Blue Light Special

I know what your thinking-really a tanning bed for the baby? Hey, this is Texas summer a girl needs to work on her tan & don't worry the CPAP hat is only temporary while we wait for the bleach blonde baby wig. Yes, I am joking maybe if I still lived in Dallas instead of Austin......
The blue light in the picture is Brenna's Bililight (Phototherapy) which shines light from the blue part of the spectrum (there aren't any harmful rays UVA/B etc..) to breakdown the amount of bilirubin in her system. Bilirubin is the byproduct of breaking down red blood cells in the body, not usually a problem, but in newborns & especially premies, there is an excess of blood cells (& thus bilirubin) which can cause a whole mess of problems ranging from jaundice to cerebral palsy. The light-do not ask me how cuz I do not know-turns the bilirubin into lumirubin which can be harmlessly secreted from her system. Oh, & yes it is because of the Bililight that Brenna has her first pair of baby shades.
Brenna's bilirubin level has gone up not a big problem so far, just means that she needs to spend more time under the Bililight to get them down, No big deal, but if you saw the Kangaroo Care picture you know that there is no light when we do this & yup, gotta cut down on Kangaroo time. I feel bad for Daddy, until Brenna's Bilirubin levels come down he's going to lose out on holding her.....;0)