New Nephew

Mason Benjamin Bucher arrived the morning of December 14th this year. What a cutie! A little bigger than his older brother was, he weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. The first day of Mason's life, his pediatrician found that he had a blood incompatibility to Shaanti; some antibodies in her blood were breaking down his blood cells. This process can cause extreme jaundice in newborns, and did in Mason. After being under phototherapy for a couple days in the

newborn nursery, Mason's bilirubin levels continued to climb and he had to be transfered to Pediatrics once Shaant was discharged. They continued to keep Mason on the lights except for Shaanti being able to take him out to feed him. Unfortunately, lights alone weren't keeping his bili numbers down, and they continued to rise. The next step was the NICU, where the started an IV and gave him IV immunoglobulins which were supposed to keep Shaant's antibodies from attacking his red blood cells. It worked! He got two doses of this IV-IG and was still kept under phototherapy. After almost a week in NICU, Mason got to go home. He still has to be under lights (home-use ones). However, Shaanti, Adam and Cole are thankful to have Mason home and be a family of four now. I love my new little nephew and can't wait till he can be done with phototherapy so I can finally hold and cuddle him.