We took Norah to the pediatrician the first chance we got and immediately our doctor noticed that Norah was very jaundice. She did a heel stick blood draw to check the bilirubin levels. A few hours later we got a phone call from the nursing staff that we had to get a redraw because they thought the blood test was misread. After going to one lab in which the phlebotomist “fished” for her veins and still couldn’t get a good draw, Jason demanded to talk to the pediatrician face-to-face to see  what the blood draw was about. He went into the office and sat down with the doctor to try and understand why we should put our tiny baby through another blood draw. She talked about the concern about high direct bilirubin levels and mentioned Biliary Atresia to us for the first time.

So into the car and to another lab we went, this time getting a good poke on the first try! Unfortunately the results of earlier were confirmed and we were sent to the ER to have Norah admitted. After a grueling time of multiple pokes and multiple nurses trying to get the blood work and IV started for Norah, we stayed overnight with no answers until the morning.

We met several doctors but Dr. Baron would come to be our new gastroenterologist. He discussed the bloodwork that had been done and had yet to be done to try to diagnose why Norah was having such high bilirubin readings. He mentioned Biliary Atresia but said it was unlikely at that time. So because nothing certain had been determined and her condition was “stable” we were sent home with more questions than answers. It was the start to our very long, difficult journey we would soon learn.