Billy, don’t lose that number; Heart rate

(Original appeared April 14, 2016)

Jacob had a high bilirubin count following birth which is not uncommon. High levels lead to jaundice, and are treated with phototherapy (big lights over his isolate “incubator”. The light helps break down the bilirubin so that it can then be passed in the urine. Jacob started with three phototherapy lights. One was removed yesterday, and another was removed this morning. This is nice progress for him, plus it has the added benefit of one less piece of equipment in the room to stumble over, or get in the way of our viewing him!
His heart rate remains high though. If I understood correctly, they held back the caffeine this morning to see if the rate would drop. We’ll see. I’m not sure if I explained the role of caffeine in prior entries, but the concept is that it triggers the portion of the brain that causes him to take a breath. If Jacob were still in utero, he wouldn’t need to worry about breathing. His brain hasn’t fully developed that part that says “breathe now, stop, now, stop, now”. And so, sometimes the reflex is there but when he sleeps, sometimes it doesn’t trigger. The caffeine helps stimulate that area to trigger even in sleep, leading him to develop the reflex to breath on his own. This is a good thing for long term growth. Of course, he endures the same side effects that adults do with caffeine, namely increased heart rate. So, it’s a battle of trade-offs.