Prolonged Jaundice Ending...

~ Posted on Monday, November 14, 2011 at 7:57 AM ~

I have waited a while to write this post about Alyson's prolonged jaundice. I write it now as I'm seeing signs of recovery  after 2 months and I've got pictures to show it. Plus I would prefer to let her heal first then tell people about it than having more people to advise and suggesting things for us to do and making me more worried...

Now back to how it all began... We started noticing Alyson still being yellow on day 6. With Ben, we have already admitted him to the neonatal ICU (that's the only place with the bili lights) on day 5 and Ben was much much yellower than Alyson. Plus, Alyson was still alert, active, feeding, pooping and sleeping like normal with no signs of fever or anything.

But still, on day 6 we brought her to see our paed, Dr. Lam. He was a 70+ old man who is a professor in one of the leading university hospital. According to him, since it was already 6, the jaundice would have already peaked and stabilising now. He did mentioned that if we were still worried, we could bring her to the hospital. We didn't but we do continue to monitor her situation daily and even brought her out to sunbath every now and then (I actually woke up few days in a row around 7-8am in the morning and sat her on my lap and basked in the morning light)

At almost 1 month, Alyson is still yellow. To be honest, I was not at all worried but as I posted more and more pictures of her on my Facebook and we started going out as a family of 4 after 1 month, I kept hearing friends and even strangers telling me 'She looks yellow. How many weeks is she now?' and I had to explain everything. Over and over again.

As time goes by, I got worried as I kept getting and hearing and explaining about the prolonged jaundice.

Alyson at 3 weeks old...

Then I had to go for my 6 weeks postnatal check-up at the hospital where I delivered both Ben and Alyson. My gynae immediately wrote me a referral letter and postphoned my check-up and told me to get my daughter checked instead because he said my daughter looks yellow and for a 1 month old baby it is not normal.

Oh, gee! Thank you for quadrupling my worries and fears! I was herded along to register her and let the staff nurse took her blood and urine sample for testing after consultation with one of the paed there as according to the paed doctor there, jaundice after 1 month is ABNORMAL. The doctor said it could be caused by urinary tract infection, hepatitis B or thyroid. He also mentioned breastmilk jaundice and immature kidneys.

Now, I don't know how the blood and urine sample was taken as I was told to wait outside the procedure room. We have to wait for 1 week to find out the results.

Alyson at 6 weeks old after the procedure...

One week after that, I called up the hospital to find out the results. According to the nurse in-charge, Alyson's blood test was OK but there are traces of E.Coli germs in her urine and we were advised to go to hospital to collect this antibiotics for her (to finish in 7 days) after which, another urine test will be repeated to find out whether the germs are still there or not. I tried calling our own paed to seek his opinion for the next few days but nobody pick up the phone (turns out our paed was involved in a minor accident and then we had a public holiday as well which is why there's nobody at the clinic)

We then decided to take the antibiotics and started her on it the next day. For twice a day I had to measure the antibiotics and gave it to her orally via a plastic syringe. I tried some and it was sweet. No problem at all for her taking it though it pains me to see her taking medicine at a young age and we really do not want her to rely on antibiotics if possible.

Pains my heart to see my girl taking medicines at a young age...

At 2 months, we brought Alyson to our paed for her monthly vaccination and I told our paed what happened. He advised us to reconsider going for the subsequent test as firstly, we do not know how the urine sample was collected in the first place. Now nobody is saying the hospital lacks of standard or anything, but according to our paed, in order to test the urine properly, the hospital staff need to collect the urine from the purest and cleanest environment, meaning no touching other body regions or even diapers, meaning it should be taken from the urethra itself.

Everybody has germs and if not collected properly, there are bound to be germs in the urine. What if the subsequent test revealed germs again? Higher or stronger antibiotics then? My paed gave his diagnosis as immature liver for our girl because for a 2 month old baby who is eating, sleeping, peeing, pooping and active all the while and even gaining weight about 40g daily, why worry?!

Btw, my paed's grandson had jaundice for 3 months and like Alyson, was otherwise healthy, thriving and normal so they just waited it out.

Sigh... we then decided NOT to go to hospital for the repeated urine test and let it be. And guess what, these few days, I did noticed there are no more yellow tinge in her eyes. Antibiotics working? Liver maturing? Only God knows but I for sure would not want to put my girl under anymore medication or procedures unless it was absolutely necessary.

