This is not a fire drill

As any parent will surely tell you, there are nights you wish you could forget but will be seated into your memory. Our first came 4 days into Astrid's young life.

Earlier in the day, a nurse had come by to check on Astrid at home. She saw a touch of yellowing in the skin and wanted us to check the bilirubin levels, as she was experiencing some jaundice. As we got the results around 9 PM, the doctors said that the jaundice was due to the baby's blood type being different from Jens and that some of Jen's antibodies has passed the placental barrier and was attacking Astrid's white blood cells. 

We were instructed to undergo UV phototherapy as soon as possible, so we packed our bags and headed to the hospital, uncertain of what this treatment entailed. At the hospital, Astrid was placed in an incubator under an UV lamp that would reduce the bilirubin levels in her blood through skin exposure. We could not swaddle her, or comfort her most of the night, but only feed her in between bouts of UV therapy. We had to camp out on the lone couch in the room for the next 15 hours.

Needless to say, it was a long night and surely not the last. Everything was out in perspective as we saw some infants that would surely be there far longer than our stay.