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Jaundice gone bad

The most shocking words from a doctor, that sent shivers down my spine, were that our newborn baby may need a blood exchange transfusion. This means the baby’s blood may have to be replaced with fresh blood via her umbilical vein, from a donor. The doctor told us that the bilirubin level in the baby’s blood was too high that it could permanently damage her brain (bilirubin is a substance that is produced in the breakdown of extra red blood cells in newborns, that must be taken to the liver to get rid of). This shattering news was too much for me to take, and I blamed myself for allowing it to happen.

My baby was no beauty?

When I first saw our baby, it was an inexplicable joy! But when I looked closer, she was no beauty. Her skin was discoloured, bluish, wrinkled and loose like little old man. The head was not the most attractive in the world. It was elongated and swollen at the top, molded like melon with a point at the back. The eyes were puffy and the eyelids swollen. I started worrying about the effects of medication my wife took during her pregnancy. I even had the silly doubt whether the baby was really ours.

Husband’s obligations

The birth of our first baby brought much joy, work disruption, and wory. Even though we’d prepared for the baby by buying clothes, choosing a crib, discussing names, making arrangements for help, and going faithfully for prenatal checkups, we were still a little bit jolted when we were alone at home with the infant for the first time.