I mean come to think of it, she is healthy and active and normal. Why oh why do we go for the antibiotics?

Alyson at 8 weeks old...

So, here is the post to document down what happened. Of course, I don't mean to say that all prolonged jaundice case are normal but for our case, if we only have stronger faith and confidence (we did since we didn't rush her to hospital like Ben's case)

Alyson at 9 weeks old...

So there you go... my girl is a such a fighter!

Sorry Alyson, mummy put you under unnecessary medications!

Thank God for healing you!

How Do You Display Your Christmas Cards?

~ Posted on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 1:05 PM ~

Christmas is coming soon! I'm so excited! It will be the first Christmas for our family of 4 this year! Apart from teaching Ben a couple of lines to the "Jingle Bell" song (which he said 'Jingo Beow, Jingo Beow'), this year we will be putting up our bling-bling Christmas tree again on top of my simple DIY decoration using old Christmas cards and deco items which I tied with strings of wool to each staircase railings.

Old greeting cards and Christmas ornaments hung from our staircase railings...

On the topic of Christmas cards, I do love receiving them and adding them onto our decorations. I bet these cards from Tiny Prints would look awesome hanging down from our staircase railings this year!

I was compensated for this review, however, all opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

iPad App Review - My Healthy Smile

~ Posted on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 12:31 PM ~

Early this month, I received an email from Mary who is working for Fraser regarding this app. In her email, she mentioned that this app was designed for children between the developmental ages of 3 and 10 and was created in partnership with dentists, oral health professionals and families.

I decided to review it as I would like Ben to see for himself how children take care of their oral hygiene. Anyway, my review as below is based on the walkthrough of how to have a good oral care at home...

* Title: My Healthy Smile
* Price: $4.99
* Category: Health & Fitness
* Released: 02 October 2010
* Current Version: 1.0
* Size: 21.9 MB
* Language: English
* Developer: Fraser
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.

Description from the product page:

* A social scripts app designed for children developmentally between the ages of 3 and 10 to teach good oral health and to make dental visits more comfortable.
* Especially good for children with autism or developmental disabilities; could be used by adults with developmental disabilities.
* Offers 11 audio and visual social scripts in a mobile format that is easy to use in everyday situations.
* Topics include: having your teeth cleaned, taking X-rays, getting fillings, losing a tooth, brushing, and healthy eating.
* Created in partnership with dentists, oral health professionals and families.
* Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. requires iOS 3.0 or later.

More info from the iTunes Store product page:

"The My Healthy Smile app was developed through a grant from Delta Dental of Minnesota to teach children about good oral health and to ease anxieties around dental visits. This app offers 11 audio & visual social scripts to show children what to expect at the dentist and how to have good oral care at home. Topics include: having your teeth cleaned, taking X-rays and getting fillings, losing a tooth, brushing and healthy eating. “My Healthy Smile” is designed for children between the developmental ages of 3 and 10. The use of social scripts works especially well for children who have autism or developmental disabilities. Created in partnership with dentists, oral health professionals and families."

I have mentioned before how good an app to me is based on how often Ben goes back to playing and/or using it. And as for this app, oh well, Ben listens to it almost every day! Whenever I asked him what he wants to play on the iPad, he goes 'Ceh-ceh (sister in Chinese) brush teeth!'

What's good?

* I like that the display does not get affected or blurred even when I use the double size setting (2X) for my iPad as the app was developed for iPhone use.

* The app is very easy to use, you can either click at the 'Dentist Office' (for walkthrough on what to expect at the dentist) or 'At Home' (for walkthrough on how to have good oral care at home)

* I like that the visual walkthrough features children around Ben's age as he can relate himself to the example shown.

Ben concentrating on the app...

Room for Improvements?

* I would prefer if the narrator speaks slower in the 'Read to Me' mode as I realised my toddler started being confused when the pictures changes when he was still trying to understand what he heard.

* I would prefer if the Home icon goes back to the available topics under 'Dentist Office' or 'At Home' instead of the current setting which goes straight to the main screen.

Summary:

Although this app was especially good for children with autism or developmental disabilities, that does not mean we should avoid trying out this app.

I personally feel that this app is very helpful and educational regardless of the child's condition. Ben has been more eager to practise his brushing and although we have yet to try the dentist walkthrough (he is afraid of doctors), I believe that in time, Ben will be more receptive to it.

You can purchase the "My Healthy Smile" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"