.

I’m just grateful that with 12 kids we only had this happen once. The doctors were always much more aggressive with starting treatment for jaundice earlier. At least half our kids were under lights or being treated one way or another. Thank goodness for medical care and doctors! Without them, our perfect gift (little Bossy) would have been taken away permanently.